032b – המוכר שדהו – פרק תשיעי – ערכין, דף לב ע”ב

Abaye said: this is what he means: the walled cities are Gamla in the Galilee, Gadud across the Jordan, Hadid, Ono^[1], and Jerusalem in Judea.

עד גמלא - All the towns of the Galilee up to Gamla were walled from the days of Joshua.

Rava said^[2]: 'Gamla in the Galilee' is to exclude Gamla of other lands; 'Gadud across the Jordan' is to exclude Gadud of other lands.

רבא אמר - This Tanna came to explain the Mishnah, and this is what he means: the Gamla the Mishnah lists was walled since the days of Joshua; it is the Gamla of the Galilee.

לאפוקי - To exclude: if there were a Gamla across the Jordan and in Judea, it would not have been walled since the days of Joshua. Likewise Gadud, and Hadid and Ono and Jerusalem in Judea, to exclude the towns of the Galilee and across the Jordan that are called Hadid and Ono, which were not walled since the days of Joshua.

Those [towns]^[3] for which there is no counterpart elsewhere did not need to be taught.

אינך דליכא כותייהו. - Those [towns] the Mishnah lists that have no counterpart elsewhere, such as Qatzra and Yodfat, which have no namesake in another place: since they are known, there was no need to teach in which land they stand.

Can a house in Jerusalem be sold irrevocably^[4]?

But it is taught: ten things were said of Jerusalem^[5], [one of them being] that a house in it is not sold irrevocably.

עשרה דברים - This is explained in Bava Kamma, chapter Marubeh (82b), and this is one of them.

אין הבית חלוט - Because it is written (Vayikra 25:30): 'he shall own it for his generations'. And he holds that Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes, so who could sell it to him?

Rabbi Yochanan^[6] said: [the walled towns are] like Jerusalem, which has been walled since the days of Joshua bin Nun, and not like [the other] Jerusalem: for in Jerusalem a house is not sold irrevocably, whereas here a house is sold irrevocably.

Rav Ashi^[7] said: No. As Rav Yosef said, there were two sanctifications; so too there were two Jerusalems.

לאו מי אמר רב יוסף וכו' - In Makkos, chapter Eilu Hein HaGolin (10b).

It is taught: R. Yishmael bar R. Yosei^[8] asked: why did the Sages count these towns, which, when the exiles came up, they found and sanctified?

את אלו - Those enumerated in our Mishnah.

וקידשום - Explained in Shevuot (16a): they sanctified it with two thank-offerings and a song; the court goes ahead and two thank-offerings come after them, and so on.

But the earlier [sanctifications] were voided, from the time the sanctity of the land was voided.

בטלו - That the sanctity of the land does not apply to them, and they have no law of walled cities.

משבטלה קדושת הארץ - At the first destruction.

[The Tanna] holds^[9] that the first sanctity sanctified [the land] for its own time only, and did not sanctify it for the future.

קדושה ראשונה - That Joshua sanctified.

Come and hear^[10]: R. Yishmael bar R. Yosei said: were these the only ones? Was it not already said (Devarim 3:5): 'sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, all these fortified cities'?

Rather, why did the Sages count these^[11], which, when the exiles came up, they found and sanctified?

'They sanctified them': but surely we say that there was no need to sanctify them; they only counted them.

הא אמרת - That is, at the end of the chapter, the clause that these need not be sanctified: 'and not these alone, but any [city] handed down to you by tradition from your fathers'; [the first sanctity sanctified it] for its time and for the future.

And not these alone; rather, any [city] that is handed down to you by tradition from your fathers as walled since the days of Joshua bin Nun: all these commandments apply to it, because the first sanctity sanctified [it] for its time and sanctified it for the future.

Alternatively^[12]: these are two tannaim, and both follow R. Yishmael.

Alternatively: one of them [the view] is that of R. Elazar bar Yosei^[13], as he said:

חדא מינייהו - The one taught as 'sanctified for the future': R. Elazar bar Yosei said it, as he said: 'which has no wall, even though it has none now'. Even though it was destroyed, its sanctity was not voided.

as it is taught: R. Elazar bar Yosei says: 'which has no wall', even though it has none now but had one before.

What is the reason of the one who says that the first sanctity sanctified [the land] for its time and did not sanctify it for the future?

As it is written (Nehemiah 8:17^[14]): 'The whole congregation of those who had come back from the captivity made sukkot and dwelt in the sukkot, for the children of Israel had not done so since the days of Joshua bin Nun, and there was very great joy.'

Is it possible that in David's time they did not make sukkot until Ezra came?

Rather, [the verse] compares their coming in Ezra's time to their coming in Joshua's time.

אלא מקיש ביאתם בימי עזרא כו' - Because when they did not make sukkot, the meaning is not sukkot; rather, the verse means that they did not do then what they did now, since the days of Joshua, and that is the sanctity of the land.

Just as their coming in Joshua's time [involved] counting the shemittot and jubilees^[15] and sanctifying the walled cities, so too their coming in Ezra's time [involved] counting the shemittot and jubilees and sanctifying the walled cities.

מנו שמיטין - They began counting the shemittot and became obligated in tithes.

And it says (Devarim 30:5^[16]): 'And the Lord your God shall bring you into the land which your fathers inherited, and you shall inherit it'.

והביאך ה' אלהיך וגו' - This refers to the return from exile, for the verse before it says (Devarim 30:3): 'and the Lord your God will return your captivity and have mercy on you.'

It equates your inheritance with your fathers' inheritance: just as your fathers' inheritance [came] through the renewal of all these matters, so your inheritance [came] through the renewal of all these matters.

And the other [view]: he prayed for the evil inclination to idolatry to be nullified, and his merit shielded them as a sukkah.

ואידך - Always: the statement that they did not make sukkot refers [to the observance of the sanctity] and not to sukkot itself. Ezra prayed against the evil inclination to idolatry, and it was delivered into his hand, as stated in Sanhedrin (64a).

ואגין זכותא - Of Ezra, on them.

כי סוכה - That they did not do this thing in the days of Joshua either; this is why the verse stresses Joshua more than the others, and mentions him in a disparaging manner.

That is why the verse is particular about Joshua: everywhere it is written Yehoshua, but here (Nehemiah 8:17) Yeshua^[17].

דבכל דוכתא כתיב יהושע והכא ישוע - Because he (Ezra) ought to have prayed about this matter; Moses did not pray, and so on.

Granted, Moses did not pray, because there was no merit of the land of Israel; but Joshua had the merit of the land of Israel. Why did he not pray?

But it is written: 'which your fathers inherited, and you shall inherit it'.

This is what it means: since your fathers inherited it, you inherit it.

ירשתה אתה - In that same sanctity; it need not be sanctified again.

And who counted the shemittot and the jubilees?

Now, since the tribes of Reuben, Gad^[18] and half of Menasheh were exiled, the jubilees were voided; [and] Ezra, as is written about him (Ezra 2:64): 'the whole assembly together, 42,360^[19]' was counted.

משגלו שבט ראובן - In the days of Sennacherib.

As it was taught: 'Since the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Menasheh were exiled, the jubilees were voided, as it says (Vayikra 25:10): "and you shall proclaim liberty in the land to all its inhabitants^[20]", [meaning] when all its inhabitants are upon it, and not when some of them were exiled. Could [the jubilee] be in force when they were there but intermingled, Benjamin in Judah and Judah in Benjamin? The verse says: "to all its inhabitants", when its inhabitants are in their proper state, and not when they are intermingled.'

R. Nachman bar Yitzchak said: they counted the jubilees in order to sanctify the shemittot.

מנו יובלות לקדש שמיטין - Certainly the Jubilee was not in force so that slaves would go free by the Jubilee, nor would fields sold return; but the shemittot were in force, to release loans and to release the produce of the field. The count of the Jubilee is needed so that the shemittot fall in their place: at the end of seven shemittot they leave the fiftieth year without counting it as a shemitta, since it is fit to be the Jubilee, and the count begins from the year after it. For if they did not count the Jubilees, they would count that year as part of the shemittot, and the shemittot would fall out of place.

Tosafot

הכא נמי תרתי ירושלים הוו - Here too there were two Jerusalems. The difficulty: for Rava too we must say so, that there were two Jerusalems. And one can answer: for Rava we need not say that in Judea there were two Jerusalems, but only in the other lands; but for Rav Ashi we must say that in Judea there were two Jerusalems.

וקדשו ערי חומה - 'And they sanctified walled cities': this is explained regarding the sale of a house in the houses of walled cities, and regarding the sending out of lepers from the city. Specifically in the houses of walled cities must lepers be sent outside the wall, but not in the other towns. Stones with leprosy must be sent outside the city even if the town was not walled since the days of Joshua, and so it is taught in the Torat Kohanim: 'let them be outside the city'; a person is not sent outside the whole city, only outside towns that are walled. If you ask: how do we know this? For 'house of a walled city' is not written regarding the leper; Rabbeinu Yitzchak says we learn it from 'outside its dwelling': 'its dwelling' is written regarding the leper, and 'dwelling of a walled city' is written as well. Rashi explains here that one sanctifies [the land] with two thank-offerings and a song, and the court goes ahead and two thank-offerings come after them, as is explained in Shevuot (16a). But in the other towns, I do not know how they were sanctified.

מנו יובלות לקדש שמיטין - Here there is a difficulty regarding the baraita taught in the Yerushalmi of Tractate Gittin; Rashi wrote in chapter HaSholeiach (Gittin 36a) that it is taught in the Yerushalmi: 'this is the matter of the shemittah: release in two releases; the verse speaks of one: the release of the jubilee and the release of the seventh year; when you release the jubilee you release the seventh year, and when you do not release the jubilee you do not release the seventh year.' And here it says that the jubilees were counted only to sanctify the shemittot. Rashi explains in chapter HaSholeiach that this is a Rabbinic matter. And the Yerushalmi's view is Rabbi's, while the Rabbis disagree with him. Our Gemara follows the Rabbis. However, the Torat Kohanim can be reconciled even with Rabbi. The baraita that says the seventh year applies even without the jubilee can be explained as: even though they did not observe the jubilee and left it in their sin, as taught in chapter 1 of Rosh HaShanah (9b): the jubilee is valid even though they did not release, even though they did not sound [the shofar]. The verse says 'it is' (hi). Rabbi Yose says: the jubilee is valid even if they did not release, and even if they did not send [the slaves out]; the verse says 'it is'.

Notes

1. 1. Hadid and Ono: towns in the Lod plain (general knowledge). The Mishnah lists them among the towns walled since the days of Joshua.
2. 2. Rava explains the Mishnah: 'Gamla' there means the Gamla of the Galilee.
3. 3. Qatzra and Yodfat, named in the Mishnah, have no namesake elsewhere, so the Mishnah need not say in which land they are.
4. 4. Chalut: an irrevocable sale; the house is not returned in the Jubilee. The question is whether a house in Jerusalem can be sold in that way.
5. 5. A baraita lists ten special things said of Jerusalem (Bava Kamma 82b, cited by Rashi); the house rule is one of them.
6. 6. R. Yochanan: a leading Amora of Eretz Yisrael (general knowledge).
7. 7. Rav Ashi: a late Babylonian Amora, one of the editors of the Bavli (general knowledge).
8. 8. R. Yishmael bar R. Yosei: a Tanna (general knowledge).
9. 9. Kasvar: the Gemara gives an opinion without naming its holder: the first sanctity sanctified the land only for its own time.
10. 10. Ramhi: a challenge from a conflicting baraita, since the verse calls all these cities fortified.
11. 11. Quoted back: the clause from the baraita (line 8) is repeated. It refers to the towns the returnees found and sanctified, and in which the shemittah and jubilee years were counted.
12. 12. 'Ibaait ima': an alternative answer to the same challenge.
13. 13. R. Elazar bar Yosei: a Tanna (general knowledge).
14. 14. Nehemiah 8:17: the returnees made sukkot, as they had not done since the days of Joshua.
15. 15. Shemittot and jubilees: the sabbatical and jubilee years. Counting them is what sanctifies the cities.
16. 16. Devarim 30:5: 'the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers inherited.'
17. 17. In Nehemiah the name is spelled Yeshua, elsewhere Yehoshua; the Gemara draws a lesson from the spelling.
18. 18. The tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Menasheh were exiled first; Rashi dates this to the days of Sennacherib.
19. 19. Ezra 2:64: the total of the assembly that returned, 42,360.
20. 20. Vayikra 25:10: 'to all its inhabitants'. The jubilee depends on the inhabitants being in their proper state.