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Me’ilah 5a

מעילה ה׳ ע״א

Meilah 5a

Learn Me’ilah 5a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Me’ilah 5a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Which stage of 'היתר' (שחיטה, זריקה, or אכילה) frees a disqualified קרבן from מעילה, and whether the משנה's wording can prove it.

Overview

The גמרא asks what 'היתר' means in the משנה that frees a later-disqualified קרבן from מעילה. There are three options: proper שחיטה, blood ready for זריקה, or meat permitted for אכילה. חזקיה says היתר שחיטה and רבי יוחנן says היתר אכילה. רבי זירא argues that the משנה fits neither. He first points to 'שלנה', reading it as blood left overnight unsprinkled, but the גמרא answers that it may mean meat left overnight after a proper זריקה. He then points to blood collected by פסולין and sprinkled by כשרים, where the משנה says מעילה still applies, so a valid שחיטה alone is not enough. רב יוסף objects with a משנה in זבחים about the blood of a disqualified חטאת and כיבוס. There, reading 'collected and sprinkled by פסולין' exactly leads to a result that contradicts the פסוק 'אשר יזה מדמה'. So that wording must be 'לאו דוקא', not exact, and the explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אוֹ הֶיתֵּר זְרִיקָה שָׁנִינוּ,

Or was it fitness for sprinkling that we learned,

אוֹ הֶיתֵּר אֲכִילָה שָׁנִינוּ?

or was it fitness for eating that we learned?

חִזְקִיָּה אָמַר: הֶיתֵּר שְׁחִיטָה שָׁנִינוּ,

Chizkiyah says: we learned fitness of slaughtering,

רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן אָמַר: הֶיתֵּר אֲכִילָה שָׁנִינוּ.

Rabbi Yochanan says: we learned fitness of eating.

The steps (17)

  1. QuestionWhich stage counts as 'היתר'?
  2. Responseחזקיה says slaughtering, רבי יוחנן says eating
  3. Challengeרבי זירא says the משנה fits neither opinion
  4. ProofProof from blood that stayed overnight
  5. ConclusionSo the משנה means fitness for sprinkling
  6. RejectionThe meat stayed overnight, but the blood was already sprinkled
  7. ProofQuoting the משנה: an offering that never had a time of fitness
  8. QuestionWhat case is meant? Unfit people doing both jobs makes no sense
  9. ProofUnfit people collected the blood and fit people sprinkled it
  10. ConclusionSo the משנה Is Talking About Fitness for Sprinkling
  11. Challengeרב יוסף Objects Using Another משנה
  12. ProofThe משנה: Blood of a Disqualified חטאת Needs No Washing
  13. StatementWhich חטאת Had a Period of Fitness
  14. StatementCases of a חטאת that never had a period of fitness
  15. QuestionWhat exactly is the case of unfit people handling the blood
  16. ChallengeThe פסוק excludes blood that was already sprinkled
  17. ResolutionThe משנה's wording is not exact