Meilah, Chapter 5, Mishnah 4. Until now our chapter has been occupied with me'ilah that comes about through deriving benefit from hekdesh. Our mishnah opens a second doorway into the same prohibition: me'ilah accomplished not by enjoying the item, but by transferring it into someone else's ownership.
"Natal even o korah shel hekdesh": imagine an official of the Beit Hamikdash whose responsibility includes hekdesh property. He picks up a stone or a beam that belongs to hekdesh and brings it back to his own home. Is he now guilty of me'ilah? The mishnah rules: "harei zeh lo ma'al", he has not transgressed. The reason is that these objects sat in his custody already, so relocating them, his own house included, leaves their standing untouched.
"Netanah lachavero, hu ma'al vachavero lo ma'al." Everything shifts once the item passes to a fellow. Since it was he who took property of hekdesh and placed it under another man's ownership, the very handover constitutes the me'ilah, and the liability rests on him. The recipient bears none. Sanctity departed from the object at the instant it changed hands, so whatever use the fellow later makes of it, nothing consecrated remains for him to violate.
Building hekdesh into a house
"Benaah betoch beito, harei zeh lo ma'al ad sheyadur tachteha beshaveh perutah." Now the same worker takes that stone or beam and incorporates it into his home, setting it in place above him. Simply putting it there is not yet me'ilah. Construction alone has given him nothing. Only when he actually dwells beneath it and derives a perutah's worth of benefit does the me'ilah take effect.
The case the mishnah is describing is one where the stone or beam is laid over an opening in the roof, shielding the house from the rain. The item is serving as a covering, and the benefit is realized in the living, not in the placing.
If, however, he built the stone or beam into the very structure of the house rather than as a covering over an open space, he has committed me'ilah immediately. Making hekdesh material part of the fabric of his own building is itself a benefit, and no waiting period is required. So when we said that the act of building carries no liability, that applies specifically to the case of a covering; incorporation into the structure is a different matter entirely.
A perutah of hekdesh
Money follows the identical rule. "Natal perutah shel hekdesh": a man charged with hekdesh funds brings a perutah home. Regarding this the mishnah again states "harei zeh lo ma'al". Picking the coin up and carrying it generates no me'ilah, because it stood in his keeping beforehand and its tie to hekdesh remains unbroken.
"Netanah lachavero, hu ma'al vachavero lo ma'al." Once he transfers that coin into another person's ownership, he is the one who has violated me'ilah, and his friend has not, exactly as in the case of the stone and the beam. The coin's sanctity departed at the moment of handover.
Paying with a hekdesh coin
The mishnah now turns to a hekdesh coin used, mistakenly, as payment for a service. "Netanah laBalan, af al pi shelo rachatz, ma'al." He gives the perutah to the bathhouse attendant as the fee for bathing. Even though he has not yet bathed, the me'ilah has already occurred. The transfer of the coin into the attendant's ownership is itself the violation, whether or not any service has yet been enjoyed.
Why is the transaction complete so early? "Shehu omer lo: harei merchatz petuchah, hikanes urchatz." The attendant says to him: the bathhouse stands open before you, go in and bathe. There is nothing further for the attendant to do. The payment purchases the right to use a facility that is already prepared and waiting, so the deal closes the instant the perutah changes hands, and with it comes the me'ilah.
Contrast this with a service that requires active performance. Suppose he pays a barber with a hekdesh perutah before receiving his haircut. The barber must still do the work; his labor is the substance of the transaction. In such a case the deal is not concluded until the service is actually rendered, and the me'ilah does not take effect until that moment.