Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Quotation for Pesachim 51:18

אי הכי אפילו רישא נמי

this teaches that they must be hidden.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And all use is forbidden. Here too they had fulfilled their religious purpose.');"><sup>22</sup></span> That is well on the view of the Rabbis who say, This teaches that they must be hidden. But according to R'Dosa who disagrees with them and maintains: But they are fit for an ordinary priest, while what does 'and he shall leave them there' mean? that he [the High Priest] must not use them on another Day of Atonement, what can be said? - Because the separation of ashes and the beheaded heifer<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Deut. XXI, 1-9. There too it is written, 'and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley (v. 4) . 'There' indicates that it must remain there and all benefit thereof is forbidden, though its religious purpose had already been fulfilled.');"><sup>23</sup></span> are two verses with the same teaching, and such two verses do not illumine [other cases]. That is well according to him who maintains, They do not illumine [other cases]; but on the view that they do illumine,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Judah holds his view: v. Sanh. 67b.');"><sup>24</sup></span> what can be said? - Two limitations are written: it is written, 'and he shall put them [the ashes]'; and it is written, [over the heifer] whose neck was broken [etc.].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the one who is neckbroken'. Ibid. 6. 'The' too is a limitation and the combined effect of the two limitations is to exclude all other cases from the operation of this law, which forbids benefit even after the religious requirements have been carried out.');"><sup>25</sup></span> Come and hear: If he took it [the heifer] into the team<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of three or four cows used for threshing; his purpose was that it should suck.');"><sup>26</sup></span> and it [accidentally] did some threshing, it is fit;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To make atonement for a murder by an unknown person; v. Deut. ibid. The heifer was to be one 'which hath not been wrought with and which hath not drawn in');"><sup>27</sup></span> [but if it was] in order that it should suck and thresh, it is unfit. Now here it is impossible [to do otherwise],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It must be taken into the team to suck.');"><sup>28</sup></span> and he intends [to benefit], and he [the Tanna] teaches that it is unfit! - There it is different because Scripture saith, 'which hath not been wrought with,' [implying] in all cases. If so, even in the first clause too [the same applies]?

Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol VI

The remaining factor to be considered is whether mere visual examination undertaken solely for aesthetic or recreational purposes constitutes a forbidden form of benefit. "Benefit," in the fundamental halakhic meaning of the term, connotes tangible physical benefit such as eating, drinking, anointing the skin or financial enrichment. Thus, the Gemara, Pesaḥim 26a, declares, "Sound, sight and smell do not constitute me'ilah (kol, mareh vareaḥ ein ba-hen mishum me'ilah)." "Me'ilah" refers to prohibited use of consecrated property for mundane benefit. In context, the Gemara is defining and limiting the concept of hana'ah, or benefit. Although other forms of sensual pleasure do constitute hana'ah, benefit derived by means of "sight" does not rise to the level of a prohibited "benefit." The principle is made explicit with regard to the prohibitions concerning me'ilah but, logically, it is equally applicable to all categories of issurei hana'ah.
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