Daily Talk
A man finds a coin in the dust, buys bread with it, and never learns that the coin was on its way to the Temple. He has robbed nobody, and he owes a guilt offering and a fifth besides. What kind of sin is it to treat something holy as though it were ordinary?
The One Moment It Was Permitted
Loading...
About This Talk
Chapters 2 through 4 of Me'ilah map the exact window in which consecrated property may not be touched: it opens at consecration, it usually closes when the blood is cast on the altar, and it never applies to what is destined to be eaten. Chapter 3 adds the ruling that governs the whole treatise, that an offering which had even one moment of being permitted is released from the prohibition forever, while one that never had that moment is bound forever, and chapter 4 carries the same logic into consecrated money, the added fifth, and the words of a vow.