Arachin 25 – Measuring an Ancestral Field

The laws of the Jubilee year apply only when all the Tribes of Israel live in the Land of Israel, each in its Biblical portion of the land. If one consecrated his field during this time and wished to redeem it, he paid fifty silver shekels for an area on which a measure of barley can be sown . What measure? - Chomer (same as kor, about 10 cubic feet), and this much barley was enough to sow the area of about five acres. The full fifty-shekel price applied only for the full forty-nine years of the Jubilee cycle, but in the middle of the cycle the price was adjusted for the years remaining. Thus it came out that for each year until Jubilee he paid a selah (Biblical shekel) and a pundyon – a small coin, the value of one forty-eighths of a selah. He could not pay this in installments.

If the owner redeemed his field, he had to add one-fifth, while others did not have to add one-fifth. On the other hand, the owner kept the field at the Jubilee years, while others who redeemed the field had to give it up in Jubilee, and it was divided among the kohanim. (In another version of the text it goes back to the owner.)

Art: John Constable - Wheat Field

Arachin 24 – Redemptions from the Temple

How does one collect debts from the Temple property? For example, if someone consecrated his possessions to the Temple, but part of them were needed to pay the Ketubah of his wife or his debt obligation – the one who redeems the complete amount refunds a part as a Ketubah or debt payment. The payments do not go directly from the Temple to individuals, so that people would not think that sacred property can be converted to private property without redemption.

Although the Temple treasurers may force individuals to fulfill their Temple vows and even enter his house and seize his property, they leave him food for thirty days, clothing for twelve months, a bed and tools of trade – and sustenance is for him, but not for his family.

One can consecrate his ancestral field to the Temple, and then redeem it at a fixed price prescribed by the Torah. The price of fifty silver shekels that we mentioned earlier is the maximum price for the 49 nine years until the Jubilee year. Since the field returns to him in the Jubilee year anyway, every year the price is reduced. However, because of a technicality, it is not reduced within the last two years before the Jubilee, and one should therefore be mindful of that when consecrating his field.

Art: Franciscus Carree - A Seated Woman preparing Food in a Kitchen

Arachin 23 – Responsibilities of a Loan Guarantor

A Ketubah is a husband's obligation to provide for his wife in case of his death or divorce. If one consecrated all of his possessions to the Temple, the Ketubah part is not consecrated, because it came prior. However, if the husband now wants to divorce his wife, we make him vow never to re-marry her, because we suspect that the divorce is just a ruse: she will collect the Ketubah, and he will re-marry her and live on that money – this is the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Yehoshua says that he does not need to vow – either because people do not cheat on Temple, or because he can annul his consecration.

Rav Huna was poor, and his father, Moshe bar Atzri, promised to pay the Ketubah of his wife. Abbaye said, “Who would advise Rav Huna to divorce his wife and collect the money?” Rav Huna was a Kohen, who cannot re-marry his wife, and Abbaye remarked, “Poverty follows after the poor.”

But maybe Moshe ben Atzri just wanted to help his son and was not sincere in his promise? – He accepted to be a guarantor even if his son does have the money, and such a guarantee is always binding.

Art: Tivadar Zemplenyi - The Poor Womans Home

Arachin 22 – Debt Collections and Court Auctions

If one dies without paying his debts, the court may have to sell his lands. If he leaves young orphans, the court first appraises the field, then conducts an auction, allowing people to bid on it for thirty days. For a field consecrated to the Temple, the auction lasts for sixty days. During these days there is a public auction announcement in the morning and in the evening.

The auction is an attempt to get higher price for the orphans. Shouldn't it also last for sixty days? – No, this may be counterproductive, since people may retract their bids. Then shouldn't the Temple auction run for thirty days? – No, because an oral bid to the Temple is considered binding, and there the people can't retract.

Why is the announcement done in the morning and in the evening? So that the businessmen could ask their workers to inspect the property on the way home and to remind them to inquire of the results in the morning.

But, as a rule, one cannot collect from orphans while they are minors and has to wait until they grow up. Why didn't the teacher talk about a regular case of heirs? Because he wanted to discuss the exceptonal cases when the court does sell their lands while they are still minors – when there are interest payments on the loan, and they are diminishing the estate.

Art: Georges Sheridan Knowles - The Orphans

Arachin 21 – Forcing to Fulfill the Temple Obligation

When one makes a vow to the Temple, whether to donate a symbolic value of a person, or a real monetary value, or any money or property donation, he needs to fulfill that vow in the timely fashion. If he procrastinates, the Temple treasurers may get the permission of the court to exact some of his possessions as security. If he does not pay within thirty days, they become the property of the Temple.

This is also true if he promises a voluntary offering. Since it brings optional atonement, for example, for wrong thoughts or for skipping saying “Shema Israel,” one does not feel pressured to fulfill his vow and needs an additional incentive. However, for sin and guilt offerings – which are brought, for example, for unwitting Shabbat violations, or for liaison with a maidservant designated for another – treasurers do not exact security: one who feels the need to atone for this will eventually do it on his own.

Since the Torah said, “He must bring it, of his will,” fulfilling his vow to bring a sacrifice is a commandment, but it must be done willingly. Therefore, if need be, they force him, until he declares “I want to do it.”

Art: Philip Hermogenes Calderon - Broken Vows

Arachin 20 – Real vs Symbolic Value

Sometimes symbolic value of a person is stricter than the real. For example, if he vowed his symbolic value to the Temple but died before paying, his heirs must give it: since the symbolic obligation is fixed by the Torah, it exists from the moment he vows. By contrast, if he promised his real value (as defined by being sold on the slave market), and died before he was appraised, his heirs need not give anything, since dead have no monetary value.

If one vows to give “half of his symbolic value,” he gives half, but if he vows to give “symbolic value of half of him” - then he pays the full amount, because half of him cannot live without the other half. In this respect, real value vows are the same: if he vows value of half of him, it is tantamount to the whole value.

If one promised his ox as a sacrifice or his house as donation to the Temple, and the ox died or the house fell, he does not have to pay. However, if he promises their value, he will have to pay if they are not extant.

Art: Childe Hassam - Back of the Old House

Arachin 19 – My Weight – To the Temple!

If one says, “I undertake to pay my weight to the Temple,” then he must give it in the substance he specified, whether it be gold, silver, or even pitch - if in his place they sell pitch by weight. There was an incident when the mother of Yirmatya promised to pay the weight of her daughter, but did not specify the material. Since she was fabulously rich, they estimated that she had to pay in gold. The weight is taken at the time and hour of the vow.

If one promised the weight of his arm to the Temple, they measure the water displaced by his arm, and add donkey's flesh, bones, and sinews, until the water riches the same level. Rabbi Yose says that even though donkey meat is a good approximation, it will never be precise, therefore, they just estimate.

If he promised the worth (not weight) of his arm to the Temple, they estimate how much he is worth when working with one hand tied up; in this vows are more stringent than a symbolic value of hand - which is zero, since it is not a vital organ.

Art: Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun - Madame Rousseau and her Daughter