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Me’ilah 19b

מעילה י״ט ע״ב

Meilah 19b

Learn Me’ilah 19b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Me’ilah 19b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Benefit and damage in one item, which הקדש items can be misused again and again (מועל אחר מועל), and how רבי differs from the תנא קמא

Overview

The משנה teaches that a person only commits מעילה on an item that can be damaged if he gets a פרוטה's worth of benefit and causes a פרוטה's worth of damage to the same item. It then teaches that 'misuse after misuse' (מועל אחר מועל) applies only to an animal and to כלי שרת. רבי says instead that it applies to anything that cannot be redeemed. The גמרא shows that the משנה follows רבי נחמיה. A ברייתא has a תנא קמא who limits the rule to an animal, because the פסוק mentions איל האשם. רבי נחמיה adds כלי שרת by a קל וחומר: a vessel that makes its contents holy is surely holy itself. The גמרא then asks how רבי differs from the תנא קמא. רבא says they differ about donated wood, which רבי treats as a real קרבן, and רבא and רב פפא draw out results of that view. רב פפא gives a second answer: altar animals that became blemished and were slaughtered before redemption, where רבי says to bury them and חכמים say to redeem them. Finally, a new משנה begins: taking a stone or beam of הקדש is not מעילה.

Opening lines

מַתְנִי׳

MISHNA:

נֶהֱנָה כְּבַחֲצִי פְרוּטָה

If he derived benefit worth half a perutah

וּפָגַם כַּחֲצִי פְרוּטָה,

and caused damage worth half a perutah,

אוֹ שֶׁנֶּהֱנָה בְּשָׁוֶה פְּרוּטָה בְּדָבָר אֶחָד

or if he derived benefit worth a perutah from one item

The steps (16)

  1. StatementBenefit and damage must both reach a פרוטה in the same item
  2. StatementMisuse after misuse applies only to an animal and service vessels
  3. Statementרבי: anything that cannot be redeemed can be misused again and again
  4. QuestionWhose opinion is the משנה?
  5. ResponseThe משנה follows רבי נחמיה
  6. QuestionWhy does the תנא קמא limit it to an animal?
  7. ResponseThe פסוק about מעילה speaks of an animal
  8. Responseרבי נחמיה's reasoning: a קל וחומר from the vessel's power to make things holy
  9. ChallengeIsn't רבי's rule the same as the תנא קמא's?
  10. Resolutionרבא: they disagree about wood
  11. Proofברייתא: רבי holds that wood is a קרבן
  12. Statementרבא: according to רבי, wood needs other wood
  13. Statementרב פפא: according to רבי, wood needs קמיצה
  14. Resolutionרב פפא's alternate difference: blemished altar animals that were slaughtered
  15. ProofA ברייתא shows רבי and חכמים argue about this case
  16. StatementNew משנה: taking a stone or beam of הקדש