One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
מְעִילָה
Trespass 2-4
Sefer Avodah · When the prohibition of misappropriation takes hold and when it lets go - offerings, ruined offerings, and consecrated money
1
P'rutah of benefit - the minimum that makes one liable
+⅕
Added to the sum misused, plus a guilt-offering
10
Dinarim owed for two selaim spent on ordinary rams
0
Me'ilah on money set aside for peace-offerings
Ch 2The window that opens and closes
- Lesser sanctity waits for the blood. No me'ilah at all before the blood is cast; afterward it applies to the fats and organs until they reach the ash heap, and never to what is to be eaten. (2:1)
- Highest sanctity runs the other way. From consecration until the blood is cast, and then only on the portions consumed entirely by the pyre, until they are burnt and taken out to the ash heap. (2:2, 2:3)
- The red heifer, with its own exception. Me'ilah applies from its consecration until it is reduced to ash, yet a condition set by the court provides that one does not violate me'ilah with the ashes themselves. (2:5)
- Ash, coals, blood, and bones. The ashes of the outer altar carry me'ilah before and after removal; the ashes of the inner altar and the Menorah do not; a coal or flame that leaves the altar is forbidden but carries none; blood carries none until it flows out to the Kidron and is sold. (2:11, 2:13, 2:14, 2:15)
RememberThe prohibition follows whatever is headed for the fire and lets go of whatever is headed for a mouth.
Ch 3Was there ever a permitted moment
- The governing test. If the offering had a time when its meat was permitted to be eaten, me'ilah releases the meat even after it is ruined; if there was never such a time, me'ilah applies forever. (3:1)
- Impurity is the one unfitness that spoils the rest. Unfit persons who receive and cast part of the blood do not make the remaining lifeblood into remnants, but an impure priest does, because he is fit for communal service - so me'ilah binds all the meat. (3:2, 3:3)
- The lost sin-offering and the one found. Slaughtered at the same time, casting the blood of either releases both; slaughtered one after the other, the first one's blood does nothing for the second. (3:6)
- What the forehead plate can rescue. A handful of meal that became impure and was still offered releases the remainder; a handful that stayed overnight or left the courtyard does not. Sin-offerings consigned to death are forbidden but carry no me'ilah. (3:4, 3:9)
RememberOne moment of having been permitted lifts the prohibition forever; never having had that moment binds it forever.
Ch 4Money, vows, and the added fifth
- Coins inherit their destination. Money set aside for a sin-offering, burnt-offering, guilt-offering, turtle-doves or young doves carries me'ilah from the moment it is set aside; money set aside for peace-offerings carries none. (4:1)
- The nazirite's purse, part against whole. Undesignated nazirite money carries no me'ilah, since it could all buy the peace-offering; where he said "this is for my sin-offering and the remainder for my nazirite offering," benefiting from the entire remainder is me'ilah and benefiting from part is not. (4:3, 4:4)
- Two selaim, two guilt-offerings. One who bought ordinary rams with guilt-offering money pays ten dinarim, the principal plus a fifth, buys a ram for the original guilt-offering, and brings a second guilt-offering for the me'ilah itself. (4:6, 4:7)
- Vows follow the wording. "This loaf is like a sacrifice for me" forbids it to him alone and cannot be redeemed; "this loaf is consecrated" forbids it to all and can be redeemed; vowed items combine, and a p'rutah of benefit across them is a violation. Selling a consecrated animal accomplishes nothing and is not me'ilah at all. (4:8, 4:9, 4:10)
RememberThe added fifth is not a fine on a thief; it is the price of having treated what was set apart as ordinary.