Se puede vender una casa de oración solo con la condición de que si ellos (los vendedores) lo desean, se la devuelva. Estas son las palabras de R. Meir. [Incluso de muchos a muchos no se puede vender incondicionalmente, esto es degradante, como si dijera: "No es nada especial para nosotros". La halajá no está de acuerdo con R. Meir.] Los sabios dicen: Se puede vender para siempre (es decir, incondicionalmente) [incluso a un individuo, para cualquier propósito], excepto por cuatro cosas: una casa de baños, una curtiduría, una mikve. , una casa de "riego" [es decir, para lavar (ropa); o, por pasar agua.] R. Yehudah dice: Se puede vender como un patio, y el comprador puede hacer lo que quiera con él. [La halajá no está de acuerdo con R. Yehudah.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Megillah
אלא על תנאי – and even that [synagogue] which belongs to the community, it is forbidden for the community to sell it to another community permanently, for it is a manner of disgrace, that is to say, it is not anything in our eyes. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Megillah
Introduction
This mishnah deals specifically with selling a synagogue.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Megillah
ממכר עולם – and even to an individual and even to all of its implements. חוץ מד' דברים – that for those four things he should not sell it (i.e. a bathhouse, tannery, Mikveh and/or a urinal/laundry room – see the next entry).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Megillah
They may not sell a synagogue except with the stipulation that it may be bought back whenever they want, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Meir holds that the community can sell the synagogue but only on condition that the synagogue can be bought back any time they wish. It sounds like Rabbi Meir intends to say that while the community may sell the synagogue because they need to buy holier items, what the community should really do is save up so that they can buy the synagogue back. Also, if they saw that the synagogue was being put to improper use, they could demand to purchase it back immediately.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Megillah
בית המים – for laundering or alternatively, for urine.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Megillah
But the sages say: they may sell it in perpetuity, except for four purposes for it to become one of four things: a bathhouse, a tannery, a ritual bath, or a urinal. The rabbis are more lenient when it comes to selling the synagogue and do not require the seller to be able to buy it back whenever he should so please. The one restriction is that the sellers may not sell it knowing that it will be used for a something smelly (a tannery, a urinal) or for something where people will be naked (a bathhouse or a ritual bath).
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Bartenura on Mishnah Megillah
ר"י אומר: מוכרין אותו לשם חצר – But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Megillah
Rabbi Judah says: they may sell it to be a courtyard, and the purchaser may do what he likes with it. Rabbi Judah points out that if the synagogue’s owners cannot by right repurchase the synagogue, then the new owners can trick the system by first buying it to be a courtyard and then doing with it whatever they like, including turning it into a urinal. It is unclear whether Rabbi Judah says that this is permitted and there’s nothing that can be done about it, or what he is really doing is criticizing the sages’ position by pointing out that they can’t really enforce their halakhah. As we shall see in the next mishnah, Rabbi Judah believes that a synagogue retains its sanctity even after it is destroyed. It therefore seems less likely that Rabbi Judah would condone the synagogue becoming something like a urinal.
