Commentary for Meilah 3:2
הַמַּפְרִישׁ מָעוֹת לִנְזִירוּתוֹ, לֹא נֶהֱנִין וְלֹא מוֹעֲלִין, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהֵן רְאוּיִין לָבֹא כֻלָּן שְׁלָמִים. מֵת, הָיוּ סְתוּמִים, יִפְּלוּ לִנְדָבָה. הָיוּ מְפֹרָשִׁים, דְּמֵי חַטָּאת יֵלְכוּ לְיָם הַמֶּלַח, לֹא נֶהֱנִים וְלֹא מוֹעֲלִין בָּהֶן. דְּמֵי עוֹלָה, יָבִיאוּ עוֹלָה וּמוֹעֲלִין בָּהֶן. וּדְמֵי שְׁלָמִים, יָבִיאוּ שְׁלָמִים, וְנֶאֱכָלִים לְיוֹם אֶחָד, וְאֵינָן טְעוּנִין לָחֶם:
One who separates money for his <i>nazir</i> sacrifices, he cannot derive benefit from it and it is not subject to <i>meilah</i> because they [the money]is fit to be used for shelamim. If he [nazir] died and the money was unspecified [for which offering it is to be used] they should be used for voluntary offerings. If they are specified for which sacrifice they should be used, the money for the <i>chatat</i> should be thrown into the Dead Sea, one cannot derive benefit from it, and is not subject to <i>meilah</i>. The money for the <i>olah</i> should be used to bring an <i>olah</i> and is subject to <i>meilah</i>. The money for the <i>shelamim</i> should be used to buy a <i>shelamim</i> and may be eaten for one day but does not require the accompanying bread [of the Nazarite offering].
Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
המפריש מעות לנזירותו – but he didn’t specify, “these for my burnt-offering (he-lamb), and these for my sin-offering (ewe-lamb) and these for my peace-offering (ram).” (see Numbers 6:14)
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
Introduction
When a nazirite finishes his term he must bring three offerings: a hatat (sin-offering), an olah (whole-burnt offering), and a shelamim (well-being offering). Our mishnah deals with how the law of sacrilege and various other laws apply to these three offerings in a case where a person set aside money to buy the sacrifices but had not yet bought them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
לא נהנים ולא מועלים – with all of these monies.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
If one has set aside money for his nazirite offerings, it may not be used, but the law of sacrilege does not apply to it, as it may all be used for the shelamim. If he set aside money, he is not allowed to use the money, but the laws of sacrilege don’t apply. This is because all of the money might end up going for shelamim (offerings of well-being), and since shelamim are sacrifices of lower sanctity, the laws of sacrilege do not apply to them (see 1:4).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
מפני שהן ראויין להביא אותן שלמים – that is to say, that for each and every Me’ah (a small silver coin worth 32 Perutot or one-sixth of a Denar), we are able to say that he set them aside for peace-offerings. But peace-offerings are Lesser Holy Things and they don’t have the law of religious sacrilege associated with them, as is taught at the end of the first chapter [of Meilah, Mishnah 4], for Lesser Holy Things prior to the sprinkling/tossing of the blood, one does not commit sacrilege. But even though there is also among them the sin-offering and burnt-offering which are eligible for religious sacrilege, since there are also the monies for the peace-offerings which are not eligible for religious sacrilege, if he brought upon them the sacrilege sacrifice, we find that he brings unconsecrated things into the Temple courtyard, therefore, they are not available for benefit nor religious sacrilege.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
If he died and left money [for his nazirite offerings] If unspecified it shall go to the fund for voluntary offerings; If specified: The money designated for the hatats shall be taken to the Dead Sea; it may not be used, though the law of sacrilege does not apply to it. With the money designated for an olah they shall bring a olah; the law of sacrilege applies to it. With the money designated for the shelamim they shall bring a shelamim, and it has to be consumed within a day, but requires no bread offering. If he died and left money, but had not specified how much was to go for each type of sacrifice, then all of the money goes to the general fund in the Temple used to buy voluntary offerings.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
מת – A person who sets aside money, and these monies were undefined, as he did not specify that these were for the sin-offering and these for the burnt-offering and these for the peace-offering, all these monies would all [to the Temple treasury] as a donation.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
The mishnah now deals with a case where he did specify which coins go for which sacrifices. The money set aside for a hatat must be destroyed. As we learned in yesterday’s mishnah, a hatat whose owners have died can’t be sacrificed. While it is forbidden to derive any benefit from this money, if he does it is not sacrilege, because the money was not going to be used to buy a sacrifice. The money for the olah should be used to buy an olah. The law of sacrilege will apply to the olah, as it always does. The money set aside for the shelamim is used for a shelamim. It must be eaten by the next day, as is the law for the shelamim of a nazirite (Zevahim 5:6), but it does not need to be accompanied by a bread-offering, because the nazirite is dead and the bread offering is supposed to be put in his hands (see Numbers 6:19).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
דמי חטאת ילכו לים המלח – for a sin-offering whose owners died.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
דמי עולה יביאו עולה – as we state [Tractate Kinim, at the end of Chapter 2 – Mishnah 5]: “The woman who died let her heirs bring her bunt-offering,” for it is a mere gift.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
ונאכלין ליום אחד – like the law regarding the peace-offering of the Nazir (see Mishnah Zevakhim, Chapter 5, Mishnah 6 - also found in a standard traditional Siddur as part of the morning service).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
ואינן טעונין לחם – for regarding bread, it is written (Numbers 6:19): ”and he shall place them (the shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake and one unleavened wafer) and place them on he hands of the nazirite [after he has shaved his consecrated hair],” but he is not there since he died.
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