026a – אין מקדישין – פרק שביעי – ערכין, דף כו ע”א

They consecrate for the upkeep of the Temple building, and we do not derive the consecrations of the Temple upkeep from the consecrations of the altar. But Rabbi Shimon too would derive it from one who consecrates a house: we derive a matter given to the kohanim from a matter given to the kohanim, and we do not derive a matter given to the kohanim from a matter not given to the kohanim.^[1]

Rabbi Eliezer says: they do not enter and do not give [etc.].

Rabbah said: What is Rabbi Eliezer's reason? As the verse says: "If he will not redeem the field, he shall not redeem it any more; and if he has sold the field, and the field shall be at its going out in the Jubilee."^[2]

מאי טעמא דרבי אליעזר אמר רבה אמר קרא ואם לא יגאל את השדה וגו' והיה השדה בצאתו ביובל - Rabbi Eliezer explains and expounds it thus: "If he will not redeem, he shall not redeem any more; and if the treasurer has sold the field, and it goes out in the Jubilee to the kohanim." From this we learn: if the treasurer did not sell the field, it does not go out to the kohanim.

Abaye said: A sharp knife cuts the verses apart.^[3]

סכינא חריפא מפסקא קראי - This is not how the verses are written; rather they are written: "he shall not redeem any more, and the field goes out to the kohanim" - which implies that once the Jubilee arrives it may no longer be redeemed and goes to the kohanim, even if the treasurer did not sell it.

Rather, Abaye said: The reason of Rabbi Eliezer is as it was taught:

"He shall not redeem" - I might say it may not be redeemed at all, so that it be before him like a field of acquisition; the verse says "any more": as it was, it is not redeemed; but it may be redeemed, so that it be before him like a field of acquisition.

יכול לא תהא נגאלת לבעלים אפי' להיות לפניו כשדה מקנה - Like any other person: the field is redeemed from the hekdesh, and it goes out from his hand to the kohanim at the Jubilee.

לכמות שהיתה - As it was: [an ancestral field] that does not leave his hand at the Jubilee is not redeemed for him.

When [does this apply]? If you say in the first Jubilee, why should it not be redeemed? It is also an ancestral field!^[4]

Rather, obviously, in the second Jubilee.

And for whom [is this taught]? If you say for Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon, it is derived that it goes to the kohanim.

לכהנים נפקא - For Rabbi Yehuda, for money; for Rabbi Shimon, for free; either way, in the end its owner may not redeem it completely again.

Rather, is it not Rabbi Eliezer's view? Learn from this that the reason of Rabbi Eliezer is from here.

לאו רבי אליעזר היא - For he says that even the second [Jubilee] it is redeemable, were it not redeemed in the first Jubilee. [Translation doubtful.]

וטעמא דרבי אליעזר מהכא - The extra "od" is needed to teach that it may be redeemed, so that it is before him like a field of acquisition; so it is in the second Jubilee that the question arises. [Translation doubtful.]

But consider: what do Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon expound from this "od"?

Rather, here we are dealing with a field that went out to the kohanim, and a kohen consecrated it, and the owners came to redeem it.

שיצאתה לכהנים - That a man consecrated an ancestral field and another redeemed it, and it went out from his hand to the kohanim, and they consecrated it in the second Jubilee, and the owners come to redeem it from the treasurer.

We might think he may not redeem it, so that it be before him like a field of acquisition. The verse says "od": as it was, it is not redeemed; but it may be redeemed, so that it be before him like a field of acquisition.^[5]

סד"א לא תיפרוק כלל - Since he did not redeem it in the first consecration, when he consecrated it.

ת"ל עוד - That it be before him like a field of acquisition, and when the Jubilee comes it goes out of his hand and is divided among the kohanim.

It was taught: "In the Jubilee year the field shall return to him from whom he acquired it." I might think it returns to the treasurer from whom he took it. The verse says "to him to whom the ancestral holding belongs": this means the original owners who sold it to the one who consecrated it.^[6]

והתניא - Taught in a beraisa, in the manner of this exposition.

בשנת היובל ישוב השדה - Regarding a man who consecrated a field of acquisition, it is written: "and he redeemed it for this one."

The beraisa continues: [Scripture says] "to him from whom he acquired it." [It teaches:] a field that went out to the kohanim, which a kohen sold, and a buyer consecrated, and another redeemed: I might think it returns to the earlier owners; the verse says "to him who acquired it from him."

ת"ל לאשר לו אחוזת הארץ - That is, the original owners, the ones who sold it to the one who consecrated it.

ת"ל לאשר קנהו מאתו - But it was not acquired from him except through hekdesh; it went out of his hand, and it returns only to the kohen from whom the acquirer bought it, the one who consecrated it. This is also the case above: since the first consecrator had the ancestral field, another redeemed it, and it went out to the kohanim, it no longer returns to him if he did not redeem it.

I might think it returns to the earlier owners who consecrated it first, since the ancestral holding is theirs; the verse says "to him who acquired it."

יכול תחזור לבעלים הראשונים - To the one who consecrated it, the first consecration, since to him is the ancestral holding.

And we need "he shall not redeem",

ואיצטריך למיכתב לא יגאל - As we explained above also in this case: where he consecrated it and another redeemed it and it went out to the kohanim, and a kohen consecrated it, he can no longer redeem it to be before him as an ancestral field, since it went out from the first hekdesh to the kohanim.

and we need "to him who acquired it" to be written.

ואיצטריך למכתב לאשר קנהו - To teach, as we said: where one consecrated an ancestral field and did not redeem it, and another redeemed it and it went out to the kohanim, and a kohen sold it in the second Jubilee and a buyer consecrated it and another redeemed it, it does not return at the Jubilee to the first [consecrator].

For if the Torah had written "he shall not redeem," [it would mean] it does not return at all; but here, where it does return, it returns to the earlier owner.

דהא לא הדרא כלל - Where a kohen consecrated it, it never returns to any person, since it was an ancestral field for the kohen, as it is written: "it shall be the kohen's holding" (Vayikra 27:21). When the kohen's consecration is redeemed by another, it goes out at the Jubilee and is divided among all the kohanim; but to the kohen who consecrated it, it does not return except as one share among his brothers. So it does not return to the earlier owners to be before him as an ancestral field either.

The Torah wrote "to him who acquired it": if the owners did not pay its value, it would not return to them.

But here they paid the value, so it stays in their hands.

אבל - Where a kohen sold it and a buyer consecrated it, it is now a field of acquisition. If someone redeems it from the hekdesh and the Jubilee comes, it does not go out to the kohanim, but returns to the earlier owner who consecrated it first, since the ancestral holding is his. Therefore the verse says "to him from whom he acquired it": to the kohen from whom the last consecrator bought it.

תיקום בידייהו - It always remains as an ancestral field, and does not go out to the kohanim at the Jubilee as an acquired field, like a person who buys an ancestral field from the hekdesh, for which it is an acquired field, and from whom it goes to the kohanim at the Jubilee.

The Torah wrote "he shall not redeem"; had it written "he shall not redeem" and not "any more", I would say it may not be redeemed at all.

The Torah wrote "any more": as it was, it is not redeemed; but it may be redeemed, so that it is before him like a field of acquisition.

What is the upshot? From where is the reason of Rabbi Eliezer?

מאי הוי עלה - What is the upshot: the reason of Rabbi Eliezer - from where?

Rava said: the verse says, "the field shall be at its going out in the Jubilee"; "at its going out" means from the hand of another (the redeemer).

בצאתו - Implies: when it goes out from the hand of the redeemer, like the law of a field a person acquires that goes out at the Jubilee; that is what he means, that it will be for the kohanim. But at its going out from the hand of the hekdesh, it is not implied, since the verse had not yet taught it; the hekdesh goes out at the Jubilee (by the power of the Temple upkeep).

Tosafot

מאי טעמא דרבי אליעזר - Then the plain meaning of the verse seems to follow Rabbi Eliezer: "if he will not redeem the field" (the owner), and "if he has sold it" - that the treasurer sold it to another man, and "at its going out in the Jubilee to the kohanim": so it seems it goes out to the kohanim only when sold to another, and if it was not redeemed by another but is still with the treasurer, it does not go out. According to what I explained, "if he will not redeem" and "if he has sold" are two cases, and it works out: it implies that in both of them it goes out to the kohanim. [Translation doubtful.]

אילימא ביובל ראשון אמאי אינה נגאלת שדה אחוזה נמי הויא - Surprising: it should have said "if [it be] in the first Jubilee"; is it not written: "if he redeems, he shall redeem the field and it shall stand"? Perhaps this is what it meant. It may be explained: in the first Jubilee, e.g., if another redeemed it from the treasurer and the owners redeemed it from him, the law is that it is a field of acquisition and returns to the kohanim at the Jubilee, as taught: "If another redeemed it, or one of the relatives, and he redeemed it, it goes out from his hand at the Jubilee." One can answer: the verse does not speak of a redemption that passes from another into the owners' hand, but only from the treasurer's hand. [Translation doubtful.]

Notes

1. 1. Bedek ha-bayit: property consecrated for the upkeep of the Temple building, distinct from sacrifices. (General knowledge.)
2. 2. Vayikra 27:16-24 deals with the redemption of a sanctified field and when it passes to the kohanim at the Jubilee. (General knowledge.)
3. 3. A sharp knife: an idiom for a reading that cuts two verses apart.
4. 4. Yovel: the Jubilee year, the fiftieth. Sadeh achuzah: ancestral land that cannot be sold permanently; sadeh mikneh: land acquired by purchase. (General knowledge.)
5. 5. "We would think" (sad'a): the hypothesis that the word "od" refutes.
6. 6. A beraisa: a teaching of the Tannaim, quoted here as a source.