Arachin 34 – Cities of Levites

When the Israelites entered the Land of Israel, each tribe was designated a portion, except for the Levites. Instead, each tribe provided cities for them to settle. Should a Levite sell his house, he can redeem it any time in the future – unlike the Israelites who have but a year. However, these rules are obvious from the Torah, and the Talmud begins from the first non-obvious case.

If a regular Jew (Yisrael) inherited a house in the city of the Levites from his maternal grandfather, he redeems it like a regular Jew, only for a year – this is the opinion of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince, who attaches importance to who the seller is. However, the Sages say that he does not have to be a Levi, but rather, all houses in the city of Levites follow the same rules.

Around the cities Torah mandates an open space for a thousand steps for beauty, and another thousand for farming, and these may not be exchanged.

Kohanim and Levites may sell their houses in walled cities and redeem them at any time, their houses never become permanent property of the buyer, who may always be forced by the Levi to sell them back.

Art: Georges Seurat - White Houses, Ville d'Avray

Arachin 33 – Houses in Open Towns

Previously we discussed sales of houses in walled cities and fields outside cities. Houses in open towns are in between these two categories, and the Torah gives them the enhanced rights of walled citied and the enhanced rights of ancestral fields. How so? They can be redeemed immediately after sale and for the entire twelve months, like houses in walled cities; and they return to their owners in the Jubilee year, besides, their redemption price goes down with the years passed toward the Jubilee year.

Obviously, a town needs a wall. However, even if it has a wall but is very small, consisting of two courtyards of two houses each, then even if it had a wall from the time of Joshua the son of Nun, they are treated like houses in open towns.

Art: Henry Woods - A Courtyard in Venice

Arachin 32 – Purchases in Walled Cities

Originally, the buyer of a home in a walled city would hide on the final day of the twelfth month after the purchase, in order that the seller could not redeem it, and the purchase was thus confirmed. Hillel enacted a law by which the original owner could deposit redemption money in a special room – and some say, with the court – and then break down the door of the house and enter.

All constructions similar to a house within a walled city can be likewise sold and redeemed within a year, but not fields – this is the opinion of the Sages. Rabbi Meir, based on the words of the Torah “which is in the city” includes even the fields for a one-year redemption. But it does say “house'! – You are right, and in fact Rabbi Meir includes only pebble fields, which are similar to a house, but not all fields.

Jerusalem belonged to all tribes, and therefore the law of walled cities did not apply to it, and houses there could always be redeemed. Other walled cities were re-sanctified by Ezra, and they kept this sanctity, because Jews never stopped living in Israel after Ezra.

Art: Charles Haigh-Wood - At the Cottage Door

Arachin 31 – Redemption of Houses

If one sells a house in a walled city (surrounded by a wall in the time of Joshua), he can redeem it immediately, without any waiting period, or any time afterwards, for a full year. It thus looks like prohibited interest: the seller got the money, the buyer lived in the house (interest), and then the seller returned the money (as if returned the loan). However, it is not really prohibited interest, since interest is a loan payment fixed in advance, and here he sold his house, and only later it turned out that he could buy it back.

What does the Torah mean by saying that the redemption period is a “full” year? – If this year happens to have thirteen months, he is given an extra month. (To adjust for difference between lunar months and solar year, an extra month is added every few years). Rabbi Yehudah the Prince says that “full” year means a solar year of 365 days. It can thus happen, according to the Sages, that a house sold, for example, on the fifteens of the first month of Adar I, will have more redemption time than another house, sold later, on the first of Adar II.

Art: Paul Cezanne - The Manor House At Jas De Bouffan

Arachin 30 – Redemption of Ancestral Fields

If the hereditary owner of an ancestral fields sold it to the first buyer for a hundred coins (zuz), and the first buyer then sold it to the second for two hundred coins, then when the original owner comes to redeem the field, he calculates the redemption fee only according to the hundred coins he paid the first buyer, since the Torah said, “And he shall calculate the years of his sale and return the remainder to the man to whom he sold it.”

On the other hand, if the owner sold the field to the first buyer for two hundred coins, and the first buyer then resold the field to a second buyer for a hundred coins, the owner redeems it based on the price of the second buyer, that is, one hundred coins, since the Torah said, “He shall calculate and return the remainder to the man...” – which man? – the one who currently owns the field.

How can the same phrase be interpreted in two different ways, both times to the advantage of the owner? Abaye said, “I am today as sharp as Ben Azzai, who was smarter than all the Sages, and I will explain: fields are compared to a Hebrew slave, and Hebrew slave was given multiple leniencies by God.”

Art: John Singer Sargent - Home Fields

Arachin 29 – Dedication (“cherem”) - To Whom?

One can pronounce dedication (“cherem”) of his property, after which it becomes forbidden to him and goes either to the Temple or to the Kohanim. Among the Kohanim, it goes to the family that serves in the Temple this week.

If one pronounced a dedication but did not specify who it should go to, then it goes to the upkeep of the Temple – so says Rabbi Yehoshua ben Beteira, since the Torah said, “Any dedication (“cherem”) is most holy to God.”  However, the Sages says that any unspecified dedication goes to the Kohanim, since the Torah said, “Any dedicated field shall be to the Kohen.” If so, how do the Sages explain the phrase used by Rabbi Yehoshua? – It teaches that one can dedicate ("cherem") even offerings that are already holy , which will result in additional obligations on his part.

If one sells an ancestral field, he is not permitted to redeem it less than two years after the sale, as the Torah said, “According to the number of crops is the price”, and the minimal number of plural “crops” is two. However, a year of drought or a shemittah year  don't go into the count.

Art: Camille Pissarro - Fields

Arachin 28 – Promise to the Temple is Like Deed with People

If bidders offered respectively ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and fifty shekels for a field consecrated to the Temple, and then one who has bid fifty retracted, he is still responsible to add his ten shekels to the forty-shekel bid. If afterwards the one who has bid forty retracted, they pay ten shekels each. However, if they retracted simultaneously, the one who has bid fifty is responsible for his ten, and for half of the other one's ten, so he pays fifteen, while the other one pays five.

One can “dedicate” his property by making it forbidden ("cherem") to himself, and then assign it either to the Temple or to the Kohanim. All donations that we learned about so far were promises, this one is actual giving over, only it works in two steps: it becomes forbidden to him immediately, and it either remains forbidden in the possession of the Temple until redemption, or it becomes permitted to the Kohanim once they take possession of it.

One can dedicate ("cherem") some of his sheep, cattle, of fields, but not all of them. In general, one should have pity on his possessions and not give away everything – as a guideline, no more than one-fifth.

Art: Camille Pissarro - Flock of Sheep in a Field after the Harvest

Arachin 27 – An Acquired Field

One can acquire a field and then consecrate it to the Temple. Since this is an "acquired," not ancestral field, it is redeemed for its market value, not the fifty shekels per measure of barley, and in the Jubilee year it goes back to the ancestral owner, rather than being divided by the Kohanim.

If one bought a field from his father, then his father died, and then he consecrated it, it is treated as an ancestral field, since it could come to him as his inheritance. However, if he consecrated the field first, and afterwards his father died, then it is treated as an acquired field, which is redeemed for its market value.

When the Jubilee year is not in force, the laws are different. All fields are redeemed for their market value. The auction is started by the treasurer telling the owner, who had consecrated the field, “You bid first” since the owner is required to add one-fifth to his redemption price. It once happened that one consecrated an inferior field. He was required to bid first, however, so he offered a small coin. The treasurer told him "The field is yours." The field reverted back to him, and all he accomplished was to loose a small coin.

Art: Ary Scheffer - The Death of Gericault

Arachin 26 – A Field That Was Not Redeemed

If Jubilee year arrived and the field had not been redeemed, there are three diametrically opposed possible outcomes. One is described by Rabbi Yehudah: the Kohanim take possession of the field, but they must pay the full redemption price of fifty silver shekels per measure of barley to the treasury. Why? Because a consecrated field is similar to a consecrated house (the Torah uses the same word, “holy”), and the house is never redeemed without a payment.

Rabbi Shimon says that the Kohanim take the possession of the field without a payment, because it is similar to the two lambs of Shavuot, about which the Torah also said “holy,” and which belong to the Kohanim without a payment. And Rabbi Yehudah? – Better to compare consecrated field to a house – both are real estate. And Rabbi Shimon? – Better to compare field to a sacrifice – both are presents to Kohanim.

According to Rabbi Elazar, nobody takes possession of the field, it is called “abandoned,” and remains in the Temple treasury until the next Jubilee. Why? – Normally, when one sells a field, it comes back to him (“goes out of the hands of the buyer”) at Jubilee; but why should it “go out of the hands of the Temple?"

Art: Paul Gauguin - Abandoned Garden in Rouen

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

Arachin 18 – Age for Symbolic Value

Symbolic value of a person vowed to the Temple depends on his or her age, and if A vows to give the value of B, it is the age of B, not A, that matters.

The thirtieth day of an infant is considered as days before, and this infant has no symbolic value yet. Similarly, the fifth year is considered as years before, and so the twentieth, which results in lower symbolic values. Why? The Torah said, “From sixty years of age and higher” to teach that only subsequent years are included. But how can we derive anything from the sixtieth year, when the symbolic value decreases, resulting in a stringency, and apply the rule to the twentieth year, when the value increases, resulting in a leniency? – We learn it from an extra word “years” in the phrase “from five years to twenty years” where “from five years to twenty” would have been enough.

At sixty the symbolic value of a man drops by 70%, but that of a woman drops significantly less. Why? Chizkiyah quoted a proverb, “An old man in a house is a calamity, but an old woman in a house is a treasure.”

Art: Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez - Old Woman Frying Eggs

Arachin 17 – When One Pays What He Can

When one vow to donate his symbolic value to the Temple, he pays according to the age and gender guidelines given in the Torah. If he is poor, he only pays what he can afford, as estimated by a Kohen.

What happens, however, when he promises the value of someone else? In this case, the “what he can pay” dispensation applies to him, not to the one whose value he promised. Thus, if a poor man vowed the value of a rich man, he gives the value of a poor man. By contrast, with the sacrifices it is different: if a poor man vowed to buy the sacrifices for a spiritual leper, “metzora,” and this leper is rich, the poor man has to pay for the sacrifices of a rich one. Why is this difference? The symbolic value obligation did not exist until he promised it, therefore, it is his obligation, and it depends on his wealth. By contrast, the obligations of the leper already existed: due to the leper's actions he got this spiritual condition, and it is his ability to pay that determines if he gets a discount.

Art: REMBRANDT Harmenszoon van Rijn - Parable Of The Rich Man

Arachin 16 – What To Do About Bad Talk?

About the one who talks badly of his fellow, God says, “He who slanders his neighbor in secret... him I cannot bear.” What's the correction? If he is a scholar, he should learn Torah and books on self-improvement, and if he can't learn, he should become humble. Rav Acha said, “There is no correction for bad things that were already said. This advice is for one who wants to protect himself from speaking badly.”

Bad speech kills three: the speaker, the listener, and the one they talk about. The garment of the High Priest had bells, and they atoned for bad talk – but only if it had not lead to quarrels.

One should reprove his friend for bad deeds, but only if the friend is righteous and will listen; however, Rabbi Tarfon said that in his generation nobody accepted rebuke, and in the next one nobody could rebuke properly. Assuming that the generations go down, this is all the more true today.

Suffering is helpful spiritually, what is the minimal amount? When newly made clothing does not fit, but some say when one puts a shirt inside out, and some – when one wants to take out three coins and takes out only two. However, if he took out three coins and needs to put one back – it is not suffering.

Art: Herman Frederik Carel ten Kate - A Humble Question

Arachin 15 – How Bad is Bad Talk?

In the laws of a violator and seducer  there are also elements of leniency and stringency. Whether one seduced or violated the daughter of the most prominent family of Kohanim or the lowest family of Israel, he pays fifty shekels. By contrast, the  payments for humiliation depends on who humiliated and who was humiliated.

One who defames his new wife may face a leniency and a stringency: whether he defamed the most prominent maiden in the priesthood or the humblest maiden among the Jewish people, he pays a hundred shekels.

We thus see that one who speaks evil with his mouth is worse than one who performs an evil deed. Similary, the decree that the Jews should not enter Israel and stay in the desert for another forty years was sealed on account of the bad words they said about the Land of Israel. The Torah said, “They tested Me these (literally, this) ten times”, and the word “this” tells that these bad words were the reason. If one is punished so for talking about land and rocks, then now much more when talking about his fellow.

Art: Jean-Baptiste Madou - The Gossips