018b – השג יד – פרק רביעי – ערכין, דף יח ע”ב

As it is stated (Leviticus 13): from his head to his feet^[1]

כענין שנאמר מראשו ועד רגליו - It is clear to us, as he explains below: from the head, the head is not included.

the head is not included [in the rule for] the feet, and the feet are not included [in the rule for] the head.

Another verse says (Exodus 12): until the twenty-first day of the month, in the evening.

ת"ל עד יום האחד ועשרים לחדש בערב - It follows that the first day is included, as it says at the start of the verse: in the evening you shall eat matzot, and the seventh day is included too, from the end of the verse, as it says: in the evening.

Rabbi says: it is not needed. The first (day) is included, and the seventh (day) is included^[2].

Even if you say: Rabbi [holds that] the two verses are of equal weight^[3].

שקולי משקלי קראי - They are balanced. In Rabbi's method one can decide [the case] from below or from above, as it says: from a month old up to five years, and the valuation shall be, etc. And we say that "up to" includes [the endpoint], so five years is in the lower group; and it then says: and if from five years up to twenty, etc. And for Rabbi "from five" and five are both included, since he says that from the first day the first is included, so the year of five is in the upper group. Therefore, without a verbal analogy there would be no resolution at all.

But surely it is written (Leviticus 27): from a month old up to five years. Why is a further^[4] "from five" needed?

מבן ה' תו ל"ל - This is what he should have written: up to a son of twenty years, and the valuation shall be, etc.; up to a son of sixty years, and the valuation shall be, etc..

Therefore, the two verses balance each other.

The teacher said: the head is not included [in the rule for] the feet, and the feet are not included [in the rule for] the head. From where do we know this?^[5]

If you wish, say: the signs of the body differ from the signs of the head.

שאני סימנין דגופו מסימנין דראשו - Signs of an affliction in a place of hair are judged by yellow hair; an affliction in a place of flesh is judged by white hair and by a pisyon^[6].

If you wish, say [it is derived from] (Leviticus 13): to all the appearance of the eyes of the priest:

לכל מראה - He cannot see on the head because of the hair, and on the foot between finger and finger.

Rabbi Eliezer says: [the years count] only once they exceed the full years by a month and a day.

It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer says: it is stated here "above", and it is stated there (Numbers 3): a month and above. Just as there [the count is] from a month and a day, so here [it is] a month and a day.

ונאמר להלן - Concerning the Levites, as written: from a month and above. Just as there it means from a month and a day, since the next month has already begun, so here too: a month and a day.

Say instead: as there, [it is] one day; so here, [it is] one day.

מה התם חד יומא - The word "above" written about a month only means one day; so the "above" written here about years means only one day.

If so, what is the use of the verbal analogy (gezera shava^[7])?

ג"ש מאי אהני לי - Without a verbal analogy I would know that one day is required, since "and above" is written.

The Sages taught: the year stated for sacrifices^[8]

שנה האמורה בקדשים - For example (Numbers 28:3): lambs in their first year.

the year stated for houses in walled cities^[9]

two years for a field of inheritance

שתי שנים שבשדה אחוזה - The seller of an inherited field may not redeem it until two years have passed in the buyer's hand, as it is written (Leviticus 25): according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you, and the minority of years is two.

and six years for a Hebrew slave^[10]

And likewise the son and the daughter, all of them from time to time (me'at le'et)

ושבבן ושבבת - These are the years mentioned for the son and the daughter, and below he explains them.

מעת לעת - The same day and the same hour in the following year. And we do not go by the world-count: when Tishrei comes we count a year for him.

The year stated for sacrifices: from where do we know [this]?^[11]

Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: the verse says (Leviticus 12): a lamb in its first year. Its year is its own, not a year of the world-count.

The year stated for houses in walled cities, as it is written (Leviticus 25): until the end of the year of its sale. Its sale is its own; it is not a year of the world-count.

Two years for a field of inheritance, as it is written (Leviticus 25): according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you^[12].

שני תבואות - Since it is written "shnei shnei tevu'ot" in the sense of "crops", why is "crops" needed? Rather, it teaches that every crop found in those two years is eaten, even three. For example, if he sold it to him in Nisan with the grain standing, and he may not redeem it until two years later on the same day in Nisan; and if it ripened early and was reaped, then he ate three crops. When the seller redeems it, he counts the years from the day of sale to the jubilee. If there were ten years and he sold it for ten maneh, he sold it at one maneh per year, since at the jubilee it was due to return. So when he redeems it now, he pays eight maneh for the remaining eight years. And how much is it that he ate three equal crops in two years? And if we went by the world-count, from the coming Tishrei into the next year, he would redeem it and not have eaten more than two crops.

Sometimes a person eats three crops in two years.

Six [years] for a Hebrew slave, as it is written (Exodus 21): six years he shall serve.

And sometimes in the seventh (year) he also works.

And the son and the daughter, all of them from time to time^[13].

For what halakhic purpose?

Rav Gidel said in the name of Rav: [it is relevant] to valuations (erachin).

לערכין - That we do not go, in the year of "five and twenty and sixty", by the world-count.

Rav Yosef said: [it is relevant] to the ages of maturity of a yotze dofen (a child born by caesarean^[14]).

לפרקין דיוצא דופן - In tractate Niddah (45b): a boy of twelve years, his vows are examined; at thirteen his vows stand. A girl of eleven, her vows are examined; at twelve her vows stand. And many years of boy and girl we learned there. Here he says that all of them are counted me'at le'et from the time they were born.

Abaye said to Rav Yosef: did you two disagree?

He said to him: No. I say one thing and he says one thing. So too it is reasonable.

For if you think they disagree: the one who says "for valuations" did not say "for a yotze dofen".

But Rav said: the halakha in all the chapters (cases) is me'at le'et^[15].

האמר רב - There, in Niddah (47b):

הלכתא בכולה פירקין - That for a yotze dofen [the count is] me'at le'et.

But then, for the one who says "for valuations", [what is the reason]?

Why did he not say "for a yotze dofen"?

מ"ט לא אמר ליוצא דופן - Because he also holds there [in Niddah] that it is me'at le'et.

Like those (years)^[16]: just as those are written, so these are written.

And the other [view]: if you think the years of the son and the daughter are written [in the Torah]...

אמר לך - Nevertheless, here he did not teach them like those: the year of sacrifices and of the Hebrew slave, which he taught as written in the Torah. These years of a yotze dofen are all rabbinic.

Tosafot

ואי בעית אימא לכל מראה עיני הכהן - Tosafot asks: here it seems that an affliction spread over the whole body does not apply to the foot. Zevachim 49b does not seem so: Rabbi Natan ben Avtolmos asks from where we know that spreading on garments is clean; from 'baldness and bald-patch' in both garments and a person, just as spreading over all of it is clean there, so here; and we know from 'from head to foot' that the whole-white is clean on the foot, so here on the head too. So spreading does apply on the foot, since we derive the head from the foot.

ופדויו מבן חדש ומעלה - We searched for this verse and did not find it, except 'and his redemption from a month old you shall redeem' (Numbers 18). Perhaps he derives it thus: since it says 'from a month old' and not 'a month old', it means from a month old and above.

שנתו שלו ולא שנתו של עולם - Rabbi Shmuel son of Rabbi Elchanan asks: why do we need a verse? Let us derive it by reason, for otherwise how would the daily offerings for Rosh Hashana be valid? Some explain that the year of a lamb is counted from the day of its presentation; the Gemara here rejects that, since in Zevachim 25b hours disqualify sacrifices, and we count from the actual birth. Rabbi Shmuel says two verses are needed here (Arachin 31a).

במספר שני תבואות פעמים שאדם אוכל ג' תבואות בב' שנים - If you ask how to read the verse: four crops, since 'shnei' suggests two years and 'tevu'ot' suggests two more? He derives from 'mispar' (number) that 'shnei tevu'ot' means two years of crops. Tosafot notes it is more common to have three crops in two years when counting me'at le'et than when counting from creation.

ובשביעית נמי יעבוד - Rabbi Y. son of Yom Tov asks: this teaches only the me'at le'et of the final year; how do we learn it for other years? Perhaps the thirty days before Rosh Hashana count as a year. Rashbam answers that 'and in the seventh' teaches the final year, and the same applies to the other years.

לערכין - If you ask: for valuations, from where do we know that me'at le'et is required? Ri explains: we learn it from a son of a month, just as one is not valued as a month-old unless he has a full month; so too for a son of five and of twenty.

Notes

1. 1. Leviticus 13 describes the priest's examination of a skin affliction (tzara'at); the verse says 'from his head to his feet', i.e. the whole body.
2. 2. Exodus 12 sets the matzah period, from the evening of the 14th of Nisan to the evening of the 21st. Rabbi holds that the first and seventh days are included without the extra verse.
3. 3. 'Shekulei mishkelei kera'ei': two verses that can each be read two ways and so balance each other; neither decides the case, and a further source is needed.
4. 4. Leviticus 27 fixes the valuations (erech) of a person by age: from a month to five years, from five to twenty, and so on. The tractate is named for these valuations.
5. 5. The Gemara quotes back the rule stated above ('the teacher said') and asks how we know it.
6. 6. A pisyon is a white patch in a skin affliction.
7. 7. Gezera shava: a deduction from an identical word in two verses; here the word is 'and above' (ומעלה).
8. 8. Numbers 28:3 requires lambs 'in their first year' for offerings. The Gemara lists the rules of 'year' for sacrifices, walled-city houses, fields and Hebrew slaves.
9. 9. A house sold in a walled city may be redeemed within one full year of sale (Leviticus 25:29-30); after that it belongs to the buyer permanently.
10. 10. A Hebrew slave serves six years and goes free in the seventh (Exodus 21:2).
11. 11. The Gemara asks how we know that 'year' for sacrifices means the animal's own year, not the calendar year of the world.
12. 12. A field sold before the jubilee is valued by the number of crop-years remaining until the jubilee (Leviticus 25:15-16).
13. 13. 'Me'at le'et' means a full day and night: the same day and hour in the following year.
14. 14. A yotze dofen is a child not born in the natural way. The Gemara discusses his age of maturity for vows.
15. 15. Rav's view is that in all cases the rule is me'at le'et; the Gemara cites it from Niddah.
16. 16. The years written in the Torah (sacrifices, Hebrew slave) versus the years of a yotze dofen, which are rabbinic.