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Based on Maaser Sheni 3:4, you can redeem maaser sheni coins on produce in Yerushalayim even without bringing the coins to Yerushalayim.

I have in mind a system where you deposit coins and they add money to your account. Then you say "when I buy food through this system, these coins should be redeemed on it" (this kind of formula works even when the food doesn't exist yet) and they put your money in a labeled compartment. You spend the money from your account (using an app or membership card or whatever), which only works in Yerushalayim, for food in stores owned by chaveirim or for live animals. When you use up the money, they take the original coins out and keep them.

This would be a lot easier than carrying around lots of cash and paying stores with it. And it would help in tracking how much maaser sheni you've spent. Is there any halachic reason it wouldn't work when Mashiach comes?

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    Apps and startups for Mashiach times - I love it !
    – mbloch
    Jun 22, 2018 at 14:13
  • @DannySchoemann, ok, yes you can buy live animals from anyone. But if it's already food, it has to be tahor.
    – Heshy
    Jun 24, 2018 at 11:47
  • @Heshy - correct. But all non-washed fruit would qualify, but I see your point.
    – Danny Schoemann
    Jun 24, 2018 at 12:42
  • @DannySchoemann I suspect that doesn't work in today's world. In the time of the second Beis Hamikdash even amei ha'aretz knew the rudiments of taharos and knew that if they kept the fruit dry they were good. (Kind of like how everyone now knows that kosher includes not eating pork.) We'll have to see how it develops when we have the Beis Hamikdash again, but at least at first, I doubt people will radically change their procedure for dealing with fruits and start being careful about water from the time of harvesting until they sell it.
    – Heshy
    Jun 25, 2018 at 20:50
  • @DannySchoemann You'd need a mashgiach to make sure they don't get wet, at which point the store is basically a chaveir store. But I edited about the animals.
    – Heshy
    Jun 25, 2018 at 20:51

1 Answer 1

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Based on Mishna 2:10 of Maaser Sheni your system should work.

It says:

מִי שֶׁהָיוּ מִקְצָת בָּנָיו טְמֵאִין וּמִקְצָתָן טְהוֹרִים,‏
מַנִּיחַ אֶת הַסֶּלַע וְאוֹמֵר, מַה שֶּׁהַטְּהוֹרִים שׁוֹתִים, סֶלַע זוֹ מְחֻלֶּלֶת עָלָיו.‏
נִמְצְאוּ טְהוֹרִים וּטְמֵאִים שׁוֹתִין מִכַּד אֶחָד‏

[You have Maaser Sheni money and you want your entire family to drink together, but] some are Ritually Pure [and can consume Maaser Sheni] and some of them aren't [and can only drink regular wine].

You take one of your Maaser Sheni coins and you declare "What the Pure Ones drink shall be considered purchased from this coin of Maaser Sheni".

As a result, you have the Pure Ones and the impure ones drinking together. [What the Pure Ones ate was Maaser Sheni, and your stash of Maaser Sheni coins is slowly shrinking], what the impure ones ate was regular food.

This mirrors your system, whereby your Maaser Sheni coins slowly lose their value as you consume appropriate food by appropriate people.

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