In the last Mishnah, we gave five examples of one korban (offering) that is holier than the other one and therefore is offered first. If they are both ready to be offered, we’ll give two more examples in this Mishnah. This is the sixth one we’ll provide. The Mishnah says the Bechor (firstborn) offering comes before the Maaser (the tenth one) offering because the Bechor’s holiness comes from the moment it leaves the mother’s womb. Right away, when it’s born, it has the status of a Bechor, and its holiness starts from that point in time, whereas the Maaser offering is not sanctified until the owner counts and declares that specific animal to be the tenth one. At that point, later on in its life, it is declared Maaser. So this holiness kicks in first. It’s holier. And also, the Bechor offering is only eaten by Kohanim (priests), as opposed to the Maaser offering, which could be eaten by...
Number seven: the Maaser offering comes before the bird offering because it’s a slaughtered korban, as opposed to the Ofot (bird offerings). Bird offerings aren’t slaughtered in a normal way with a knife but are killed with Melikah (ritual bird slaughter). As we spoke about earlier in the Masechet (tractate), the Kohen’s thumbnail is used to kill the bird.
Also, also, also, the Maaser offering is a Kodshei Kodashim. It’s a most holy item for the Mizbeach (altar), with its blood and its sacrificial parts, as opposed to the bird chatat (sin offering), which is also a Kodshei Kodashim for the Mizbeach, but only the blood. So what we’re saying here is this last piece: the Maaser is considered to be holier, even though both the Maaser and the birds are Kodshei Kodashim. More parts of the Maaser are applied directly on the Mizbeach: the blood and different sacrificial parts of the korban. When it comes to the bird chatat, only the blood is applied to the Mizbeach.