030a – המוכר שדהו – פרק תשיעי – ערכין, דף ל ע”א

Rav Anan did not hear the beraisa^[1]; and as for Shmuel, how do we know that [the sale] is not final and the money is returned? Perhaps it is not final and the money is a gift, like one who betroths his sister.

ורב ענן - He was in doubt in which cases the money is returned and in which it is not. He had not heard the beraisa that [a Canaanite slave] requires a document of manumission, and from Shmuel's statement 'it is not sold' he could not learn 'how do we know it is not sold and the money is returned' [since] perhaps the money the buyer gave the seller is a gift in the seller's hand. The difference between Rav and Shmuel is the one explained above: 'the money is returned' because a person knows that betrothal does not take effect with his sister, and he gave it with the intent of a deposit^[2] (פקדון); and for Shmuel he gave it with the intent of a gift.

As it was said: one who betroths his sister^[3]. Rav says the money is returned, and Shmuel says the money is a gift^[4].

Abaye said to Rav Yosef: What did you see [that leads you] to penalize the buyer^[5]? Let us penalize the seller.

דקנסת ללוקח - Here, regarding a seller who sold his slave outside the Land: they say 'the sale is not returned' and the slave goes free, and the buyer loses.

ליקנסיה למוכר - That the money should be returned and the slave go free for the seller.

He said to him: It is not the mouse that stole; it is the hole that stole. Were there no hole, from where would the mouse have [the opening]?

לאו עכברא גנב - A mouse that steals and puts [the loot] outside: if it had no hole to put it in, it would not steal; therefore it is the hole that steals and steals for it. So too: if he had not found a buyer, he would not have sold him.

חורא מנא ליה - From where does the hole get the theft?

It is reasonable: where [the property] is in the hands of the forbidden party, we penalize.

דאיתא לאיסורא - That is, the buyer with whom the slave is.

If there was a year of blight^[6], etc.:

Now, since it is clear that a lamp goes up for him, why was a lamp needed to be taught? You might have thought: we tell him, give him its value and let him go up. The Mishnah teaches us otherwise.

[הב ליה דמיה - I.e., the value of the plowed land; this teaches us.

R. Eliezer says: If he sold it to him, etc.:

It was taught: R. Eliezer says, from where [do we know] that if he sold it to him before Rosh HaShanah, [the seller] must leave the produce standing in full, so that he should not say to him, 'Leave it for me as I left it before you'?

שלא יאמר - A seller who comes to redeem at the end of two years: 'Leave the produce standing full for me, as I left it before you when I sold it to you.'

The verse teaches: 'according to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you.' Sometimes a person eats three crops in two years.

במספר שני תבואות - This implies all the crops within two years, since it should have written 'number of years' or 'number of crops', which would imply two crops.

[Mishnah:] If he sold it to the first for a maneh and the first sold it to the second for two hundred, [the redeemer] reckons only with the first, as it says: 'to the man [who] sold it to him.'

מתני' אינו מחשב - 'Reckons only with the first': the seller, when he comes to redeem it, [the redeemer] reckons only with the first, and counts how many years there were from the sale until the Jubilee, and calculates how much of the maneh falls to each year; by that reckoning the buyer deducts for each year the produce he ate, and returns the remainder to him.

[לאיש] אשר מכר לו - 'And he shall return the surplus to the man' etc. is written regarding the redeemer of a field, from its sale.

If he sold it to the first for two hundred and the first sold it to the second for a maneh, [the redeemer] reckons only with the last, as it says: 'and he shall count the years of his sale and return the surplus.'

'To the man, to the man within it.'

לאיש אשר בתוכה - The Gemara asks: how do we know that we expound it for leniency; let him expound it for stringency?

He may not sell the far one and redeem the near one; he may not sell the bad one and redeem the good one.

לא ימכור שדה רחוקה - That he has [the means] to redeem the field that is near to him; the Gemara explains how we know this.

He may not borrow and redeem; and he may not redeem by halves.

ולא ילוה - Money with which to redeem it.

But for a consecrated [field]^[7] all of these are permitted. This is a stricter rule for a layman^[8] than for consecrated property.

מותר בכולן - One who consecrated his field may sell another field or borrow in order to redeem it, and may redeem by halves: if he cannot redeem all of it, he redeems half of it, and when he is able he redeems all of it.

Our Sages taught^[9]: If he sold it to the first for a maneh and the first sold it to the second for two hundred, from where [do we know] that [the redeemer] reckons only with the first? Because it says, 'to the man to whom he sold it.' If he sold it to the first for two hundred and the first sold it to the second for a maneh, from where [do we know] that [the redeemer] reckons only with the second? Because it says, 'to the man, to the man within it.' These are the words of Rabbi.

R. Dostai b. Yehuda^[10] says: If he sold it to him for a maneh and it appreciated and reached two hundred, from where [do we know] that [the redeemer] reckons only with the maneh? Because it says, 'and he shall return the surplus.'

גמ' והשביחה - [It appreciated] on its own.

[The surplus in his hand]: If he sold it to him for two hundred and it depreciated and stood at a maneh,

העודף שבידו - The surplus remaining in his hand from the money he received, after the buyer deducts the calculated amount for each year he ate.

הכסיפה - It was spoiled and its value decreased.

from where [do we know] that they reckon only with the maneh? Because it says, 'and he shall return the surplus.'

The surplus in the land.

שבקרקע - The surplus by which the land is worth more than what is due after the buyer's deduction for the years he ate; for this surplus there is a basis to expound it both ways.

What is the difference between them? [A case of] it became dear and then cheap and then dear again.

מאי בינייהו - What is the difference between Rabbi and R. Dostai? In either case, for leniency we go.

כגון דאייקר וזל ואייקר - E.g., he sold it to him for two hundred and the first sold it to the second for a maneh; it appreciated in the second's hand and stood at two hundred. According to Rabbi, who says 'to the man within it', he pays only a maneh, as much as the second paid; according to R. Dostai he pays two hundred. For if you say 'the surplus in his hand', then he takes two hundred from the first; and if you say 'the surplus in the land', then the land is worth two hundred.

And from where [do we know] that it is for leniency and not for stringency? [Do not say that,] for [the Sages] learned 'redemption'^[11] from 'redemption' from a Hebrew slave.

גאולה גאולה - It is written here (Lev. 25:26) 'and he finds enough for its redemption', and it is written regarding a Hebrew slave (ibid.) 'he shall be redeemed'.

And how do we know that there? As it was taught: [a slave] sold for a maneh who appreciated and reached two hundred.

From where [do we know] that they reckon only from the maneh? Because it says, 'with the money of his purchase^[12]' [sold for two hundred and depreciated to a maneh].

אלא ממנה - When he comes to redeem himself, he reckons how many years there were from the time he was sold (until the Jubilee year^[13]), and reckons how much of that maneh falls to each year; and if two or three years have passed, his master deducts for him according to the amount due for each year, as it is written: 'like the years of a hired man shall he be with him.'

From where [do we know] they reckon only from the maneh? Because it says, 'according to his years.'

כפי שניו - I.e., according to the years he stayed; that is, according to what he is worth at that time.

I would have only [the law for] a Hebrew slave^[14] who was sold and is redeemed, whose hand is on top [i.e., who is able].

אין לי וכו' - This verse is written about a slave sold to a gentile, as it is written: 'and if the means of a stranger and a resident^[15]...' (Lev. 25:47).

[What of a slave] sold to a Jew? From where [do we know]? The verse says 'like a hired man' (Lev. 25:53) and 'like a hired man' (Deut. 15:18), by a verbal analogy (gezerah shavah).

שכיר שכיר - It is written here (ibid.) 'like a hired man shall he be with him', and it is written regarding one sold to a Jew (Deut. 15:18) 'for the double of a hired man's wages has he served you.'

Abaye said:

דלמא אינה מכורה ומעות מתנה מידי דהוה אמקדש אחותו - However, according to the truth that we have demonstrated, that the money returns, we say it is not like one who betroths his sister, since a person knows that betrothal does not take effect with his sister, and he intends it as a gift; but in selling a field in the Jubilee year, people are not expert in this, and he does not intend it as a gift.

לא ימכור ברחוק ויגאול בקרוב - The same [rule applies] in reverse; [the Mishnah] mentioned only the usual case.

איכא בינייהו דאייקר וזל ואייקר - The Mishnah could have said that it became dear and cheap with one buyer alone: for according to Rabbi, who does not expound the surplus either as 'to the man who sold it' or 'to the man within it', he must redeem it at the sale price, i.e., at the dear price; and according to R. Dostai we follow the appreciation in the land, and it is redeemed at the appreciated value. But since the Mishnah deals with two sellers, it preferred to state it as 'there is a difference with two sellers.'

Notes

1. 1. A beraisa is a teaching not included in the Mishnah. Here it is the beraisa that a [Canaanite] slave requires a document of manumission in order to go free.
2. 2. A deposit (פקדון) is money handed over for safekeeping that remains the giver's; a gift (מתנה) passes to the recipient and is not returned.
3. 3. One who betrothed his sister: she is forbidden to him, so the betrothal is void; the question is whether the money he gave is returned.
4. 4. Rav holds the money is returned; Shmuel holds it is a gift that stays with the recipient.
5. 5. A penalty (קנס) here: the buyer loses his money because the slave goes free.
6. 6. Shdefon: a blight that dries up the grain.
7. 7. Hekdesh: property dedicated to the Temple. A consecrated field may be dealt with in ways not permitted to a private owner.
8. 8. Hedyot: a private person who has not consecrated his property.
9. 9. Tanu rabbanan: a beraisa that gives the reasoning and derivation for the Mishnah's ruling.
10. 10. R. Dostai b. Yehuda: a tanna who disagrees with Rabbi on the redemption rule.
11. 11. Gezerah shavah: a verbal analogy. The same word 'redemption' in two verses teaches the same law; here, for a field and for a slave.
12. 12. 'With the money of his purchase': the price paid for the slave (Lev. 25:51).
13. 13. The Jubilee year (Lev. 25:10): the fiftieth year, when land returns to its original owners.
14. 14. A Hebrew slave: an Israelite sold because of poverty; he goes free in the seventh year or at the Jubilee.
15. 15. A ger toshav: a non-Jew residing in the Land who accepts the seven Noahide laws (Lev. 25:47).