018a – השג יד – פרק רביעי – ערכין, דף יח ע”א

Afterward his daughter died; he was sighted and became deaf-mute and regained his sight; he was open and then closed; afterward he was open and sane and then mad, and regained his sanity; valid. This is the principle: whatever begins and ends in validity is valid.^[1]

ואח"כ מתה בתו - Before he came to court to testify.

That is different, as the verse says: or he saw, if he does not tell; the Merciful One made the matter depend on seeing and telling.^[2]

But there is [a case that needs it]; otherwise, what is "and he" needed for?

As it was taught: He saw a group of people standing, and his witnesses among them, and he said: I adjure you, if you know any testimony for me, that you come and testify for me. ^[3]

סיאה - Group.

Might they be liable?

יכול יהו חייבין - The witnesses: [they would be liable for] the sacrifice of the oath of testimony, if they did not testify for him.

The verse says (Leviticus 5): and he is a witness, and he did not single out his witnesses.

והרי לא ייחד עדיו - For he adjured all of them.

Might it be, even if he said: anyone who knows...

יכול אפי' אמר כל מי - [If he said:] "anyone who knows testimony, I adjure [you]," they would not be liable.

The verse says: and he is a witness, and he did single out his witnesses.

ת"ל והוא עד והרי ייחד עדיו - For he adjured only his own witnesses.

But for sacrifices it is not so, etc.

His father died and left him ten thousand. ^[4]

He is rich.

עשיר הוא - And why is nothing consecrated to the Temple from them?

R' Abahu said: say, "he is leaving him ten thousand."

מניח - That his father has not yet died, but he is destined to leave him [property].

Obviously.

פשיטא - For he has nothing [of his father's].

When his father was dying.

כשהיה אביו גוסס - When the priest is valuing him.

Lest you think: most of the dying are [destined] to die. ^[5]

This teaches us.

If his ship is at sea and has come to be worth ten thousand to him, he is rich.

Rav Chisda said: when it was leased out and rented to others.

כשהיתה ספינתו מוחכרת ביד אחרים - And he has nothing in it except its rent; this is the ten thousand mentioned in the Mishnah.

But there is rental income; rent is paid only at the end! ^[6]

And let it be derived from the ship itself.

Whose view is this? It is R' Eliezer's.

הא מני ר"א היא - As he says below in chapter Shum HaYesomim (page 23), regarding valuations: if he was a donkey-driver, the priest gives him his donkey and does not take it for the Temple.

As we learned: R' Eliezer says: if he was a farmer, one gives him his yoke of oxen; if a donkey-driver, one gives him his donkey. ^[7]

צמדו - A pair of oxen, for it is his livelihood.

Mishnah: the two [types of] vows: how? ^[8]

A child who valued an elder gives the elder's value; an elder who valued a child gives the child's value. ^[9]

מתני' ילד - From twenty to sixty; their valuation is fifty shekels.

Valuations are assessed by the one who is valued: how?

הערכין בנערך - And we do not follow the [assessed] rate of the valuation according to the valuer.

A man who valued a woman gives a woman's value; a woman who valued a man gives a man's value.

And the value is at the time of the valuation: how?

If he valued him when under five and he became over five; under twenty and became over twenty, he gives at the time of the valuation.

It was taught: You have compared money to valuations, a pearl to light [things], and [a valuation] to honour. ^[10][11]

גמ' אתה היקשתה דמים לערכין - In chapter one (above, page 4) we say: a vow by your valuation of persons: "a vow" is money, "by your valuation" is valuations; the Torah compared these two things.

מרגלית לקלים - We follow the pearl by the "light" [items], as it is written about valuations: and he shall give the valuation that day; and we expound below (page 24) that a pearl should not be delayed for light [items]. A poor man who valued himself, and the priest came to value him, and he has a pearl worth thirty sela'im: we do not say, let us wait until it is taken to a big city where a rich man would pay fifty for it, so that he has fifty and gives a full valuation. We do not say that; the Temple gets only the price of the place and the time. And so too with money: if he said, "the price of this pearl is on me," we value it not by the prices of the big cities but by the sale price of that moment and that place.

ולידון בכבודו - That if he valued something on which the soul depends, such as saying "the valuation of my head is on me," he gives a full valuation, as is written about valuations: by your valuation of persons; we follow the person.

I might say: compare valuations to money, so that he gives at the time of giving. The verse says: according to your valuation shall it stand; he gives only at the time of the valuation. ^[12]

שיתן כשעת נתינה - Regarding money: it is obvious to us that he gives at the time of giving, not at the time of the vow, since [a slave] is like a slave in the market, they value him. And if he said "the price of mine is on me" in Tishrei, and in Nisan he came to court, who knows what it was worth at the time of the vow? The time of giving is the time he comes to court.

ת"ל כערכך יקום - Which implies valuations at the time of the valuation: if he valued himself at sixty and became over sixty, he gives the greater valuation, and not the elder's valuation.

Mishnah: the thirtieth day counts as below it; the fifth year and the twentieth year count as below them, as it is said (Leviticus 27): ^[13]

מתני' יום שלשים כלמטה - And if he said "the valuation of so-and-so, a small one, is on me," and that small one on that day was thirty [days old], it counts as below, and he has said nothing. There is no valuation for less than a month, for so it is written: "and if from a month old," etc.

And if from sixty years and upward

ומעלה - Implies that when the year of sixty is complete he is judged as an elder, but in the sixtieth year he is judged as a child.

We learn in all of them from the year of sixty: just as the year of sixty counts as below the one before it, so too the year of five and the year of twenty count as below the one before them.

Is it so? If the year of sixty counts as the lower one for stringency, then the year of five and twenty counts as the lower one for leniency.

הן אם עשינו - As a question: meaning, is it so, if we made the year of sixty count as below for stringency? For a large valuation, he has at least fifty shekels up to sixty, and beyond sixty there is a valuation of only fifteen shekels.

להקל - For [the valuation] above twenty is greater than [that of one] under twenty, and likewise for [one] of five, as is written in the verses.

The verse teaches: year, year, a gezerah shavah: just as the year mentioned at sixty counts as below, so the year mentioned from five and twenty counts as below it, both for leniency and for stringency.^[14]

R' Eliezer says: [it is not until] the years are exceeded by a month and a day.

ר"א אומר - Always: the year of five and the year of twenty and the year of sixty count as below, until the entire year and a month and a day of the other year are completed.

It is inverted; for if it were not inverted, there would be an objection, as we raised:

גמ' איכא למפרך - As we objected in the Mishnah.

The words "year, year" are written superfluously.

שנה יתירי כתיבי - For it could have been written: "and if from five years to twenty"; and I know that twenty is also spoken of in years. Why [is] "year" needed, and [the case of] sixty?

Let us say the Mishnah is not in accordance with Rabbi, for if Rabbi said "until and including"...^[15]

לימא מתני' - The verse requires us to learn that the year of twenty counts as below, not like Rabbi. For if it were like Rabbi he would say "until and including." And since it is written "from five years until twenty years," we know by itself that the year of twenty is included, and this is "below."

As it was taught (Exodus 12): from the first day until the seventh day^[16]

I might think: the first is not included, and the seventh is not included.

יכול מיום הראשון ואילך - He would be warned about leaven, and the first day would not be included.

ואלא והוא ל"ל לרבי כדאית ליה ולרבנן כדאית להו - Otherwise, what is "and he" needed for? For Rabbi, as he holds; for the Rabbis, as they hold. It is difficult for Rabbi: what do the Rabbis derive from "here, he" in "and if he is poor, from your valuation" (Leviticus 27:8)? Perhaps there is a derivation in another place from this "he" written here, and they derive it from there.

לא צריכא שהיה אביו גוסס כו' - Not necessary: that his father was dying, etc. It is explained in the Kuntres that regarding valuations the Torah depends on the priest's judgment, and if he sees that his father is dying, he does not value him until his father dies. This is not clear, for below we say that a sacred item has only its place and time; and right after, we bring "you have compared money to valuations, and a pearl to light [items]," explained as a poor man who valued himself and has a pearl not now worth more than twenty sela'im. We do not say, wait until market day when it rises to fifty sela'im; rather we value it as it is now, and he gives only twenty sela'im. So why must we wait until his father dies? Therefore it seems to R' Yehuda that "but for sacrifices it is not so" does not refer to the father's death but to the earlier matter; the end of R' Yehuda's statement is this, and what is explained later, "even if his father died and left him," is a separate matter, and sacrifices and valuations are equal in it.

שיתן כשעת נתינה - That he gives at the time of giving. Rashi explains: in money it is obvious that he gives at the time of giving and not at the time of the vow, since [a slave] is like a slave in the market, they value him; and if he said "the price of mine is on me" in Tishrei and came to court in Nisan, who knows what it was worth at the time of the vow; "the time of giving" is the time he comes to court. This is astonishing: why should we say it was worth more than now? If we see he is weak now and was strong then, we surely know it was worth more, and the Temple would lose out, since we see it was worth at least a sela more. Therefore Ori (אור"י) says this is not a matter of reasoning but there is a verse for it. Also, we learned below in the chapter "HaOmer Mishkalai" (page 20) that the heirs of a dead vower do not pay, "for there is no money for the dead." If the reason were reasoning that we follow the time of giving, that would not apply there, since we know it was worth at least a sela in his lifetime. Why then do we exempt the heirs entirely? Surely there is a verse for it.

יכול ראשון ולא ראשון בכלל שביעי ולא שביעי בכלל - I might say the first is not included, and the seventh is not included. And you ask: how can we say so, since it is written (Exodus 13:6) "seven days you shall eat matzot"? We answer: it refers to liability for karet, for karet is written in this verse, as it says "for whoever eats leavened [bread], that soul shall be cut off from the first day until the seventh day"; therefore it brings "until the twenty-first day in the evening," and this verse also includes karet.

Notes

1. 1. The principle: whoever was valid at the start and at the end is valid. The list describes changes in the witness's state (sighted and deaf-mute, open and closed, sane and insane), each time returning to a valid state.
2. 2. "In seeing and telling": the verse makes the duty depend on seeing and on telling; this witness is different, since he can testify in court.
3. 3. Oath of testimony: an oath by which witnesses swear to tell the truth; one who swears and does not testify is liable to bring a sacrifice.
4. 4. Ten thousand (ריבוא): ten thousand (zuzim), an amount that counts as wealth.
5. 5. Dying (גוסס): a critically ill person expected to die. The doubt: perhaps his estate is treated as if he had already died, so his son has no property.
6. 6. Rental (שכירות): renting the ship to others for a fee; the fee is paid to the owner only at the end of the period.
7. 7. Farmer (איכר): a man who works the land; his yoke of oxen or his donkey is his livelihood.
8. 8. Vow of valuations (נדר ערכין): a vow by which a person commits to give the Temple his valuation (the assessed value of a person), set by age and sex in the Torah (Leviticus 27).
9. 9. Elder's value (ערך זקן): from sixty and above; child's value: from five to twenty (Leviticus 27:3-7).
10. 10. Money (דמים): a vow to give the value of an object (not a person) at its market price; distinct from valuations.
11. 11. Pearl (מרגלית): an example of a precious item whose value changes with the market and the place.
12. 12. At the time of giving: the value is fixed at the moment he brings it to the Temple, not at the time of the vow.
13. 13. "Below" (כלמטה): the lower age category; on the thirtieth day the person is still counted in the previous category.
14. 14. "Year, year" (שנה שנה): a gezerah shavah: two passages teach each other through the shared word "year".
15. 15. Rabbi (רבי): Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. The Gemara suggests the Mishnah is not in accordance with him, since by his view "until" includes the end.
16. 16. "Until" (עד): whether the word includes the endpoint ("until and including") or not.