Monday 23 September 2019

Me'ila 6: Are New Prohibitions Subject to the Laws of Me'ila?

We understand that me'ila, benefiting from consecrated objects, applies when we are not permitted to benefit from that object otherwise.  An example is the sprinkled blood of the sacrifices: it is not subject to the laws of me'ila once that sprinkling has taken place.  

Today's daf includes a Mishna where a case is shared: the sacrifice was removed from the Temple before the sprinkling of blood.  Rabbi Eliezer rules that in this case the sacrifice is disqualified and the sprinkling held no meaning and the meat never was allowed to the priests, thus the laws of me'ila stay in effect.    Rabbi Akiva argues that sprinkling is meaningful and the sacrifice is treated as an ordinary sacrifice, and so the laws of me'ila do not apply, but other laws do:
  • the laws of piggul, abhorrent sacrifices where the intent was to perform the sacrifice at the wrong time
  • the laws of notar, a left-over sacrifice
  • the laws of tameh, a sacrifice that became ritually defiled
The Rabbis ask how Rabbi Akiva's opinion might apply to this case.  The meat of the sacrifice is forbidden to anyone after it has been taken out of the Temple area, and so we do not apply the general principle of ein issur chal al issur, we do not add new prohibitions to already existing prohibitions.  New prohibitions might be added because they are:
  • Issur kollel, inclusive prohibition where there is no extra prohibition added and instead the new prohibition broadens the contexts of the existing prohibition and its category is now included under the original prohibition
  • Issur mosif, an additional prohibition where the prohibition does not fall under a larger category.  
Because the laws of piggul apply to parts of the sacrifice that were not removed from the Temple, the new prohibition applies to more than the old one did and thus it must be significant.

No comments:

Post a Comment