019a – השג יד – פרק רביעי – ערכין, דף יט ע”א

Why must the Mishnah say both "male" and "female"?

שבזכר ושבנקבה מיבעי ליה - Like the wording of the verse written about valuations^[1] (Vayikra 27): "if male, if female", and it does not say "son and daughter"; but the hermaphrodite^[2] is, as we learned, "entirely son and daughter".

And what is different about the female, that when she grows old the "third" rule still applies^[3]?

ומאי שנא - In the matter of valuations: a female who is over sixty still keeps the "third"; a girl's valuation is thirty shekels and an old woman's valuation is ten shekels.

And what is different about the male, that when he grows old the "third" rule does not apply^[4]?

ומאי שנא זכר - Since a male who passes sixty no longer keeps the "third": the valuation of an old man falls below a third of the valuation of a child, since a child is fifty shekels and an old man fifteen shekels.

Chizkiyah said: people say, "an old man in the house, a pa'cha in the house, an old woman in the house, a sima in the house."

פאחא - A broken piece, which is only good for carrying a load. Another reading is pachcha, a term for naked and bare, as the Targum of the Prophets renders "naked" as pachich (Yechezkel 16).

סימא - A treasure: one who can still labor and do work in her old age.

Mishnah: One who says, "My weight is upon me," gives his weight: if silver, silver; and if gold, gold.

An incident with the maidservant of Yirmatya, who said, "My weight is upon me," and went up to Jerusalem, and they weighed her, and gave her weight in gold.

מתני' האומר משקלי עלי: ירמטיא - Mishnah: "one who says, my weight is upon me". Yirmatya is a woman's name.

"The weight of my hand is upon me."

משקל ידי עלי - How does he weigh? If he wants to make it heavy, or if he wants to make it light.

Rabbi Yehuda says: he fills a jug with water and inserts [his hand] up to his elbow, and weighs donkey flesh, bones and sinews, and puts into it until it is full.

ממלא חבית מים ומכניסה - Into it.

עד מרפיקו - The atzil, which in the vernacular is called eisheila; when he inserts [his hand] the water runs out, and when he takes it out, it is found to be short.

ושוקל בשר חמור - That the weight of donkey flesh is like the weight of human flesh, and that in that flesh there are sinews and bones according to what is in the hand, since the weight of bones and sinews is not equal to the weight of flesh; "and he puts into it until it is full"; now there is a volume according to the size of his hand, and according to that weight he gives.

Rabbi Yossi said: "And how is it possible to match flesh against flesh, and bones against bones? Rather, one estimates the hand^[5], how much it is fit to weigh."

"If silver, silver; if gold, gold" — what does this mean?

Rav Yehuda said: "If he specified silver, silver, and specified gold, gold".

Obviously!

Rather, this teaches us the reason he specified; but if he did not specify, he discharged himself^[6] with any amount.

גמ' נפשיה בכל דהו - Gemara: "he discharges himself with any amount" — whatever he wishes to weigh, he weighs.

This is like Rechava^[7], who said: "In a place where pitch is sold by weight, he discharges himself even with pitch."

באתרא דתקלי כופרא - A place where pitch is sold by weight.

בכופרא - Pitch.

Obviously!

This is needed for where some places weigh and some places measure.

Lest you say: since they all do not weigh, [the rule would not apply].

It does not teach us anything new.

Rav Pappa^[8] said: "In a place where they weigh onions, he discharges himself even with onions."

שמכי - Onions.

Obviously!

This is needed for [the case] that after they weigh, they throw in two-thirds^[9] [extra].

שדי תרי תלתא - As sellers do.

Lest you say: the law of weight is nullified^[10].

בטיל ליה משקל - And so it turns out that they are not sold by weight.

It teaches us:

The Mishnah: "An incident with the maidservant of Yirmatya", and so on.

"An incident" comes to complete a missing word^[11], and this is what it teaches: "And if he is an important person, even though he did not specify, we say, according to his honor."

מעשה לסתור - The first part of the Mishnah: "if silver, silver" etc.; and we have explained that it comes to teach that if he did not specify, he discharges himself with any amount. Then it teaches, about the maidservant of Yirmatya: "who said, my weight is upon me in ordinary words", and they weighed her in gold.

And an incident with the maidservant of Yirmatya who said, "My weight is upon me," they went up to Jerusalem and weighed her, and gave her weight in gold.

Rav Yehuda said: "One who says, "My height is upon me," gives a staff that does not bend^[12]."

קומתי - Implies: like his height; and he gives a staff thick enough that he cannot bend it; if he specified silver, silver, and if gold, gold.

"My full height is upon me" gives a staff that bends.

מלא קומתי - He only intended the measure of the height of his stature, not the thickness. Rav Yehuda [says this] following R. Akiva.

Objection^[13] from a beraisa: "My height is upon me; my full height is upon me; he gives a staff that does not bend."

He (Rav Yehuda) said this following R. Akiva, who derives meaning from an extra expression.

"As we learned: 'Not the pit, and not the dut; even though he wrote its depth and height, he must acquire for himself a path^[14]' — the words of R. Akiva."

ולא את הבור - A seller who sold a house did not sell the pit in it or the dut. A pit is dug out without built walls; a dut is built.

וצריך - The seller must acquire for himself a path from the buyer to go to that pit and dut, since he sold him the whole land and kept nothing back; for he holds that a seller sells in a good manner, so he sells everything.

"And the Sages say he does not need [a path]."

אינו צריך - For a seller who sells in a bad manner, he sells, and he kept a path for himself.

"And R. Akiva concedes when he tells him: 'except for these, he does not need to acquire a path.'"

בזמן שאמר לו - "I sell you the house, except these: a pit and a dut, for which he does not need to acquire a path". So, since it is not needed to explain — for surely the pit and dut are not included in the house in any case — and he specified, surely he says it to add something and to inform him that he keeps it for himself. Here too: since kumati (my height) also implies the height of the stature, and he says "full" — so it comes to add something and to inform that his intent is only the measure of the height.

So, since he does not need it, and the Tanna says it to add something^[15], it comes to teach.

Here too: since he does not need it, and it says it to add something, it comes to teach.

A question was asked: "Standing (height), what is the law?"

עומדי עלי - Does standing imply a staff the height of his stature, or not?

מתני' האומר משקלי עלי:

מרפיקו - Rashi explains atzil as what they call eisheila in the vernacular, but this does not seem right: in the beraisa in the Gemara it teaches "up to the atzil", and it cannot be the eisheila, as we find in ch. 2 of Zevachim (18b): "they shall not gird themselves with sweat — not below their belts and not above their atzilim" — and if you say it is the eisheila, then that is exactly the place of sweat. Therefore R. Y. explained that it is what they call kud'a, and I elaborated on this in Menachot (37b and there) and Zevachim (19b).

דבתר דשקלי שדו תרי תלתא - But if you say: in every place they would also give more than the weight, as is evident in Bava Basra, ch. HaMocer et HaSefina (88b). How could it enter your mind that the law of weight is nullified? And one can answer that this is its meaning: here, in a place where they weigh, they throw in two-thirds more than the proper assessment; therefore it may seem that the law of weight is nullified, since he gives more than is due.

הוא דאמר כר' עקיבא כו' - A difficulty: the beraisa — who taught it? Not R. Akiva and not the Rabbis, for they only dispute where he sells in a good manner (the seller sells in good faith) versus the other view that he sells in a bad manner and keeps the path for himself; the Rabbis need not state the extra wording, but where the extra wording is needed, the Rabbis agree it is effective. So how can the beraisa be made to fit?

איבעיא להו עומדי מהו - One can explain all the questions with "if you should find it said". Thus the question "standing, what?" means: does one say he intends a staff that does not bend, or a staff that can stand upright even though it bends? And if you say: the breadth — is the staff as long as its breadth even though it bends? Must the staff be exactly as thick as his full breadth, since his breadth cannot bend when his height bends; so the same holds for breadth: the staff is without bending? Or does one say he means a staff as long as its breadth, even though it bends? And if the breadth implies a staff that bends — the sitting: does one say he means a staff without bending, like sitting from head to foot? Or does a bent staff imply that when he sits he is bent? And if one says the thickness implies bending, is the staff thick like the full thickness of his body, so that he cannot turn from his bending? Or is it what surrounds him, even of any size? Rabbenu Elchanan explained: on his sitting — does one say he means from his head to the place of his sitting, i.e., half his body, or the whole body, as he sits from head to foot? Some say: "my sitting" means a staff that holds the height of his sitting and not the full height of his standing; or a staff that holds the place of his sitting.

Notes

1. 1. Arakhin (ערכין): a vow in which a person gives to the Temple the sum of his value according to his age and sex, as set out in the Torah's chapter on valuations (Vayikra 27).
2. 2. Yotzei dofen: a child in whom both male and female signs are found; the Mishnah counts him as "son and daughter", so he falls under both the male and the female rules.
3. 3. "Keeps the third": a woman past age sixty is still valued at a third of a child's value: thirty shekels for a girl and ten shekels for an old woman.
4. 4. "Does not keep the third": a man past sixty is not valued at a third of a child's value (fifty shekels), but at fifteen shekels.
5. 5. "Estimates the hand": one assesses the weight of flesh, bones and sinews by the size of the hand itself, that is, by the volume it fills.
6. 6. "Discharged himself" — he fulfilled his obligation; that is, what he weighed suffices, and he need not be exact.
7. 7. Rechava: an Amora whose ruling concerns a place where pitch is sold by weight; his statement is brought here by naming the place.
8. 8. Rav Pappa: an Amora in Babylonia, who applied this rule to onions (shamkhei) in a place where they are sold by weight.
9. 9. "Two-thirds": they add to the scale an extra two-thirds, as sellers do; Tosfos explain this as more than the proper assessment.
10. 10. "The law of weight is nullified": the question is whether the rule of weighing is cancelled when more than the correct weight is given.
11. 11. "Missing word": a word is missing from the Mishnah's wording, and the Gemara supplies it with the phrase "and this is what it teaches" (so the Mishnah reads).
12. 12. "Staff": a long rod that serves as the measure of height and thickness when one specifies a height.
13. 13. "Objection": the Gemara brings a beraisa that seems to contradict the ruling just stated.
14. 14. "Acquire a path": the seller has a right to a path from the buyer to the pit or dut, unless he kept them for himself.
15. 15. "To add something": a superfluous expression in a beraisa, not needed for the law, taught to convey a new point.