Kids Daf Quest

Daf Yomi for kids · Talmud Bavli · Masechet Meilah

Meilah 22 for kids: The Last Coin Puzzle

מעילה כ״ב

🪙 This daf finishes Tractate Meilah with a tricky question about purses and wine jugs. The rabbis argue about whether you can decide now which coin or which cup of wine will become holy later.

Daf Yomi day:

📖 Open Meilah 22a in Daf Quest

In the app: the Gemara with Rashi and Tosafot, the printed page, games made from this daf, play coins and treasure chests.

Stories from Meilah 22

Words to know

Rashi and Tosafot on Meilah 22 in simple English

Rashi on Meilah 22a, in English Tab translation (6)
  1. Purses and log measures he raised to him — Reish Lakish raised this contradiction, between [the mishna of] purses and [the mishna of] log measures, to Rabbi Yochanan.
  2. As we learned: One who purchases wine from among the Samaritans — this is referring to before their wine was forbidden [as gentile wine], and it is a case where he was traveling, or it was Shabbat twilight, and he was unable to fix it [separate terumah and tithes] immediately.
  3. He says: two log — [he says that] two log, which is the great terumah that I will separate in the future, are hereby designated as great terumah; and afterward, from what remains — one hundred measures — he separates ten for first tithe, and from the ninety measures that remain he separates nine for second tithe.
  4. And he desacralizes — this amount he desacralizes for second tithe, so that he can redeem it [transfer its sanctity to money] and then drink; and the rest is non-sacred, and he may drink from it immediately, as long as he is careful to leave in the vessel the amount of the terumah and the tithes, for he holds that there is retroactive designation.
  5. Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, and Rabbi Shimon prohibit — until he actually separates it, for they hold that there is no retroactive designation, and with every single cup one could say it is terumah or tithe, even from the first cup. And this ruling of Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosei, and Rabbi Shimon poses a difficulty against Rabbi Akiva, who agrees that one may continue [spending from the purse] until the last coin — for just as here they say there is no retroactive designation, meaning that even with the first cup one could say it is terumah or tithe, so too regarding consecrated property, with every single coin one could say it is consecrated.
  6. He said to him: the latter clause of the mishna — in which Rabbi Akiva agrees, is dealing with a case where one said, 'This purse shall not become exempt from consecration [until it is empty],' [in which case the last coin is understood to be the consecrated one].
Tosafot on Meilah 22a, in English Tab translation (2)
  1. Lemma — He raised the contradiction of purses from the log measure. This is because one might think that the reasoning of our mishna (about purses) is based on retroactive designation, even though the person did not specify anything at all. Therefore he challenges this from the case of the log measure, where even according to the opinion that retroactive designation works, it only works specifically because he said 'that I will separate in the future' - but if he spoke without any specification, it would not work. The answer given is that the mishna here deals with one who says 'this purse shall not be exempt from consecration,' which is equivalent to specifying in advance as in the log measure case, and this works by virtue of retroactive designation. Alternatively, this reasoning would work even according to the opinion that does not accept retroactive designation.
  2. Lemma — As we learned: 'One who purchases wine from among the Samaritans,' etc. He raises this question against Rabbi Meir: why did he need to say 'that I will separate after Shabbat'? Even if he had not said so, the teruma would still be understood to apply to the last measure, just as in the case of the purses the consecrated peruta is understood to be the last one. Some explain that he is actually raising the question against Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon, who prohibit this method because they do not accept retroactive designation - arguing that here too one should say there is no retroactive designation. But this explanation is not correct, for who told us that the passage follows the view of Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon?

Sources

Kid summary and story cards written by Tab from the William Davidson Edition English (Sefaria, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Tab translation (machine-assisted) of Rashi and Tosafot, from the Vilna Edition Hebrew (public domain) on Sefaria. May contain mistakes.

In the app, the Gemara text comes from Sefaria (William Davidson Edition, CC BY-NC 4.0; Hebrew/Aramaic Vilna Edition). Rashi and Tosafot Hebrew: Vilna Edition (public domain) via Sefaria.

Also spelled: Me'ilah, Meila 22.