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Week 167 - Wednesday - 5 February 2003

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 7: MISHNAH 3

If he consecrated it and redeemed it, it does not go out in the yovel year. If his son redeemed it, it goes out to his father in the yovel year. If another person redeemed it, or one of the relatives, and he redeemed it from his hand, it does not go out of his hand in the yovel year. If one of the priests redeemed it, and it is in his hand, he may not say, Since it goes out to the priests in the yovel year, and it is in my hand, it is mine, but it goes out to all his brethren the priests.

Kehati

Concerning the consecration of an inherited field the Torah (Lev. 27:20-21) states: "and if he (who consecrated it) will not redeem the field, or if he (the Temple Treasurer) sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more. But the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a field devoted; the possession of it shall be the priest's." This and the next mishnah elaborate the laws derived from these verses. (sadeh [field] is masculine in biblical, but feminine in mishnaic usage).

If he consecrated it - his inherited field - and he himself redeemed it from the Temple, it does not go out in the yovel year - if another person redeems the field it leaves his possession in the yovel year and is distributed among the priests (see next mishnah), as it is stated: "But the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, (from the one who bought it from the Temple Treasurer) shall be holy to the Lord, as a field devoted; the possession of it shall be the priest's." Our mishnah teaches that if the owner redeems his field, it does not leave his possession in the yovel year to be distributed among the priests.

If his - the consecrator's - son redeemed it, it goes out - not to the priests, but reverts - to his father in the yovel year, as it is stated, "if he (the Temple Treasurer) sold the field to another man," i.e., to a stranger, but not if he sold it to his son, "it shall not be redeemed any more."

If another person redeemed it, or one of the relatives of the consecrator, and he - the latter - redeemed it from his - the redeemer's - hand, it does not go out of his hand - it does not leave the consecrator's possession in the yovel year to be distributed among the priests. However the Gemara's mishnah text reads "it leaves his possession in the yovel year," i.e., according to Rashi, it goes out in the yovel year, as it would leave the redeemer from whom the consecrator bought it (so also Ravad's version; however, Rambam shares our mishnah's version; see Tosefot Yom Tov).

If one of the priests redeemed it from the Treasurer, and it is still in his hand in the yovel year, he - the priest - may not say, Since it goes out to the priests in the yovel year, and it is now in my hand, it is mine - since if an Israelite had redeemed it, it would have gone to me and my colleagues in the yovel year, there is no other priest more entitled to it than I (Rashi); moreover I can justify it through a kal va homer: "if I am entitled to other people's fields, I am certainly entitled to mine" (Baraita cited in the Gemara); he cannot, as explained there, say so since it is stated (Lev. 27:21) "the possession of it shall be the priest's," i.e., the priest's inheritance that he inherited from his father is his, but not this one;

But it goes out to all his brethren the priests of the mishmar (division) officiating at the beginning of the yovel year (Tosefta Men. 13:3; see Rambam Hil. Arakhin 4:25). According to others it is distributed among the priests of the group officiating on Yom Kippur (Rashi on Lev. 27:21; see Gemara and Rashi Arakh. 28b; see also Lehem Mishneh and Mishneh Lamelekh on Rambam ad loc.).

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 7: MISHNAH 4

If the yovel arrived and it was not redeemed, the priests enter it and pay its worth; So R. Yehudah. R. Shimon says, They enter but do not pay. R. Eliezer says, They neither enter nor pay, but it is called an abandoned field, until the second yovel. If by the time the second yovel arrived it was not redeemed it is called twice abandoned, until the third yovel. The priests never enter until someone else has redeemed it.

Kehati

If the year of the yovel arrived and it - the field - was not redeemed from the Temple either by the owner or by someone else, the priests of the group on duty when the yovel arrived (see explanation at the end of the preceding mishnah) enter into possession of it which has become their property and pay the Temple its worth - fifty selas per each bet kor (Rashi; Bartenura); according to others they pay its value (Mishneh Lamelekh on Rambam, Hil. Arakhin 4:26).

So R. Yehudah who, according to the Gemara, derives it through a gezerah shavah of (kodesh) from the law of a consecrated house where it is stated (Lev. 27:14): "And when a man shall sanctify his house to be dedicated (kodesh) to the Lord," and here (Lev. 27:21) it is stated, "But the field, when it goes out in the jubilee shall be holy (kodesh)...": just as a house never leaves the possession of the Temple without payment, as it is stated (see 14) "and the priest shall estimate it," i.e., it does not go to the priests but must be redeemed with money, so also does an inherited field not leave the Temple without payment; hence if someone else redeemed it from the Temple, then since he had paid its value to the Temple, the field goes in the yovel to the priests free of payment; but if the field was not redeemed by the yovel year, the priests must pay its value.

R. Shimon says, They - the priests - enter into possession of it but do not pay its value. R. Shimon learns this through a gezerah shavah from the Shavuot lamb offerings where it is stated (Lev. 23:20), "they shall be holy (kodesh) to the Lord for the priest" - just as there it is without payment, so also is it here without payment. R. Shimon prefers to learn the law of the inherited field from the Shavuot lamb offerings rather than from the dedicated house, since an inherited field in the possession of the Temple and the Shavuot lambs are both priests' dues, whereas a house in the Temple's possession is never given to the priests. R. Yehudah, however, prefers to learn the inherited field from a dedicated house, since both are consecrated to the Temple maintenance, whereas the Shavuot lambs are consecrated to the altar. The halakhah follows R. Yehudah (Rambam Hil. Arakhin 4:19).

R. Eliezer says, They neither enter into possession of the field nor pay, but it is called an abandoned field - forsaken by its owners, until the second yovel. If by the time the second yovel arrived it was not redeemed it is called twice abandoned by its owners, until the third yovel.

The priests never enter into possession of it until someone else has redeemed it, and when it leaves him in the yovel the priests take possession of it. R. Eliezer derives his ruling from, "But the field, when it goes out in the jubilee shall be holy (kodesh)..." which he takes to imply that it should be given to the priests when, like any bought field, it goes out of the redeemer's possession in the yovel - and not when it leaves the hekdesh, seeing that the Torah had not yet stated that consecrated property goes out in the yovel (Gemara and Rashi Arakh. 26a).

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