Meilah, Chapter 2, Mishnah 3. Our chapter moves through the korbanot one by one, asking of each the same pair of questions: at what stage does the law of me'ilah attach, and at what stage can the offering be rendered unfit? The bird offerings are now behind us, and the mishnah takes up animal offerings, beginning with two categories that share one distinctive trait: they are consumed entirely by fire, with no portion left for any kohen to consume.
The first group is the parim hanisrafim, the bull chata'ot that are burned. There are three of them:
- The bull the kohen gadol brings on Yom Kippur, atoning for himself and for the members of his household.
- The bull brought after Beit Din erred in a ruling, declaring permitted a matter whose willful violation is punishable by karet, and most of the nation followed them in practice.
- The bull of the anointed kohen, that is, the kohen gadol, who ruled leniently for himself in such a karet matter and then acted upon his own mistaken ruling.
The second category is the se'irim hanisrafim, the goats consigned to burning. Two belong to this group: the goat of Yom HaKippurim, which secures mechilah for Klal Yisrael, and the goat brought when the community's mistaken ruling concerned avodah zarah, serving as a kapparah for that idolatry.
All five undergo an identical avodah. Their blood does not go on the altar in the courtyard; it is applied within the Heichal, inside the Beit HaMikdash. The eimurin, the fats and inner organs set aside for the fire, go up on the outer altar. And here lies the departure from every other chatat: no kohen receives a portion of the flesh. It is carried out to the Beit HaDeshen, the ash site beyond Yerushalayim, and burned there. Whatever holds true of the bulls holds equally for the goats.
The mishnah states: "Parim hanisrafim use'irim hanisrafim, mo'alin bahen mishehukdeshu." The three bulls and the two goats that are burned outside Yerushalayim are subject to me'ilah from the moment they are consecrated. As soon as the owner declares that this animal is designated as his chatat, anyone who derives benefit from it has transgressed me'ilah.
Slaughter lifts these offerings to a stronger degree of kedushah, and that elevation brings with it a new exposure to disqualification: "Nishchatu, huchsheru lehipasel", once they have been slaughtered they become susceptible to being rendered unfit, "bitvul yom uvimchusar kippurim", through a tevul yom, someone who has immersed but whose day has not yet concluded, and through a mechusar kippurim, someone whose purification still awaits its korbanot. Neither of them has reached the end of the process of taharah.
Should either of these people come into contact with the flesh of such an offering, that flesh becomes pasul. It is still consigned to the fire, but not at the customary location beyond the city where these korbanot are regularly burned. It goes instead to a different ash site, designated specifically for consecrated items that have become unfit.
When it comes to the eimurin, the mishnah draws a distinction between the offerings. Where the contact was with the eimurin of the bull of the communal error or of the goat brought over idolatry, those eimurin are pasul; instead of going up on the altar, they are burned in the location reserved for disqualified kodashim. The eimurin of the Yom HaKippurim bull and goat, however, still go up on the altar even after such contact, since with korbanot belonging to the community tumah does not create a disqualification.
"Uvelinah." From the moment of slaughter these korbanot can also be disqualified through linah: if their blood remains overnight and was not sprinkled before nightfall, it is unfit.
"Huzah daman", after the blood has been applied, "chayavin aleihen", liability attaches to their flesh "mishum piggul, notar vetamei": eating it brings karet under the law of piggul, of notar, or of tumah, in whichever of those cases arises.
"Umo'alin bahen beveit hadeshen ad sheyitach habasar." The meat remains subject to me'ilah even after it has been taken out to the place of the ashes outside Yerushalayim and set on fire, and it stays subject to me'ilah until the meat has been fully charred and turned into coals.
The reasoning is plain. The Torah commands that these offerings be consumed entirely by fire at the ash site, and no kohen is given any share in them. Since none of it ever passes into human ownership, it remains Hashem's property, and me'ilah applies for the whole time that the mitzvah is still in progress. Only when the burning has been completed is the mitzvah fulfilled, and from then on me'ilah no longer applies.