029b – המוכר שדהו – פרק תשיעי – ערכין, דף כט ע”ב

Tractate Arakhin, chapter nine.

Mishnah: One who sells his field in the Jubilee year^[1] may not redeem it for less than two years.

מתני' המוכר בשעת היובל - When the Jubilee is in force: under two years it may not be redeemed; but after two years, if the seller wishes to redeem it, he may redeem it against the buyer's will, paying according to the sale price, as written in Leviticus 25: the years from the sale until the Jubilee are counted and the price is divided by the years. For example, if he sold it ten years before the Jubilee for ten litras, he sold each year's produce for one litra; so if the buyer held it five years and the seller now redeems it, the buyer is repaid five litras, one per year, since that is how the reckoning comes out from the start.

As it is said (Leviticus 25): "According to the number of crop-years he shall sell to you."

If it was a year of blight and mildew^[2], or a Sabbatical year^[3], it does not count in the count.

אינו עולה מן המנין - "The two years": since the verse says "crop-years," the field must stay in the buyer's hand for two years fit for crops. But if it was a year fit for crops and the seller plowed but did not sow, or left it fallow, then even though the buyer did not plow it, the seller has harmed himself, and that year counts for him in the count of the two years.

If he plowed it, or left it fallow^[4], that year counts for him in the count.

Rabbi Eliezer says: if he sold it to him before Rosh Hashanah while it was full of produce, the buyer may eat from it three harvests within two years.

שלש תבואות - The crop standing in the field at the time of purchase, plus two crops in two years, which must be in the buyer's hand.

Gemara: "If one sold his field in the Jubilee year, etc." The Mishnah does not say "he does not redeem^[5]" (אינו גואל).

גמ' אינו גואל לא קתני - That is, it would seem that the buyer may be compelled to return the field for redemption before two years have passed.

Rather, it says "he may not redeem." This shows that the Mishnah holds there is also a prohibition: even showing the buyer rattling coins^[6] is forbidden.

דאפילו קרקושי נמי אסור - For the seller to show coins to the buyer, so that the buyer will be pleased to return the field to him.

And not only is the seller bound by a positive commandment, as it is written: "According to the number of crop-years he shall sell to you."

But even the buyer is bound by a positive commandment, as we require (Leviticus 25) "two years he shall acquire^[7]", which is not the case here.

שנים תקנה - That is, "he shall acquire for two years after the Jubilee" implies the field will be his for two years; if he returns it earlier, he transgresses a positive commandment.

It was taught: the case of one who sells his field in the Jubilee year itself.

Rav says: it is sold, and it goes out.

מכורה ויוצאה - At the Jubilee, and the buyer loses his money.

Shmuel says: it is not sold at all.

אינה מכורה כל עיקר - The money is returned.

What is Shmuel's reason?

A fortiori^[8]: if a field already sold goes out at the Jubilee, and so is not sold again then, is it not logical that it should not be sold^[9] at all?

מכורה כבר - Before the Jubilee.

But for Rav we do not say this a fortiori, since this is how the text is read.

As it was taught in a Beraisa: "Perhaps a man may sell his daughter while she is a young girl^[10]?"

You say a fortiori: "if a sold daughter already goes out now, and so is not sold, is it not logical that she should not be sold?"

There, the daughter is not sold again; here, the field is sold again.

אמה העברייה יוצאה בסימני נערות כדתניא (קדושין דף ד.) ויצאה חנם אלו ימי נערות: התם - Rashi: "the daughter whom he sold as a girl, who went free at the signs of maturity^[11], is not sold again ever, as stated in Kiddushin (18): a man may not sell his daughter to maidservants after she was sold to maidservants, since we derive from 'he dealt treacherously with her' that once he has sold her to maidservants he cannot sell her again. So her release is complete. One may argue a fortiori: if she may be sold in her youth but is not sold again, then a field, which goes out to its owner at the Jubilee, returns and may be sold again after the Jubilee if he wishes; so in the Jubilee year too he may sell it, and it goes out to him for nothing."

An objection is raised from a Beraisa:

"After the Jubilee, he shall acquire two years": this teaches that one may sell land close to the Jubilee or far from it^[12]. From where do we know that?

אחר היובל - Meaning: immediately after the Jubilee.

שנים תקנה - That if you acquire a field, it shall be in your hand for two years against the seller's will, even if he wishes to redeem it.

The verse says (Leviticus 25:16): "according to the abundance of years^[13], and according to the fewness of years".

לפי רוב השנים - That is, if many years remain until the Jubilee, he sells it dearly, since the buyer holds it until the Jubilee if the seller does not redeem it; and according to the fewness of the years he sells it cheaply, so as not to wrong his fellow. And we learn from these verses that one may sell both close to the Jubilee and far from it, however many years.

"And in the Jubilee year itself he shall not sell^[14], and if he sold, it is not sold."

Rav replies: it is not sold for the count of two crop-years^[15], but it is sold and goes out.

למספר שני תבואות - That it does not stay in the buyer's hand at all, since in that very year it was taken from his hand; but it is sold, in that the buyer loses his money.

The objection: if it is sold, let it remain in the buyer's possession until after the Jubilee, and then let him use up two crop-years and return it?

ופרכי' ואי אזדבוני מזדבנא - The objection: if it may be sold, then after two years let it be returned for nothing, because of the Jubilee that passed over it; surely it is taught, etc.

"Is it not taught: if he ate one year before the Jubilee, another year is completed for him after the Jubilee?"

There, he has begun to eat^[16] the produce; here, he has not begun to eat.

נחית לאכילה - Because before the Jubilee he began to eat from it, so we uphold the verse "two crop-years" as written; but one who buys in the Jubilee year itself has not begun to eat.

Rav Anan said: I heard from Mar Shmuel two [rulings]^[17]: this one and that one.

חדא הא - That is, Shmuel's ruling that it is not sold at all.

"One who sells his slave to a gentile or outside the Land, he goes free."

יצא לחירות - That if one sells his slave to a gentile, the court compels him to redeem him and set him free, because he removed him from the mitzvot; and likewise one who sells his slave, even to a Jew, outside the Land, he goes free.

In one case the sale is reversed^[18], and in the other the sale is not reversed, and I do not know which is which.

חדא הדרי זביני - One of those two rulings I heard from Mar Shmuel, that the sale is void and the money returned: either that of one who sells his field in the Jubilee year itself, or that of one who sells his slave to a Jew outside the Land.

וחדא לא הדרי זביני - But the buyer loses the money; and I do not know which of them is void. The Gemara asks: if so, it is obvious that Shmuel's ruling that the sale is void and the money returned refers to the field sold in the Jubilee year; for if the money were lost, what difference would there be between Rav and Shmuel? The difference: if the buyer cut down trees on the field, then for Rav, who holds it is sold, the field returns and the trees that were cut down are lost to the seller; for Shmuel, who holds the sale void and the money a gift, the trees return.

Rav Yosef said: let us examine this from what was taught in a Beraisa:

"One who sells his slave outside the Land, he goes free, and he requires a bill of release^[19] from his master."

We learn from this: since it calls him "his master" for the second time, it follows that the sale is not reversed.

אלמא לא הדרא זביני - And the buyer loses; since in that case we see that the sale is not reversed, surely when Shmuel says in this case, "it is not sold and the money returns," it is as stated.

So when Shmuel said here, "it is not sold, and the money returns" ...

Tosafot

מתני' המוכר - Mishnah: "If it was a year of blight and mildew, or a Sabbatical year, it does not count in the count." Tosfos (Bava Metzia 106, chapter HaMekabel) explains that blight and mildew are also like this across the whole world. If the blight were only in one region, the Mishnah would not teach that the year does not count; the Mishnah makes it parallel to the Sabbatical year, which is forbidden to sow everywhere.

נרה או הובירה עולה לו מן המנין - The Gemara explains why it teaches "plowed": since it taught "left fallow" as counting, all the more so "plowed" counts; and it could have said "not only this, but also that."

התם לא הדרא ומזבנא - Rashi's explanation: a daughter whom he sold as a girl, who went free upon the signs of maturity, is not sold again, as stated in Kiddushin (18): a man may not sell his daughter to maidservants after she was sold to maidservants, since he dealt treacherously with her; so her release is complete, and one may argue a fortiori. Tosfos objects: this is a dispute among Tannaim there, and Rabbeinu Yitzchak explains that even according to the one who says a man may sell his daughter to maidservants after maidservants, once she has shown the signs of maturity [they agree she is not sold again], there is a kal vachomer. But there is a difficulty: the kal vachomer about the field also comes from this one. One can distinguish: a daughter, once the signs of maturity have come upon her, will not be released from her again; but a field sold at the Jubilee, the kal vachomer is not as good, since the Jubilee will pass and it will be as at first. Moreover, one may explain as Rashi did: a man may not sell his daughter to maidservants after maidservants, and though the Tannaim disagree about it, we hold like R' Shimon, who holds that there it is forbidden to sell.

ולא ידענא הי מינייהו המקח בטל - The Gemara's question: if the field is sold in the Jubilee year, it is obvious that Shmuel's ruling "the sale is void and the money returns" refers to this case; otherwise, if the money were lost, what difference would there be between Rav and Shmuel? The difference is: if the buyer cut down trees on the field, for Rav the field returns and the trees are lost; for Shmuel the trees return. Even though the buyer did not take the money [back], or when he sold movables with the field and took possession of the land without drawing the movables (the principle that property without liability is acquired with property with liability through money, a document, or chazaka), Rav holds the field returns and the movables are acquired with it, while Shmuel holds the sale void and the money a gift, so movables are not acquired, since possession of land is not chazaka for movables. Rashi explains that according to Shmuel the sale returns immediately, yet movables are acquired with the field, and the scholars ask from Bava Metzia 11 (Rabban Gamliel and the elders on a boat) where a place is given for a gift on condition of return, or by exchange with a kinyan sudar^[20], and it is answered: whenever something returns to its owner, such as a gift on condition of return, a loan, or a rental, one does not acquire by exchange, because it is like a benefit, which is not money to acquire by exchange; therefore they needed money to be received from each other.

Notes

1. 1. Jubilee (yovel): the fiftieth year, when land returns to its original owner. A field sold before it is sold only until the Jubilee, so its price is reckoned by the crop-years left.
2. 2. Blight and mildew (shidafon and yerakon): crop diseases that ruin the harvest. Such a year does not count as a crop-year, since the buyer got nothing from it.
3. 3. The Sabbatical year (shemitah): sowing is forbidden in it, so it too does not count as a crop-year.
4. 4. Nara: plowed but not sown; hovirah: left as fallow ground. Here the seller himself chose not to sow, so the year counts against him.
5. 5. Redemption (geulah): the seller's right to buy back his field before the Jubilee, paying the buyer for the years that remain.
6. 6. Rattling coins: the seller shows silver to the buyer to persuade him to return the field; even this is forbidden.
7. 7. "Shnayim tikna": the verse (Leviticus 25:15) "by the number of years after the Jubilee you shall acquire from your neighbor." The buyer too is bound by this positive commandment.
8. 8. A fortiori (kal vachomer): if a field already sold goes out and so is not sold again, a field not yet sold certainly should not be sold.
9. 9. [Rashi, Shemot 21:7]
10. 10. The Beraisa asks whether a father may sell his daughter while she is a young girl. The verse "if a man sells his daughter" (Shemot 21:7) allows it, and she goes free on reaching maturity.
11. 11. Signs of maturity (simanei na'arut): the physical signs that a girl has reached maturity. Once they appear she goes free and is not sold again.
12. 12. Far from the Jubilee (muflag): a sale made many years before the Jubilee, as opposed to one close to it.
13. 13. Leviticus 25:16: the price is set by the years remaining until the Jubilee: many years, a higher price; few years, a lower price.
14. 14. The Jubilee year itself: sale is forbidden, and the Beraisa says that if one sold, the sale is not valid. The question is whether it is void entirely (Shmuel) or valid only for the count of years (Rav).
15. 15. For the count of two crop-years: the buyer gets no crop-years at all and loses his money, though the sale stands for the matter of going out at the Jubilee.
16. 16. Entered into eating (nechit le'achila): a buyer who has begun to enjoy the field's produce counts as having held it; one who buys in the Jubilee year itself has not begun.
17. 17. Two rulings that Rav Anan heard from Shmuel: one about a field sold in the Jubilee year (the sale is void and the money returns), and one about a master who sells his slave to a gentile or outside the Land (the slave goes free).
18. 18. The sale is reversed (hadri zavini): the sale is void and the buyer gets his money back. "Not reversed": the sale stands and the buyer loses his money.
19. 19. A bill of release (get shichrur): a formal document freeing a slave. Since the Beraisa calls him "his master" for the second time, the sale is not reversed.
20. 20. Kinyan sudar: an acquisition made by handing over a cloth (sudar), a traditional form of acquisition.