60b----------------------------------------60b
2) THE DIFFERENT "KEDUSHOS" OF ERETZ YISRAEL AND YERUSHALAYIM
OPINIONS: The Gemara discusses Rebbi Yishmael's ruling that Ma'aser Sheni is not brought to Yerushalayim and eaten there when the Beis ha'Mikdash is not standing. He learns this from the verse, "And you will bring there your Olos, and your Zevachim, and your Ma'aseros, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep" (Devarim 12:6). The verse compares Ma'aser to Bechor, teaching that just as the requirement to bring a Bechor to Yerushalayim applies only when it is brought in front of the Beis ha'Mikdash, the requirement to bring Ma'aser to Yerushalayim applies only when the Beis ha'Mikdash is standing.
The Gemara analyzes the logic of Rebbi Yishmael's ruling. If he maintains that the Kedushah of Yerushalayim remains after the Beis ha'Mikdash is no longer standing, then even a Bechor should be able to be brought to Yerushalayim when there is no Beis ha'Mikdash. RASHI (DH Afilu Bechor Nami) quotes the Gemara in Megilah (10a) that teaches that the opinion which maintains that the Kedushah is still present also maintains that one may still bring (in theory) Korbanos today, and thus one should also be able to bring a Bechor. On the other hand, if Rebbi Yishmael maintains that the Kedushah is no longer present, then the Gemara should ask what the Halachah is in a case in which the Avodos of a Bechor were performed in the Beis ha'Mikdash, and then the Beis ha'Mikdash was destroyed before the meat of the Bechor was eaten. May the meat be eaten now that there is no Beis ha'Mikdash?
Ravina answers that Rebbi Yishmael maintains that the Kedushah was not permanent. According to Rebbi Yishmael, the meat of the Bechor may not be eaten because of a different set of verses (Bamidbar 18:17-8). Based on this Halachah regarding Bechor, Rebbi Yishmael derives from the verse in Devarim (12:6) that Ma'aser also may no longer be eaten.
As Rashi points out earlier (DH Yachol), Rebbi Yishmael maintains that the Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael was permanent, and that is why the obligation to separate Ma'aser today is mid'Oraisa, and thus one might have thought that he must bring Ma'aser Sheni to Yerushalayim even when the Beis ha'Mikdash is not standing. Nevertheless, the Gemara asks whether he maintains that the Kedushah of Yerushalayim and the Beis ha'Mikdash was permanent. This shows that the two Kedushos -- that of Eretz Yisrael and that of Yerushalayim -- are independent of each other. TOSFOS (DH Mai) brings support for this point from the Gemara later (112b) that states that when the Mishkan in Shilo was destroyed, the Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael remained. It is evident from there that the Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael and the Kedushah of the Beis ha'Mikdash (or Mishkan) are independent of each other.
What logic is there to separate the two Kedushos? Why should the Kedushah of Yerushalayim and the Beis ha'Mikdash remain when the Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael is no longer present?
(a) TOSFOS in Yevamos (82b, DH Yerushah) explains that, logically, both Kedushos should not be present today. However, the verse, "Asher Lo Chomah" (Vayikra 25:30), teaches that even when the wall of a fortified city is no longer standing, the Halachos of "Batei Arei Chomah" still apply to that city (see Megilah 10b). Rashi in Megilah there (DH Af Al Pi) explains that this Derashah follows the opinion that the original Kedushah of Yerushalayim and the Beis ha'Mikdash (which depends upon the walls standing) still applies even after the walls were destroyed (and even when the Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael is no longer present).
(b) Alternatively, Tosfos explains that Yerushalayim is called a Nachalah, an "inheritance," such as in the verse which discusses the Jewish people coming to their "Nachalah" (Devarim 12:9; see Megilah 10a). Tosfos suggests that the word "inheritance" denotes permanence -- a permanent inheritance. The verse of "Nachalah" is written with regard to Korbanos. This indicates that Yerushalayim is a permanent "Nachalah" with regard to bringing Korbanos there, in contrast to the general Kedushah of Eretz Yisrael which is not permanent.
(c) In a similar vein, Tosfos suggests that the source for the permanence of the Kedushah of Yerushalayim is the verse, "Zos Menuchasi Adei Ad" -- "This is My resting place forever" (Tehilim 132:13). (See also RASH, end of Shevi'is 6:1.)
(d) The RAMBAM (Hilchos Beis ha'Bechirah 6:16) rules that Kedushah Rishonah remains with regard to all Halachos that are associated with Yerushalayim and the Beis ha'Mikdash. However, concerning all matters that are not associated with Kedushas Yerushalayim and Kedushas ha'Bayis, but with Kedushas ha'Aretz (such as Terumah, Ma'aser, Chalah, Orlah, Leket, Shemitah and Yovel, and Bikurim), the Kedushah no longer remains. The Rambam explains that the reason for this difference is that the Kedushah of Yerushalayim depends on the Shechinah dwelling there; the Shechinah does not disappear when Yerushalayim is in ruins. As the Chachamim (Megilah 28a) explain, when the verse says, "v'Hashimosi Es Mikdasheichem" -- "and I will make your holy places desolate" (Vayikra 26:31), it means that although they will become desolate, they will remain "holy places," with their Kedushah. (Y. Montrose; see also Insights to Megilah 10:1 and Shevuos 16:1.)

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