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

Arachin 14 – Leniencies and Stringencies

Since symbolic valuation of a person is expressed in fixed currency, this can sometimes result in a leniency and sometimes in a stringency. Thus, whether one vowed to donate the symbolic value of the handsomest man in Israel or of the ugliest man in Israel, he gives fifty selah coins for a male between twenty and sixty years old.

Consecration of ancestral fields may likewise result in a leniency or in a stringency: whether he consecrates land on the perimeter of a city (the worst), or in the vineyards of Sebaste (the best), when he redeems it, he gives fifty silver shekels for an area on which a measure of barley can be sown .

This requires explanation. Ancestral fields are fields inherited from the original division of the Land of Israel between the tribes, or fields sold by the Temple treasury. What measure of barley? - Chomer (same as kor, about 10 cubic feet), and this much barley was enough to sow the area of about five acres. This is the area one would redeem for 50 silver shekels. If the land market value was higher, he got a leniency, if lower – a stringency.

Art: Sir Godfrey Kneller - Portrait of a young Man

Arachin 13 – No Less, But Maybe More

According to the final account, the Second Temple was destroyed in the first year after Shmita. This gives a starting point for counting the Shmita years today; however, there are still two views on how to count the first year of creation – from the creation of Adam, or from the first day of creation, counting the first six days as a full year. The second view is the accepted one, with the result that the next Shmita is in 2014-15.

There were no fewer than six inspected lambs, sufficient for Shabbat and the two days of Rosh HaShanah, but they could add without a limit. But was six lambs enough for three days, seeing that there are additional offerings on these day!? – Six is not precise, just a reminder to keep enough.

There were no less than two trumpets, but up to 120, no less than nine harps, and only one set of cymbals.

Young Levites boys did not play musical instruments, nor stood on the platform, but only sang standing on the floor of the Temple, and they were called assistants of the Levites, but some say, tormentors, because adult ones could never sing as sweet.

Art: Sir Henry Raeburn - The Marchioness of Northampton, Playing a Harp