Megillah

if it was for a drinking place,1 the transaction holds good. Rabina had the ground of a dismantled synagogue. He applied to R. Ashi to know whether he could plant seeds there. He replied: Go and buy it from the seven ‘good men’ of the town in the assembly of the townspeople, and you may then sow it. Rami b. Abba was building a synagogue. There was a certain old synagogue which he wanted to pull down, so as to take bricks and beams from it and use them for the other. He was doubtful, however, how to interpret the dictum of R. Hisda; for R. Hisda2 said: A man should not pull down a synagogue until he has built another [to take its place]. The reason there, [he knew] was so that there should be no negligence.3 But what was the rule in such a case as this?4 He applied to R. Papa, who forbade him; to R. Huna, and he also forbade him. Raba said: A synagogue may be exchanged or sold [for secular purposes], but may not be hired or pledged. What is the reason? [In the latter case] its holiness is still adhering to it.5 Its bricks also, may be exchanged or sold [for secular purposes], but not lent. This rule applies only to old ones,6 but in the case of new ones there is no objection.7 And even if we adopt the view that the mere intention [to use a thing for a certain purpose] has a certain force, this would be the case, for instance, with one who weaves a shroud for a dead body,8 but in this case [the objects in question] are like thread which has still to be woven into cloth, and no authority says [that in such a case there is force in mere intention]. [With regard to a synagogue which has been made] a gift, there is a difference of opinion between R. Aha and Rabina, one forbidding [it to be used for secular purposes] and one permitting. The one who forbade did so on the ground that there is nothing to which its holiness is transferred,9 while the one who permitted it argued that if he [the giver] did not derive some benefit from the act10 he would not give it, so that in the end the gift is equivalent to a sale. Our Rabbis taught: ‘Accessories of religious observances [when disused] are to be thrown away; accessories of holiness are to be stored away. The following are accessories of religious observances: a sukkah, a lulab, a shofar,11 fringes. The following are accessories of holiness: large sacks for keeping scrolls of the Scripture in, tefillin and mezuzoth,11 a mantle for a sefer torah,11 and a tefillin bag and tefillin straps’. Raba said: At first I used to think that the stand [on which the sefer torah is placed] is an accessory to an accessory and that it is permitted.12 When, however, I saw that the sefer torah is placed actually on it,13 I came to the conclusion that it is all accessory of holiness and is forbidden. Raba further said: At first I used to think that the curtain14 is an accessory of an accessory. When, however, I observed that it is folded over and a scroll is placed on it, I came to the conclusion that it is itself an accessory of holiness, and forbidden. Raba further said: When an ark is falling asunder, to make it into a smaller ark is permitted, but to make it into a stand15 is forbidden. Raba further said: When a curtain is worn out, to make it into a mantle for a [whole] scroll of the Law is permitted, but for a single humash11 is forbidden. Raba further said: These bags for humashim and boxes for scrolls16 are accessories of holiness and must be stored away [when disused]. Is not this obvious? — You might think that these are used not out of respect [for the scrolls] but merely for protection. Therefore we are told [that this is not so]. There was a synagogue of the Roman Jews17 which opened out into a room where a dead body was deposited.18 The kohanim19 wanted to go in there to pray, and they came and asked Raba [what they should do]. He said: Take the ark and put it down there,20 since it is a wooden vessel which is meant to be stationary, and every wooden vessel which is meant to be stationary is immune from defilement and forms a partition to prevent the passage of defilement. Said the Rabbis to Raba: But sometimes it is moved while a scroll of the law is resting on it, and thus it becomes a vessel which is moved both when full and when empty? If that is so [he said], there is no remedy. Mar Zutra said: Wrappings of scrolls which are worn out may be used for making shrouds for a meth mizwah;21 and this act constitutes their ‘storing away’. Raba also said: A scroll of the law which is worn out may be buried by the side of a talmid hakam,19 even though he be one who only repeats halachoth.22 R. Aha b. Jacob said: It should be put in an earthenware vessel, as it says, And put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days.23 R. Papi said in the name of Raba: To turn a synagogue into a college24 is permitted; to turn a college into a synagogue is forbidden. R. Papa, however, also reporting Raba, states the opposite. R. Aha said: reading htnt with Asheri; cur. edd. htvc ‘with this’. (p. 179): Jews of Rumae, the Persian Rumakan, near Mahuza, the seat of Raba]. relatives cannot be found; v. Glos.