Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Megillah 27b - Selling a Shul and Removing Kedusha

R' Moshe (Igros Moshe O.C. 1:51) was asked about using the Ezras Nashim of a shul to build a mikvah in a case where there was no other mikvah and no other space available for it. He first explains that gadol hashalom would be docheh even if there would be an issur, but then he launches into an elaborate explanation how to do it so that there should not be an issur. It seems that the main issue is that although the people in control of the shul may have the status of the 7 tuvei ha'ir, it cannot be done b'mamad anshei ha'ir. In the course of the discussion he answer the question of R' Akiva Eiger. The gilyon hashas 26a asks that Rashi 26a implies that without 7 tuvei ha'ir b'mamad anshei hair (7th-bmah) the kedusha remains on the shul and the money, and with 7th-bmah the kedusha is removed from both. Yet rashi on 27b writes that there is a case where the shul will not be kadosh, but the money will be. What is that case? R' Moshe writes that the 7th have the monetary control to sell the shul but it is like selling a sefer torah where the kedusha will remain on both the money and the item. The addition of bmah verifies that all agree that this location is no longer needed for the shul, so the kedusha will automatically go away. Therefore, when done by 7th-bmah, if the place is no longer needed the kedusha will leave the place but remain on the money. If the money is also no longer needed the kedusha will leave the money also. He is michadesh that if the halacha would endorse selling it, that is the equivalent of bmah since that we can assume all would agree, therefore the people in charge of the shul can sell the ezras nashim to be used for a mikvah since it is the equivalent of 7th-bmah and the kedusha goes away.
chaval al d'avdin v'lo mishtakchin!

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