QUESTIONS: The Mishnah (28a-28b) states that when one declares that his "saplings will be Hekdesh until they are cut down," the saplings become Hekdesh and cannot be redeemed with Pidyon. If one attempts to redeem them before they are cut down, they revert to Hekdesh. In the Gemara, Bar Pada and Ula disagree about the status of the saplings after they are cut down. According to Bar Pada, they remain Hekdesh until they are redeemed (Pidyon). According to Ula, their Kedushah leaves by itself as soon as they are cut down.

The Gemara asks that according to Ula, a man should be able to be Mekadesh a woman for one day by saying, "I am Mekadesh you for today, but not for tomorrow." This obviously cannot be true. There is no such thing as Kidushin becoming absolved by itself without a Get.

Rava answers that Kidushin is considered Kedushas ha'Guf, while the case in the Mishnah to which Ula refers is Kedushas Damim. Kedushas ha'Guf does not leave by itself.

The Gemara rejects Rava's answer but gives no other answer in its place. The Rishonim discuss in what way the Gemara answers the question on Ula. Some Rishonim suggest that according to Ula, a man indeed could make Kidushin which lasts for only one day and terminates by itself without a Get.

The RAN suggests a different answer. The Ran explains that a person indeed may make a Kedushas ha'Guf which takes effect for a limited period of time and which goes away by itself. However, when a person makes a temporary Kedushas ha'Guf, such a temporary Kedushah (or Kinyan) is called only a "Kinyan Peros" (it affects only the "produce" (Peros) of the item, and not the essence of the item itself). The Ran explains that in the case of Kidushin, no source teaches that a man can effect a "Kinyan Peros" with a woman, and therefore Kidushei Ishah for a limited period of time does not exist and cannot take effect. In contrast, there is such a thing as consecrating an object as Hekdesh with Kedushas Damim, and thus one may consecrate an object with Kedushas ha'Guf for a limited period of time.

The Ran's words are difficult to understand for a number of reasons.

Although it is true that a person may be Makdish an object with Kedushas Damim, a person may not be Makdish an animal which is fit to be a Korban itself (i.e. it is not a Ba'al Mum) with Kedushas Damim, as the Gemara says in Temurah (11b) and as the Ran himself cites. The Gemara in Temurah says that if an animal itself is fit to be a Korban, it cannot become Kadosh with Kedushas Damim but it must be brought itself as a Korban. Since the Beraisa, according to the Gemara's conclusion of Ula's opinion, refers to a person who is Makdish an animal which has no blemish -- and thus it cannot be made Kadosh with Kedushas Damim -- why is he able to make it Kadosh for a limited period of time? (KEREN ORAH; see also CHAZON ISH 71:30.)

Moreover, in the case of the Beraisa, the person who was Makdish the animal did not mention Kedushas Damim at all. He said that he wants the animal to be an Olah. Hence, even if an animal fit to be a Korban could become Kadosh with Kedushas Damim, here the person did not say that he wants it to be Kedushas Damim! How, then, can his statement create Kedushas Damim? (AYELES HA'SHACHAR)

A third difficulty is that the animal which the Beraisa discusses becomes an Olah (or Shelamim) right away, and after thirty days its status changes. By saying that the animal is an Olah for the first thirty days the Beraisa implies that it is possible to offer it upon the Mizbe'ach during that time. According to the Ran's explanation that a temporary Kedushah is only Kedushas Damim, why is one permitted to offer the animal as a full-fledged Korban? It is Kadosh only with Kedushas Damim!

(a) Perhaps the Ran understands that when the Gemara in Temurah says that the animal automatically becomes Kadosh with Kedushas ha'Guf when one is Makdish it with Kedushas Damim when the animal is fit to be brought as a Korban itself, the Gemara does not mean that it is as if the person declared the animal to be Kadosh with Kedushas ha'Guf, since, after all, he said only that it should be Kadosh with Kedushas Damim. The Gemara means that when a person is Makdish the animal with Kedushas Damim, it first becomes Kadosh with Kedushas Damim and then the Kedushah automatically spreads and expands to fill whatever space it can fill. That is, the Kedushas Damim spreads out to become Kedushas ha'Guf since the animal is fit to be a Korban itself. Therefore, when a person is Makdish an animal as an Olah for only thirty days, he actually gives it only Kedushas Damim, a temporary Kedushah. However, that temporary Kedushah of Kedushas Damim automatically expands to become Kedushas ha'Guf.

This new Kedushas ha'Guf does not have the same laws as ordinary Kedushas ha'Guf, since it stems from a Kedushas Damim. The Kedushas Damim must exist in order to maintain the Kedushas ha'Guf. The moment at which the Kedushas Damim is removed, the Kedushas ha'Guf falls away as well. This type of Kedushas ha'Guf -- which dissolves automatically because the Kedushas Damim is removed -- may be temporary without being merely Kedushas Damim. The only time a temporary Kedushah must be a Kedushas Damim is when the Kedushah was made originally to last for only a limited amount of time. When this type of temporary Kedushah spreads out and becomes Kedushas ha'Guf, the resultant Kedushah is not a Kedushas ha'Guf made for a specific, limited time; it is a Kedushas Damim that spreads out automatically and becomes a Kedushas ha'Guf that will remain indefinitely. What removes that Kedushah is the removal of the Kedushas Damim. In this sense, the Kedushah is similar to the Kidushin of a woman whom a man married not for a specific, limited period of time, but forever, and then he removed that Kidushin with a Get. Although the Kidushin was made with no time limit and thus it should remain forever, since something external (the Get) removes it afterwards it still can be a Kedushas ha'Guf even though it only lasts a certain amount of time. The same applies to this Korban. This Korban is Kadosh with Kedushas Damim and it automatically becomes Kadosh with a permanent Kedushas ha'Guf, but when the Kedushas Damim is removed the Kedushas ha'Guf is removed along with it.

(b) However, the Ran's words (in DH Iy Amrit Beshleima) imply that he understands that the Beraisa means that the Kedushas ha'Guf itself falls away automatically after thirty days, and not that the Kedushas Damim falls away and pulls with it the Kedushas ha'Guf. The Ran seems to learn that the animal was actually made Kadosh with Kedushas ha'Guf from the beginning, but that the Kedushah is only a temporary Kedushas ha'Guf. Why, though, should there be any Kedushas ha'Guf altogether? If the Kedushah is temporary, it must be a Kedushas Damim, since an item cannot be made Kadosh with a temporary Kedushas ha'Guf!

Therefore, another approach must be suggested in order to explain the words of the Ran.

A close examination of the statement of the Ran shows that the Ran does not write that a temporary Kedushas ha'Guf is Kedushas Damim, but rather that it is "called" Kedushas Damim. The Ran may mean that there are three different types of Kedushah or Kinyan: Kedushas ha'Guf, Kedushas Damim, and Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman (temporary Kedushas ha'Guf), a type of Kedushah which falls between Kedushas Damim and Kedushas ha'Guf. The Ran means that Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman is not merely a Kedushas ha'Guf which is limited in time, but rather that it is a qualitatively weaker Kedushas ha'Guf. Nevertheless, such a Kedushah still is stronger than Kedushas Damim.

The Ran proves from the Gemara in Gitin (46a) that this Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman is "called" Kedushas Damim, which means that it is not a full-fledged Kedushas ha'Guf. The Gemara in Gitin says that when a person buys a field during the time when the laws of Yovel are in force, the purchase lasts only until the Yovel year, and therefore the purchase is compared to a "Kinyan Peros." The Gemara says that according to the view that Bikurim is not brought from a field which someone owns with a "Kinyan Peros," the purchaser of the field (in the times of Yovel) does not bring Bikurim from his field. The reason for this might be that the obligation of Bikurim applies only to one who has a full Kinyan ha'Guf on a field. If the Kinyan is anything less than that, whether it is a Kinyan Peros (comparable to Kedushas Damim) or Kinyan ha'Guf l'Zman (comparable to Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman), he is not obligated to bring Bikurim. The same applies to the Kidushin of a woman. The Torah describes Kidushin as the Kinyan ha'Guf of a woman; anything less than that -- whether it is Kedushas Damim or Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman -- does not suffice to make Kidushin.

In the case of one who is Makdish an animal as a Korban, however, the Ran suggests that although a person cannot be Makdish an unblemished animal as Kedushas Damim, he may be Makdish it as Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman. The reason for this is that Hekdesh is not limited to an object sanctified with an absolute Kedushas ha'Guf. The concept of Hekdesh applies elsewhere even to make Kedushas Damim, such as in the case of other animals which cannot be offered as Korbanos themselves. The only reason why this animal cannot be given Kedushas Damim is because it is able to be offered on the Mizbe'ach, and therefore one cannot make it Kadosh with a Kedushah of a lower degree than the Kedushah which it eventually will have. If it is Kadosh with Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman, however, its Kedushah is a Kedushas ha'Guf which enables the animal to be offered on the Mizbe'ach. Although the Kedushah is not as strong as a normal, permanent Kedushas ha'Guf, it is the same Kedushah as Kedushas ha'Guf with regard to what will be done with it. Accordingly, the Ran is suggesting that an unblemished animal is not limited to becoming Kadosh with a permanent Kedushas ha'Guf, but rather one may make it a Kedushas ha'Guf l'Zman as well. The only thing one may not do is make the animal Kadosh with Kedushas Damim, since doing so will deprive the Mizbe'ach of that animal.

This answers all of the questions. The Ran does not mean that the person consecrates the animal with Kedushas Damim, but rather with Kedushas ha'Guf, but it is a weaker type of Kedushas ha'Guf than that which lasts indefinitely.