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Week 167 - Thursday - 6 February 2003

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 7: MISHNAH 5

If one bought a field from his father, and his father died, and he afterwards consecrated it, it is accounted a Field of Possession. If he consecrated it and his father died afterwards, it is accounted a field acquired by purchase. So R. Meir. But R. Yehudah and R. Shimon say, It is accounted a Field of Possession, thus (Lev. 27:22): "And if a man dedicate to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not of the Fields of his Possession" - a field not capable of becoming a Field of Possession; this excludes one that is capable of becoming a Field of Possession. A field acquired by purchase does not go out to the priests in the yovel since one cannot consecrate that which he does not possess. Priests and Levites can consecrate at any time, and redeem at any time, both before the yovel and after the yovel.

Kehati

A field acquired by purchase, as a gift or otherwise, is termed by the Torah a sedeh miknah. There is a difference (see 3:2 above) concerning hekdesh between a sedeh miknah and a Field of Possession (sedeh ahuzah); if the latter is consecrated it is redeemable at the rate of fifty selas for a bet kor; if redeemed by the person who consecrated it, he must add one Fifth (see above in this chapter); a sedeh miknah that has been consecrated may be redeemed for its worth, and he who consecrated it need not pay the added Fifth. (However, according to R. Eliezer a field acquired by purchase shares the law of the Field of Possession and its redemption rate is fifty selas per bet kor, and they differ only regarding the added Fifth.

As already mentioned, the halakhah does not follow R. Eliezer. Thus it is puzzling that Rashi interprets Lev. 27:22 in accordance with R. Eliezer; see Mishneh Lamelekh on Rambam Hil. Arakhin 4:26). Another difference lies in that a Field of Possession not redeemed before the yovel, and sold by the Temple Treasurer, can no longer be redeemed, and when it leaves the purchaser's possession it is divided up among the priests (see above); however, if one consecrates his field acquired by purchase, whether the consecrator did or did not redeem it and the Treasurer sold it to a third party (so also if it was not redeemed and remained in the hekdesh's possession until the yovel year - Rambam Hil. Arakhin 4:26), the field reverts to its original owner in the yovel, as explained in our mishnah. These laws are specified in the Torah, thus (Lev. 27:22-24): "And if a man dedicate to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not of the fields of his possession, then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of the estimation to the year of the yovel... In the year of the yovel the field shall return to him of whom it was bought, to him to whom the possession of the land did belong.

Our mishnah discusses (in the first section) the status of a field that one bought from his father, who died after his son had consecrated it - whether it counts as land acquired by purchase or as a Field of Possession.

If one bought a field from his father, and his father died, and he afterwards consecrated it, it is accounted a Field of Possession - since when he consecrated it he had already inherited it. Hence its redemption rate is fifty selas per bet kor, and if he who consecrated it redeems it, he must add one fifth. If the latter did not redeem it, or someone else redeemed it, it goes out to the priests in the yovel year (see previous mishnahs).

If he consecrated it - the field he had bought from his father - and his father died afterwards - and thus it was not yet an inherited field, but one acquired by purchase, when he consecrated it, it is accounted a field acquired by purchase - which he must redeem for its full worth, but need not pay the added Fifth; if someone else redeemed it, or it was not redeemed at all (Rambam), it reverts to him in the yovel, since its status at the time he consecrated it is decisive.

So R. Meir - who holds that even though the field will at a future date become the son's Field of Possession, nevertheless, since we rely on the date of the consecration, which occurred before his father's death, it is treated as a sedeh miknah.

But R. Yehudah and R. Shimon say - even though he consecrated it in his father's lifetime - It is accounted a Field of Possession, thus (Lev. 27:22): "And if a man dedicate to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not of the Fields of his Possession"; since "of the fields" (misedeh) is redundant, seeing that "which is not his possession," or, at any rate, "the field..." without "of the fields..." would suffice, we learn that a field not capable of becoming a Field of Possession - i.e., he did not buy it from his father or from any relative from whom he would inherit - is a sedeh miknah;

This excludes from the latter category one that is capable of becoming a Field of Possession after his father's death, and hence is considered a Field of Possession, even though it was not yet inherited when he consecrated it.

A field acquired by purchase does not go out to the priests in the yovel as explained above, if one consecrates his sedeh miknah and someone else redeemed it (Rashi; Tosafot; Bartenura) or it was not redeemed from hekdesh (Rambam Hil. Arakhin 4:26; see also Mishneh Lamelekh ad loc.), then, unlike a Field of Possession, it does not go out to the priests in the yovel year but reverts to its original owners, since one cannot consecrate that which he does not possess - seeing that it is in his possession only until the yovel, thus (Lev. 25:10): "It shall be a yovel for you, and you shall return every man to his possession (i.e., the fields revert to their owners - Rashi). Thus Tosefot Yom Tov: Even though the Torah states explicitly (Lev. 27:24), "In the year of the yovel the field shall return to him of whom it was bought, to him to whom the possession of the land did belong," the mishnah nevertheless needs to teach this, seeing that the Torah refers only to the consecrator who himself redeemed the field, whereas the mishnah deals with a field redeemed by someone other than the consecrator, or not redeemed at all (see above).

Priests and Levites can consecrate their fields at any time - including the yovel year, whereas a field consecrated in the yovel year by an Israelite is not holy (according to Samuel's view [Arakh. 4a], followed by the halakhah), and if a priest or Levite consecrated an inherited field, he can redeem it at any time, both before the yovel and - even if it was not redeemed in the yovel year he can redeem it- after the yovel, as it is stated (Lev. 25:32): "... may the Levites redeem at any time," whereas an Israelite who did not redeem the field in the yovel year can no longer redeem it.

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 8: MISHNAH 1

If one consecrates his field when yovel is not in force, they say to him: "Be you the first," since the owners pay the Fifth, but no other person pays the Fifth. It once happened that one consecrated his field because of its poor quality, and they said to him: "Be you the first." He said: "It is mine for one issar. Said R. Yose: He did not say this, but "for an egg," since hekdesh can be redeemed with money or money's worth - he said to him: It is yours! Thus he lost an issar and his field was his.

Kehati

A baraita quoted in the Gemara (Arakh. 32b) teaches: "When the tribes of Reuven and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasse were exiled (by Sanherib, king of Assyria) the yovels were abolished, since it is stated (Lev. 25:10): '…and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants' - i.e., when all inhabitants thereof dwell on it, but not when some of them are exiled." Thus also in a baraita cited in the Gemara (Arakh. 29a): "The (law of the) Field of Possession applies only when the (law of the) yovel applies, thus (Lev. 25:28): 'And in the yovel it shall go out and shall return to his possession.' Hence a Field of Possession that one consecrated when the law of yovel does not apply is, like any hekdesh, redeemed at its full value (rather than at fifty selas per bet kor, the rate fixed by the Torah). Our mishnah deals with one who consecrated a Field of Possession when the yovel does not apply, and teaches how it is redeemed.

If one consecrates his Field of Possession when the yovel law is not in force - and thus the field does not go out to the priests and can be redeemed at any time; it shares the general law of hekdesh in that it is redeemed at its real value, (see introduction to our mishnah), they say to him - to the owner of the field: "Be you the first" before auctioning the field, to state the price for which you are willing to redeem it. According to the Gemara he is not just told, but is actually compelled to bid first, since the hekdesh Treasury profits if the owner redeems it, since the owners pay the additional Fifth also when the yovel law is not in force (see our comment in the preceding chapter), but no other person who redeems the field pays the Fifth.

Two more reasons are stated by the Gemara: a) since he values his field, he will pay more than others to redeem it; b) the mitzvah of redemption rests upon the owner, who takes precedence over any other person; the Sages (Bekh. 13a) derive this from "and if it not be redeemed then it shall be sold according to the estimation" stated (Lev. 27:27) concerning an unclean animal dedicated to the Temple Treasury; the same law applies to a dedicated Field of Possession. However, when the yovel law is in force the owner is not compelled to redeem, since if he does not, the field goes out to the priests in the yovel year, and the Temple Treasury suffers no loss, since the latter pays its value (Rambam Hil. Arakhin 5:1; see Ravad's glosses).

It once happened that one consecrated his field because of its poor quality - the operating expenses having exceeded the worth of the yield, and they - the Temple Treasury Officers - said to him: "Be you the first" to make a redemption offer. He - the consecrator - said: 'It is mine for one issar' - i.e., eight perutot (1/24 dinar).

Said R. Yose: He did not say this, but - actually said, "It is mine "for an egg," since hekdesh can be redeemed with money or money's worth - R. Yose's is a parenthetic statement - he - the Treasurer said to him - the consecrator: It - the field - is yours! Thus he - the owner who consecrated his field because of its poor quality - lost an issar and, having redeemed his field, it was again his.

The Gemara explains: The Sages, though agreeing that hekdesh may be redeemed with money or money's worth, hold that it cannot be redeemed for less than four perutot, so that the Added Fifth (i.e., a quarter of the redemption value paid by the consecrator) should amount to no less than one perutah); in R.Yose's view, hekdesh may be redeemed for any amount even if the Added Fifth is less than one perurah.

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