Torah Community Connections

Week 166 - Thursday - 30 January 2003

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 2

"I vow the value of my hand" - they estimate how much he is worth with a hand and how much without a hand. In this respect vows are more stringent than valuations. And valuations are more stringent than vows. How so? If one said, "I dedicate my valuation" and he died, the heirs must pay. "I vow my worth" and he died, the heirs need not pay, since the dead have no worth. "I dedicate the valuation of my hand" or "the valuation of my foot," he has said nothing. "I dedicate the valuation of my head" or "the valuation of my liver," he must give his whole valuation. This is the general rule: Anything on which one's life depends - he must give the whole valuation.

Kehati

If one says , “I vow to give to the Temple the value of my hand" - they estimate how much he is worth with a hand and how much without a hand, and the difference he must give to the Temple. According to the Gemara, we do not estimate the different worth of a person before and after his hand has been cut off, since a mutilated person is worth very little. Rather, the dedicator is estimated as a healthy, two-handed person. Thus the difference is estimated between all of a slave sold by his master and one sold except for one hand to which the buyer has no claim, and which remains reserved for the original master. It is this difference that must be paid to the Temple.

In this respect vows are more stringent than valuations - for if one says, "I dedicate the valuation of my hand," he has said nothing (see in this mishnah below). And valuations are more stringent than vows. How so?

If one said, “I dedicate my valuation" and he died before paying the Temple, the heirs must pay, since the amount is fixed by the Torah. But if one said, "I vow my worth" and he died before he could be estimated by the Court, the heirs need not pay anything to the Temple, since the dead have no worth - i.e., one who says "I vow my worth" is liable to payment only after being estimated by the Court. Hence if he died before being estimated, he had not yet been under any obligation and the heirs do not have to pay. According to the Gemara, this also applies to valuations, i.e., the heirs do not have to pay unless he had stood before the Court before he died. Thus, having become liable to payment while still alive, his liability is accounted a loan against a note, and as such passes on to the heirs. However, when vowing his worth he is not liable, even though he stood before the Court, since he died before his worth was estimated. Hence the heirs are exempt (see Rambam Hil. Arakhin 1:21-22, Ravad's glosses and Rambam's supercommentaries; see also Tosefot Yom Tov).

If one said, "I dedicate the valuation of my hand" or "the valuation of my foot," he has said nothing, since the law of valuations applies only to the dedication of the entire person. This, according to the baraita, is derived from "the estimated value" (be'erkekha - lit. "your estimated value"), i.e., that of your entire person and not that of your mere limbs. In this respect vows are more stringent than valuations.

But if one said, "I dedicate the valuation of my head" or "the valuation of my liver," he must give his whole valuation; since they are vital parts of the body, this is tantamount to saying, "I dedicate the valuation of my entire body."

This is the general rule: If one dedicates the valuation of anything - i.e., of any part of the body on which one's life depends - without which one could not survive - he must give the whole valuation; the Torah's reference to (Lev. 27:2), "the estimated value of persons" implies that dedicating a vital part of the body means dedicating the whole body.

ARAKHIN: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 3

"I dedicate half my valuation" - he must give half of his valuation. "I dedicate the valuation of half of me" - he must give the whole of his valuation. "I vow to give half of my worth" - he must give half of his worth. "I vow to give the worth of half of me" - he must give his whole worth. This is the general rule: Anything on which one's life depends, he must give his whole valuation.

Kehati

If one says, "I dedicate half my valuation" - he must give half of his valuation - e.g., if his valuation is fifty shekels, he must pay twenty-five shekels. But if one says, "I dedicate the valuation of half of me" - he must give the whole of his valuation since his life depends on half of himself, and (see preceding mishnah) "anything on which one's life depends, he must give the whole valuation."

If one says, "I vow to give half of my worth" - he must give half of his worth according to the Court's estimation. But if one says, "I vow to give the worth of half of me" - he must give his whole worth, since it is stated (Lev. 27:2), "If a man make a singular vow to give to the Lord the estimated value of persons," thus comparing the vow to the valuation; just as when one says "I dedicate the valuation of half of me" he must pay the whole of his valuation, so also must he pay his whole worth if he vows to give "the worth of half of me."

This is the general rule: If one vows to give anything on which one's life depends, e.g., the worth of his head or of his liver, he must give his whole valuation - the Gemara's preferable version reads "he must give his whole worth," i.e., our mishnah teaches that the principle of the vital parts of the body applies to both "worth" and "valuation" (see Bartenura who cites Rambam's variant interpretation; see also Tosefot Yom Tov).

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