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