Maaser Sheini 1:5 — Buying improperly with maaser sheni money

The Lived Mishnah·A Zeman Nakat Project
Tisha B'Av Series
Mishnah 32 of 41
אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלָיִם
Part IV · Section 2
Consecrated Items After the Destruction
With the Mikdash gone, what becomes of items set aside in holiness — maaser sheini and the like — that could once be brought up to Yerushalayim? These mishnayos weigh whether they can still be used, or must be left to waste.
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ZeraimSederסדרזְרָעִים
Maaser SheiniMesechtaמסכתמעשר שני
1Perekפרקא׳
5Mishnahמשנהה׳
נושא · Topicקְנִיָּה שֶׁלֹּא כָּרָאוּי בְּכֶסֶף מַעֲשֵׂרBuying improperly with maaser sheni money
This Mishnah is:a rulewhat does that mean?
Mishnah מעשר שני א׳:ה׳ · Maaser Sheini 1:5
הַלּוֹקֵחַ מַיִם,
וּמֶלַח,
וּפֵרוֹת הַמְחֻבָּרִים לַקַּרְקַע,
אוֹ פֵרוֹת שֶׁאֵינָן יְכוֹלִין לְהַגִּיעַ לִירוּשָׁלַיִם,
לֹא קָנָה מַעֲשֵׂר.
הַלּוֹקֵחַ פֵּרוֹת,
שׁוֹגֵג, יַחְזְרוּ דָמִים לִמְקוֹמָן.
מֵזִיד, יָעֳלוּ וְיֵאָכְלוּ בַמָּקוֹם.
וְאִם אֵין מִקְדָּשׁ, יֵרַקְּבוּ.
One who buys water,
or salt,
or produce still attached to the ground,
or produce that cannot reach Yerushalayim —
the maaser is not acquired.
One who buys produce:
unintentionally (shogeg), the money reverts to its place;
deliberately (meizid), they go up and are eaten in Yerushalayim.
And if there is no Mikdash, they are left to rot.
A reading aid, not an exact translation.

This English is a clause-by-clause rendering to help you follow the Hebrew. It is not word-for-word literal, and it is not a transcript of the recorded shiur — the audio carries explanation and context the translation deliberately leaves out.

case/objectrestrictive rulingpermissive rulingcondition
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure▾
מָה נִקְנֶה — the boundary
מָה נִקְנֶה בְּכֶסֶף מַעֲשֵׂר — וּמָה לֹא פֵּרוֹת detached produce that can reach Yerushalayim קָנָה מַעֲשֵׂר מַיִם מֶלַח מְחֻבָּר לַקַּרְקַע שֶׁאֵינָן יְכוֹלִין לְהַגִּיעַ לִירוּשָׁלַיִם outside the circle לֹא קָנָה מַעֲשֵׂר what maaser-money buys lives inside one circle; water, salt, attached, unreachable stand outside it
Summary Chart
Buying improperly with maaser sheni money▾
CaseRulingReason
What if one buys water, salt, attached produce, or produce that cannot reach Yerushalayim?The sale is void — it is as if it never happened—
One who buys produce by mistake (shogeg)?The money reverts to its place—
And deliberately (meizid)?They go up and are eaten in Yerushalayim—
And if there is no Mikdash?They are left to rot—
Transcript
A machine transcript of the recorded shiur.

This is the shiur as spoken, transcribed automatically and left unedited — the wording is Ephraim's, and occasional transcription errors remain. It follows the audio word by word.

All Meforshim
Mishnah Insights
An amalgam of commentaries, including original insights.

These insights draw on the commentaries to this Mishnah and on the recorded shiur. Those commentaries often rest on earlier sources — the Gemara, the Yerushalmi, the Rishonim, and one another — without always saying so; where they do, we generally cite the one we read. Every commentary consulted is kept, verbatim, with this card.

Maaser sheni money, and what it cannot buy▾

Why not water and salt

Maaser sheni money may buy only certain things. The Gemara reads the Torah’s ‘spend it on cattle, sheep, wine, or strong drink… on anything you desire’ as a klal-prat-klal: only what is food and grows from the ground qualifies. Water and salt are edible but do not grow from the earth — so the money buys them, but the maaser is not thereby spent.

With no Mikdash, left to rot

Produce bought knowingly outside Yerushalayim must be brought up to Yerushalayim and eaten there. Then the churban clause: with no Mikdash, it is left to rot. Tosafos Yom Tov points to the neighboring Eduyos 8:6, where R’ Yehoshua argues the other way — that maaser sheni may still be eaten even without the walls — so whether such food can be used at all after the destruction is itself disputed.

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

The mishnah bars buying with maaser sheni money ‘produce that cannot reach Yerushalayim.’ Hon Ashir asks where the rule is rooted: Bartenura and Rambam derive the list from the beraisa on ‘and you shall spend the money’ (klal-prat-klal), yet that beraisa nowhere requires the item be a davar hamiskayem, one lasting enough to arrive whole. He writes that he could not establish its source, and leaves the question standing.

— Hon Ashir
Series Insights
Series context▾
← Previous
Eiruvin 10:15
Removing tumah from the Mikdash
Mishnah 32 of 41
Maaser Sheini 1:5
Maaser sheni with nowhere to go
Next →
Maaser Sheini 1:6
The animal bought amiss

Where this sits

The series turns to consecrated things left stranded by the destruction. Maaser sheni was meant to be carried up and eaten in Yerushalayim; bought amiss and stranded outside it, with the Mikdash gone, it can only be left to rot. The holiness remains, but its destination is gone — a small, sharp image of everything the Churban left with nowhere to go.

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