Yerushalmi Megillah 3:1 ירושלמי מגילה ג׳:א׳

MISHNAH: The people of a town who sold the town plaza¹The town plaza has some holiness since it is the place of public prayer in times of draught (Ta`aniot2:1). buy with the proceeds a synagogue²The sanctity of the synagogue as permanent place of prayer is greater than that of the town plaza. The general principle is that if an object of holiness was sold, the proceeds have to be used to buy an object of greater holiness., a synagogue they buy an Ark³The (movable) chest in which the Torah scrolls are kept., an Ark they buy ribands⁴The bands, in Germany called wimpels and elaborately decorated, which are used to tie the Torah scrolls., ribands they buy books⁵Texts of Prophets and Hagiographs., books the buy a Torah⁶Torah scrolls qualified to be read in public.. But if they sold a Torah they may not buy books, books they may not buy ribands, ribands they may not buy an Ark, an Ark they may not buy a synagogue, a synagogue they may not buy a town plaza. The same holds for their excess⁷Excess money after the replacement has been bought does not lose its sanctity and may not be used for profane purposes..

HALAKHAH: “The people of a town who sold the town plaza,” etc. Rebbi Joḥanan said, this is Rebbi Menaḥem ben Rebbi Yose’s, for Rebbi Menaḥem ben Rebbi Yose said, the town plaza has holiness since one brings a Torah scroll and reads from it in public¹The town plaza has some holiness since it is the place of public prayer in times of draught (Ta`aniot2:1).. But following the Rabbis one treats it like a distance of four cubits⁸As explained in the next paragraph, one may pray everywhere if one is at a distance of 4 cubits from bad smells, excrement, etc. Since the public square is used for prayer on very rare occasions, it is treated as a place of occasional prayer which has no intrinsic sanctity. Babli 26a..

⁹This is copied from a longer discussion in Berakhot3:5 (6d line 60, Notes 251–252,ב). Rebbi Jeremiah, Rebbi Samuel bar Ḥalaph in the name of Rav Ada bar Aḥava: He who prayed should not spit until he walked four cubits. Rebbi Yose bar Rebbi Abun said, similarly (spittle) <he who spat>¹⁰The text <from <i>Berakhot> is the correct one. should not pray until he walked four cubits. He who urinates should not pray until he walks four cubits¹¹In the Tosephta (Berakhot2:19), the language is more restrictive: “A person should not urinate at the place where he prays unless he removes himself four cubits. Once he urinated he should not pray unless he removed himself four cubits. If it is dry or absorbed (in the earth) it is permitted.” This text is the basis of the discussion of the Babli 27b but not of the Yerushalmi.. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa said: not only that he walks four cubits but even if he waits corresponding to a walk of four cubits. If you say that he is forbidden until he removes himself four cubits, I say that somebody else came and urinated there¹²And there is no place in the world where he could pray. The Babli (Berakhot25a) explicitly rules out this argument and states that one is forbidden only at a place where certainly somebody urinated and the moisture is still recognizable..

The people of Bet Shean asked Rebbi Immi, may one take stones from one synagogue to build another synagogue¹³In a different place or neighborhood. If the synagogue was destroyed and has to be rebuilt on its plot or nearby, the old stones have to be re-used if at all possible.? He said to them, it is forbidden. Rebbi Ḥelbo said, Rebbi Immi forbade it only to make them feel bad¹⁴The ruling is not invariable religious law, but an ad hoc ruling at a time when the Christian government of the Roman Empire tried to eliminate Jewish settlement in the Holy Land.. Rebbi Gorion said, the people from Magdala asked Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: May one take stones from one village to build in another village? He said to them, it is forbidden¹⁴The ruling is not invariable religious law, but an ad hoc ruling at a time when the Christian government of the Roman Empire tried to eliminate Jewish settlement in the Holy Land.. Rebbi Immi instructed, even from East to West is forbidden because of the destruction of that place. May one sell a synagogue to buy a school? Rebbi Joshua ben Levi’s word implies that it is permitted. For Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, he burned the Eternal’s House¹⁵2K. 25:9., that is the Temple, and the king’s house, that is Sedecias’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem, these are the 480 synagogues which were in Jerusalem¹⁶While this refers to Jerusalem in post-Herodian times (Babli Ketubot105a) and the verse describes the destruction of the first Temple, this should not be considered an anachronism. Since the verse is formulated as part of Scripture, it is meaningful outside of time and space.. As Rebbi Phineas said in the name of Rebbi Hoshaia: There were 480 synagogues in Jerusalem, each of which had a school and a Talmud study; [the school] for Bible and the Talmud study for Mishnah. Against all of them came Vespasian. And every large house he burned in fire, that is the study of Rabban Joḥanan ben Zakkai where one was telling the great deeds of the Holy One, praise to Him, in the sense of tell please of the great deeds which Elisha accomplished¹⁷2K. 8:4.. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: That you are saying about a private synagogue. But with a public synagogue it is forbidden; I am saying that one at the end of the world has part in it¹⁸He would have to be asked to vote on the sale of the property. Babli 26a/b,27a.. But did we not state, “it happened that Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Ṣadoq bought the synagogue of the Alexandrians and used it for all his needs”? The Alexandrians made it from their own¹⁹Tosephta 2:17. In the Babli 26a it is the synagogue of the metal smelters, a local guild, so no far-away person may have a say in it. Therefore their vote is undisputed.. So far if it was built as a synagogue. If it was built as a court and he dedicated it, what is the rule? Let us hear from the following: “A qônam²⁰A formula to confirm an oath, Phoenician for qorbān; cf. Introduction to Tractate Nedarim. that I shall not enter this house and it was turned into a synagogue.²¹Mishnah Nedarim9:2. Since the Mishnah states that this vow may be dissolved, it confirms that the dedication of profane building turns it into a synagogue.” This implies that if it was built as a court and he dedicated it, it became sanctified. When is it sanctified, immediately [or] at the moment of use? Let us hear from the following: If one builds a chest for a scroll²²A Torah scroll. or makes ribands for a scroll. As long as it was not used for a scroll profane use is permitted; after it was used for the scroll private use is prohibited. Therefore, if these who were made for a scroll are not sanctified until used, this which was built as court not so much more? What is the rule for these if they were made for profane use? Since you are saying there, if it was built as a court and he dedicated it, it is sanctified, so here if they were made for profane use and he dedicated them they are sanctified²³The rules for dedication of real estate and of movables are identical..

²⁴Copied from Yoma3:6, Notes 120–126. From which moment on are vessels of Temple service holy? Immediately²⁵Is a declaration of intent to use the vessel in the Temple the equivalent of a formal dedication and donation to the Temple, or not? Since the contents of a sacred vessel automatically become holy, in the second case the holiness of the vessel and its power to convert profane to sacral start at the same moment. or at the moment of use? If you are saying immediately, it is understandable. If you are saying at the moment of use, simultaneously they become holy and make holy. One can understand for those of Moses which became holy by the anointing oil and the blood²⁶Before they were actually used. This is an action, not a declaration of intent.. But those of Solomon simultaneously became holy and made holy. When they entered the Land they transferred from Moses’s to Solomon’s²⁷But first to the Tabernacle at Shiloh.. If none of Moses’s was available, they simultaneously became holy and made holy. When they returned from the Diaspora, they transferred from Solomon’s²⁸The vessels given by Cyrus from the treasury of Babylon. to theirs. If none of Solomon was available, they simultaneously became holy and made holy.

²⁹Copied from Yoma, not approppriate here. Stones quarried for a corpse are forbidden for usufruct³⁰Since a grave and its appurtenances are forbidden for usufruct.. For a corpse or a living person³¹Babli Sanhedrin48a: A mausoleum built for a person still living is permitted for usufruct. they are permitted for usufruct. If somebody throws an implement near the bier of a corpse, within four cubits [of him]³²Corrector’s addition, not in Yoma, To be deleted as unjustified. it is forbidden for usufruct; anything outside four cubits is permitted for usufruct.

All appurtenances of the synagogue are like the synagogue³³In that they become dedicated to sacral use by being used the first time. Tosephta 2:13.. The bench³⁴Latin subsellium. and the arm-chair³⁵Greek κλιντήρ. are like the synagogue. The cover over the Ark is like the Ark. Rebbi Abbahu gave a jacket under the curtain³⁶Latin vellum.. Rav Jehudah in the name of Samuel: The podium³⁷Where the public Torah reading is performed. Babli 32a; cf. Meïri and Rosh ad loc. and its plates do not have the sanctity of the Ark but the sanctity of the synagogue. The lectern³⁸It is difficult to know how this was pronounced. In Mishnah Kelim16:7 אנלגין, Greek ’αναλογεῑον. does not have the sanctity of the Ark; it has the sanctity of the synagogue. Rebbi Jeremiah went to the Gaulanitis. He saw them putting a hammer into the Ark. He went and asked Rebbi Immi, who told him, I am saying that they stipulated this from the start. Rebbi Jonah made for himself a chest and stipulated about it, the upper part for scrolls, the lower part for implements³⁹To confirm that it is possible to stipulate before an implement is given to the synagogue that it may be used for specified profane purposes as long as these do not interfere with the intended sacral use. Nevertheless if the implement is sold, the rules of tHe Mishnah do apply..

“Ribands they buy books⁵Texts of Prophets and Hagiographs..” Even for ribands of Torah and Ḥumash⁴⁰Scrolls containing a single book of the Pentateuch which cannot be used for public readings. one buys Prophets and Hagiographs.

“Books, they may not buy ribands.” Even from Prophets and Hagiographs one may [not] buy ribands for Torah or Ḥumashim. One ties a Torah with ribands of Torah, Ḥumashim with ribands of Ḥumashim, [Prophets with ribands of Prophets]; Torah and Ḥumashim with ribands of Prophets and Hagiographs, but not Prophets and Hagiographs with ribands of Torah and Ḥumashim. One may put a Torah on top of a Torah, Ḥumashim on top of Ḥumashim, Torah and Ḥumashim on top of Prophets and Hagiographs but not Prophets and Hagiographs on top of Torah and Ḥumashim. Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Ze`ira: The Tanna fled from Torah and Ḥumashim⁴¹He does not address the problem whether a wimpel used for a single Ḥumash may be used for a complete Torah scroll and vice versa. A partial answer is given in the Babli 27a..

One writes Torah and Prophets together, the words of Rebbi Meïr. But the Sages are saying, one does not write Torah and Prophets together, but one may write Torah, Prophets, and Hagiographs together⁴²While the sanctity of Torah is greater than that of the other parts of the Bible, one may write an entire Bible together, but not a Torah together with the portions of the prophets read as weekly Haftarah. Babli Bava Batra13b.. Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac: Torah and Ḥumashim have the same sanctity. One does not split a Torah into Ḥumashim, but one turns Ḥumashim into a Torah. Rebbi Yose said, this implies that a Torah which was split into Ḥumashim remains in its sanctity⁴³Since the Ḥumashim may be put together to form a complete Torah, they could not have lost their sanctity by being split.. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Jonathan: One does not read in public from an incomplete Torah⁴⁴Babli Giṭtin60a.. But was it not stated: ⁴⁵This indicates how deficient a book may be and still be used in public. It is permitted to read in public in Genesis up to the deluge, in Leviticus up to it was on the eighth day⁴⁶Lev. 9:1., in Numbers up to it was when the Ark travelled⁴⁷Num. 10:35.? This Ursicinus⁴⁸Legate of the Emperor Gallus. set fire to the Torah of the Sennabarites⁴⁹From a place near Tiberias.. They came and asked Rebbi Jonah and Rebbi Yose, whether one may read from the scroll in public. They told them, it is forbidden. Not that it is forbidden but since they will feel so badly they will buy another one.

“The same holds for the excess.” From what the administrators of charity collected⁵⁰Since charity money is given as a religious obligation, it acquires sanctity which makes illegitimate use sinful until the money is delivered to an entitled recipient. Cf. Babli 27a.. As the following: Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba went to Ḥoms where they gave him monies to distribute to orphans and widows. He went and distributed it to the rabbis. Does he have to replace them? Rebbi Abba bar Mamal said, he has to replace them. Rebbi Ze`ira⁵¹Since he was a direct student of R. Ḥiyya bar Abba, his opinion probably is that of his teacher. said, he has to replace them. Rebbi Ila said, he does not have to replace them. Rebbi Yasa in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan says, he does not have to replace them. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa, Rebbi Yasa, Rebbi Eleazar in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina, the intended use of any charity monies may be changed before they are given into the hands of the administrators; after they are given into the hands of the administrators they may not be changed⁵²Halakhah 1:6, Note 130. Babli Arakhin 6a..