A bird's nest that is in a tree that belongs to the Temple, one cannot derive benefit from it, but it is not subject to the laws of <i>meilah</i>. If it is in an <i> asherah</i> [a tree or grove devoted to idolatrous worship] he can knock it down with a branch. One who consecrates a forest, all of it [everything in it] is subject to meilah. If the Temple treasurers bought [unprocessed] trees, the wood is subject to <i>meilah</i>, but the bark and the leaves are not subject to <i>meilah</i>.
Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
קן שבראש אילן של הקדש – that the bird bruilt it from the wood and chips that it brought from another place.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
A nest which is built on the top of a dedicated tree, one may not derive benefit from it, but the law of sacrilege does not apply to it. The nest at the top of the dedicated tree is forbidden for use, but since it is not the tree itself, it is not subject to the law of sacrilege.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
שבאשרה יתיז בקנה – he should cause the nest to fall to the ground with a reed, and specifically, cause it to fly off, but he should not ascend on the Asherah/idolatrous tree, for if he ascends to take the nest, it is found that he is benefitting from the Asherah. But the eggs and the chicks that are in the nest, all the time that they need their mother, it is forbidden, whether at the top of a sanctified tree or whether at the top of an Asherah.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
That which is on the top of an asherah, one flicks [it] off with a reed. An asherah is a tree used in idol worship (see Avodah Zarah 3:7). It is forbidden to use the tree. The nest, however, is not prohibited. If a person wants to take the nest, he can flick it off with a reed. Note that the law is stricter when it comes to Temple property there is no way to use the nest.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
המקדיש את החורש – the Aramaic translation of “forest,” thicket, wild-growing bushes.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
If one dedicated a forest to the temple, the law of sacrilege applies to the whole of it. If a person dedicates an entire forest to the Temple, every part of the tree is sacred and subject to the law of sacrilege, including the leaves.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
מועלים בכולו – in the trees and on the branches and on the leaves.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Meilah
However, if the Temple buys a forest in order to use the trees, only the parts of the tree that they intend to use, namely the lumber is subject to the law of sacrilege. The chips and the fallen leaves are not subject to sacrilege because the when the treasurers bought them, they knew that they had no use for them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
הגזברים שלקחו את העצים – Maimonides explained, to include the pieces of wood that they cut with a saw at the time when they prepare them for beams, that they commit religious sacrilege with them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
ולא בשפויין (but not with their shavings/planings/chips) – thin boards that they planed/sawed from the trees when they split them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Meilah
נויה (sproutings, leaves and flowers) – leaves that are on the trees of the forest.
