Regarding the Mishnah in Sanhedrin 24a about מפריחי יונים, the Gemora in 25b brings a long beraissa that expounds on the פסולים לעדות and talks about their teshuva.
At first the Gemora wanted to know what's wrong with מפריחי יונים, and the Gemora brought two shittos, one of them being ארא, a type of luring other pigeons to come to you, and it's גזל מפני דרכי שלום.
So the Gemora asks after the beraissa, קתני מיהת בהמה, which seemingly can't be lured with ארא. But the Gemora answers אפשר בשור הבר, וכמאן דאמר שור הבר מין בהמה הוא.
I don't understand. The beraissa openly said ולא יונים בלבד אמרו, אלא אפילו בהמה חיה ועוף.
So you see that חיה is included.
Why does the Gemora have to say that שור הבר, וכמאן דאמר מין בהמה הוא ?
Even Rav Yosi who holds it's a Chaya, it can still be lured by ארא !
Thank you very much.
Dror Maor, Yerushalayim
The braisa states . ולא יונים בלבד אמרו אלא אפילו בהמה חיה ועוף According to the shittah of ארא this means that it is not only ארא that can lure other animals towards it but a בהמה is also capable of luring animals. The Gemara asks בהמה בת הכי is there indeed a בהמה that is capable of luring other animals?! Rashi explains that we would not expect a בהמה (which is a tame animal) to be capable of luring wild animals to its house because the חיות (who are wild) will chase away the tame בהמה
The Gemara answers that there is indeed a species which is classified as a בהמה but is still capable of luring wild בהמות. This is the שור הבר according to the Tana who disagrees with R. Yosi. This Tana holds that the שור הבר is wild enough to be able to lure wild animals, even though in other respects it possesses similarities to aבהמה which cause it to be classified as a בהמה
So when the Gemara said קתני מיהת בהמה this does not mean that a בהמה cannot be lured by ארא but it means that a בהמה cannot play the role that ארא plays; namely to lure other animals.
פסח כשר ושמח
Dovid Bloom