Kinnim 1:3-4

Kinnim 1:3

The aforementioned rules apply when obligatory offerings get mixed up with voluntary offerings. If obligatory offerings got mixed up with one another, one set of birds belonging to one person and one set belonging to another, or two sets belonging to one and two sets to another, or three sets to one and three sets to another, then half of them are valid and half are invalid. If one set belonged to one person and two sets belonged to another – or three sets of birds, or 100 sets – then only the smaller number is valid. This is true regardless of whether the sets of birds were brought for the same reason or for different reasons, and whether they belonged to one woman or to two women. [The Mishna will frequently refer to women because most bird offerings were brought by women.]

Kinnim 1:4

“For the same reason” is when both sets of offerings were brought for births or for genital discharges; “for different reasons” is when one set was brought for a birth and the other was brought for a genital discharge. “Two women” is when one brought her offering for a birth and so did the other, or one brought for a discharge and so did the other; this is bringing for the same reason. Two reasons would be when one brings for a birth and the other for a discharge. Rabbi Yosi says that if two women jointly purchased the birds for their offerings, or if they gave the money for their offerings to the kohein, then the kohein can offer any one he wants as a sin offering or a burnt offering regardless of whether the women brought them for one reason or for two.