Masechet Me'ilah, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1. This masechet deals with the prohibition of me'ilah: benefiting from, or misusing, items that have already been designated for holy use. Our chapter opens by mapping out which sanctified items remain the exclusive property of Hashem, and therefore remain subject to me'ilah, and which items have already left that status. The first mishnah applies that question to korbanot that were offered improperly.
What is Me'ilah?
Me'ilah is committed when a person unintentionally derives benefit from hekdesh, or removes such an item from the domain of hekdesh. This is a Torah prohibition, and one who transgresses it has three obligations:
- He must reimburse hekdesh, paying whatever the object was worth or whatever the benefit he took was worth.
- A surcharge of a fifth is added. Throughout the Torah this fifth is reckoned from the total after the addition, so someone who enjoyed one hundred hands over one hundred and twenty five, which in practice is a quarter added on top of the principal.
- He offers a korban, the asham me'ilot.
Through these three, a person achieves kapparah for what he did.
Two Categories of Kodshei Hashem
The Torah speaks of misusing "kodshei Hashem," the holy things of Hashem. This includes two categories.
Kodshei bedek habayit: property consecrated so that the Beit Hamikdash can be maintained and repaired. An object of this sort is sold and the money goes toward the needs of the building. What rests upon it is kedushat damim, sanctity of value. Whoever consecrated it keeps no portion in it at all; it is Hashem's alone, and therefore me'ilah can be committed with it from the instant it was consecrated.
Kodshei mizbeach: items dedicated to be offered on the mizbeach. These carry both kedushat haguf, sanctity of the object itself, and kedushat damim. Within this category there are two levels: kodshei kodashim, of the highest sanctity, and kodashim kalim, of a lesser sanctity, depending on which korban is being brought.
Kodshei Kodashim and Kodashim Kalim
Once an animal has been consecrated as a korban of kodshei kodashim, its owner retains nothing in it. The animal is Hashem's outright, and me'ilah is possible with it. Admittedly the kohanim consume certain parts of such korbanot, yet what they eat comes to them as a gift from Hashem, mishulchan gavo'a, from the Table of the Most High. The animal is thus Hashem's exclusive property from the moment it was consecrated, and me'ilah applies.
With the zerikah of the blood upon the mizbeach, the kohanim acquire the right to eat their portion, and from that point the flesh has stopped being Hashem's alone, so me'ilah can no longer be committed with it. The eimurim, destined for the fires of the mizbeach, stay Hashem's alone, and me'ilah continues to apply to them.
Kodashim kalim follow a different pattern, since their flesh goes to the owner. Consecrating such an animal does not hand it over to Hashem exclusively, and so long as that is so, me'ilah cannot be committed with it, despite the fact that it has been consecrated as an offering. Only after the blood has been sprinkled, when the eimurim are ready for the mizbeach, do those eimurim belong to Hashem alone, and they alone fall under the laws of me'ilah. The rest of the flesh, which the owners consume or which is handed over to a kohen, was never Hashem's exclusive portion, and me'ilah never takes hold of it.
Unintentional Versus Intentional
The laws of me'ilah as described above apply only to one who misuses hekdesh unintentionally. One who does so deliberately is not obligated to pay for the benefit he took, nor the added fifth, nor to bring an asham me'ilot. He must, however, compensate hekdesh for any loss he caused, whether damage or wear and tear. Note the difference: here the payment is measured by the loss in value, not by the benefit he enjoyed.
What penalty does a deliberate mo'el face? Here there is a machloket: one view holds that he is liable to malkut, while another holds that he is subject to mitah bidei Shamayim, a death decreed from Heaven. Our presentation follows the opinion of malkut, and that is the accepted ruling.
Me'ilah as a Change of Status
The Gemara understands the term "ma'al" as connoting alteration, a turning aside from one condition into another. The lesson drawn from this is that the act of me'ilah itself shifts the standing of the object: its kedushah departs, and ownership passes over to the person who misused it. Since the item is now his own, a second act of me'ilah with it is impossible.
This applies, however, only to items that carry kedushat damim alone, such as those consecrated for bedek habayit. Items with kedushat haguf, like korbanot, retain their sanctity even after me'ilah has been committed with them.
The Framework of Our Mishnah
The subject of our mishnah is kodshei kodashim. Me'ilah applies to these korbanot, and the one thing that frees the priestly portions from that liability is the zerikah of the blood upon the mizbeach, for from then on the flesh has stopped being Hashem's alone.
Kodshei kodashim require that both the slaughtering and the collecting of the blood into a kli sharet be carried out on the north side of the azarah in the Beit Hamikdash. Should either avodah have been performed on the south side, the offering is pasul and nothing whatever about it becomes permitted. In such a case the kohanim never acquire the right to eat the flesh, and the eimurim never reach the fires of the mizbeach, so the animal continues to belong to Hashem alone. It is precisely these cases that the mishnah now proceeds to enumerate.
The Mishnah
"Kodshei kodashim sheshechatan badarom": offerings of the highest grade of sanctity whose shechitah was performed on the southern side of the azarah, which renders them pasul. Of these the mishnah rules "mo'alin bahen," me'ilah is reckoned with them, and whoever takes benefit from them bears the liability.
The novelty here is that even though this shechitah accomplished nothing and the offering is pasul, we do not regard the animal as having met its end through some illegitimate means, comparable to a neveilah or to one that was choked, where no me'ilah would be reckoned. Slaughtering on the south side is, after all, the proper procedure for kodashim kalim, so such an act of shechitah is not dismissed as wholly worthless. Hence a kodshei kodashim animal killed in the wrong location, in contrast to a choked animal, still carries liability for me'ilah.
"Shechatan badarom vekibel daman batzafon": the shechitah took place on the southern side while the blood was collected on the northern side. "O batzafon vekibel daman badarom": or the reverse, shechitah in the north with kabbalah in the south. Either way the offering is pasul, and me'ilah is reckoned with it. Permission for the kohanim to eat, which is what would bring the liability of me'ilah to an end, depends on both avodot, the shechitah and the kabbalat hadam, having been done in the north.
"Shechatan bayom vezarak balaylah": the shechitah was during the day, as it should be, but the blood was cast on the mizbeach after nightfall, which invalidates the offering. "Balaylah vezarak bayom": the reverse case, where the shechitah itself took place at night, already a disqualification in its own right, and the blood was cast during the day. "O sheshechatan chutz lizmano vechutz limkomo": or the shechitah was accompanied by a machashavah that the flesh be consumed beyond its appointed time or beyond its appointed place, which likewise invalidates the offering. In each of these, "mo'alin bahen," me'ilah is reckoned.
The principle running through all these cases is that an invalid shechitah does not strip the animal of its holiness. It retains its sanctified status, the meat never becomes permitted to the kohanim, and therefore one who eats from it is transgressing the prohibition of me'ilah.
The Rule of Rabbi Yehoshua
"Kelal amar Rabbi Yehoshua," Rabbi Yehoshua formulates a governing principle: "kol shehayah lah sha'at heter lakohanim," any flesh of kodshei kodashim that at some point reached a stage of being fit for the kohanim to eat, "ein mo'alin bah," carries no liability of me'ilah, even should the offering afterward become pasul. Where the shechitah and the zerikah were done as required and the kohanim thereby acquired the right to eat, that korban can never fall under me'ilah again, for the instant that heter arrived, the flesh ceased to be Hashem's exclusive property.
"Veshelo hayah lah sha'at heter lakohanim," and flesh that never arrived at such a stage of heter for the kohanim, having become pasul beforehand: "mo'alin bah," me'ilah is reckoned with it.
"Eizo hi shehayah lah sha'at heter lakohanim?" Which flesh is it that enjoyed such a stage of heter, so that me'ilah does not apply although it later became forbidden? "Shelanah," flesh that became fit and was then left overnight beyond its permitted time; "veshenitme'ah," flesh that contracted tumah; "vesheyatz'ah," flesh that was taken outside the azarah. Every one of these pesulim bars the kohanim from eating, and yet a person who benefits has not violated me'ilah, because a stage of heter for the kohanim had already arrived. At that stage the flesh departed from the class of kodshei Hashem, and the laws of me'ilah have no further hold on it.
"Eizo hi shelo hayah lah sha'at heter lakohanim?" Which meat never had a moment of permissibility, so that it remains the property of Hashem and me'ilah still applies? "Shenishchetah chutz lizmanah," it was slaughtered with the intention that it be eaten after its designated time; "chutz limkomah," or with the intention that it be eaten outside its proper place; "veshekiblu pesulin vezarku et damah," or people who are disqualified from performing the avodah in the Beit Hamikdash received or threw its blood. Whether the disqualified people received the blood and qualified kohanim threw it, or qualified kohanim received it and disqualified people threw it, the korban is invalid. The zerikah therefore never permits the meat to the kohanim, the meat remains the exclusive property of Hashem, and the prohibition of me'ilah remains fully in force.