033a – המוכר שדהו – פרק תשיעי – ערכין, דף לג ע”א

If it works according to the Rabbis, who say that the fiftieth year is not counted in the count of the shemitot,^[1]

הניחא לרבנן - They disagree with Rabbi Yehuda: [they hold that] the fiftieth year is not counted among the shemitot, so [the verse] was needed to count the yovalot, as you said.

but [it does not work] for Rabbi Yehuda, who says that the fiftieth year counts in both directions;

אלא לרבי יהודה דאמר שנת חמשים - It is the yovel year and it also counts toward the next shemitah cycle. Why then count the yovalot? The shemitot suffice: from seven years to seven years they make a shemitah always, since no year interrupts between them. There is no error here.

why do we need it for the shemitot? The shemitot alone suffice.^[2]

Surely this is not like Rabbi Yehuda, and they did not count the shemitot and the yovalot.

ודאי - As was taught above: "they counted the shemitot and the yovalot in the days of Ezra," which is not like Rabbi Yehuda.

ולא מנו יובלות - And they did not count the yovalot: in the days of Sennacherib.^[3]

And it is written: "At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his brother, the Hebrew who was sold to you" (Jeremiah 34:14), and we discussed it: "at the end of seven years"^[4]

והא כתיב - And it is written: in the days of Zedekiah.

מקץ שבע שנים תשלחו וגו' - "At the end of seven years you shall let go, etc." We discussed: "at the end of seven years" means after seven years, so that the seventh year too [is included]. And it is written: "and your servant six years."

And it is written: "and your servant [who is sold to you shall serve you] six years" (Deuteronomy 15:12).^[5]

And Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: six years for one who is sold, and seven for one whose ear is pierced.

שש לנמכר - Six for one who is sold: as it says (Exodus 21:2): "six years he shall serve."

ושבע לנרצע - Seven for one whose ear was pierced: the one whose ear was pierced does not go out until the jubilee. If he was pierced and the jubilee came in the eighth year after his piercing, he goes out in the jubilee. So it is evident that in Zedekiah's days there was a jubilee; and Zedekiah was in the days of the destruction of the Temple, when many generations had passed after Sennacherib's exile.

That was written in the rebuke, and the prophet says: "You let them go", and it is written: "and they listened and let them go".^[6]

בתוכחה כתיב - It is written in the rebuke: Jeremiah was rebuking them and saying to them, "You let them go" in the years when you were obligated to let them go.

Rather, Rabbi Yochanan said: Jeremiah returned them, and Josiah son of Amon reigned over them.

And from where do we know that they returned? As it is written: "For the seller shall not return to what he sold" (Ezekiel 7:13).

דכתיב - "For it is written": in the days of Zedekiah, "the seller shall not return to what he sold"; he was saying to them: your end is exile, the yovel will be nullified, and the fields will not return to their owners.

Is it possible that the yovel was nullified, and a prophet prophesied that it would be nullified?

אפשר יובל בטל - Is it possible that the yovel was nullified? Since the tribes of Reuben and Gad were exiled, and a prophet prophesied about it, etc.

Rather, [the verse] teaches that Jeremiah returned them.

And from where do we know that Josiah reigned over them? As it is written: "He said, 'What is that monument I see?' And the men of the city said to him, 'It is the grave of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things against the altar at Beth-El.'" (II Kings 23:17).

What business did Josiah have at Beth-El?^[7]

מה טיבו של יאשיהו בבית אל - What business did Josiah have at Beth-El? For it is written about Josiah that when he was returning to burn the idolatry in the land of Israel, Beth-El was one of the places of the kings of Israel; and Josiah, king of Judah, what business did he have there?

Rather, when Jeremiah returned them, Josiah reigned over them.

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: from here: "Also Judah, set a harvest for you, when I restore the captivity of My people" (Hosea 6:11).

קציר - "Katzir": read as katzin (a ruler). The letter nun interchanges with resh, as it is written: Nevuchadnetzar, Nevuchadratzar.

Mishnah: Houses in courtyard villages are given the better status of houses in walled cities and the better status of fields: they are redeemed immediately; and for the first twelve months they are treated like houses, and they leave [the owner] in the jubilee and by deduction of money, like fields.^[8][9][10]

מתני' בתי החצרים - Mishnah: houses in courtyards, which belong to towns that have no walls.

כח יפה - "The better status": as he explains, they are redeemed immediately and need not wait two years in the buyer's hand. This is like houses of walled cities.

ובגרעון כסף - "And by deduction of money": the buyer deducts from him according to the years they were in his hands, as with fields, as it is written (Leviticus 25:50): "and he shall reckon the years of his sale, etc."

The Sages taught: "On the field of the land it shall be counted" (Leviticus 25:31). The verse likens it to an ancestral field: just as an ancestral field leaves in the jubilee and by deduction of money, so houses in courtyard villages leave in the jubilee and by deduction of money.

גמ' על שדה הארץ יחשב - Gemara: "On the field of the land it shall be counted" is written about houses in courtyards.

ובגרעון כסף - "And by deduction of money": if he comes to redeem them before the jubilee.

If so, just as an ancestral field may not be redeemed in less than two years, so houses in courtyard villages may not be redeemed in less than two years.^[11]

The verse teaches: "It shall be his redemption immediately" (Leviticus 25:29): since you gave them the better status of fields and the status of fields to houses, one might think they should not leave in the jubilee.^[12]

The verse teaches: "And in the jubilee it shall go out" (Leviticus 25:28).

What is it saying?

מאי קאמר - What is it saying? From where would one derive that they do not leave in the jubilee? Are they not likened to an ancestral field? Then what is "and in the jubilee it shall go out" needed for?

Rav Huna said: [the verse] is needed only for one who dedicated a house in a courtyard village, and another redeemed it from the treasury, and the jubilee came in the second year.^[13]

ופגע יובל בשנה שניה - "The jubilee came in the second year" after this one's purchase from the treasurer.

To what do we compare it? If we compare it to houses in walled cities, it has become fully the buyer's. If we compare it to an ancestral field, it goes to the priests. Therefore the verse is needed: "and in the jubilee it shall go out."^[14]

ללוקח הוי - "It is the buyer's": for so it was taught above: if another redeemed it from the treasury and the jubilee came and it was not redeemed, it was vested in him.

לכהנים נפקא - "It goes out to the priests": for one who dedicates an ancestral field and another redeems it, it goes out to the priests in the jubilee. Therefore [the Gemara] takes the second year: if the jubilee came in the first year, "and in the jubilee it shall go out" would not be needed, since when compared to houses of walled cities it has not yet been vested in him, and it goes out in the jubilee, because it has the better status of fields.

Rav Zeira objected: why [specifically] if another redeemed it? Even if no one redeemed it, [the same should apply].

אפילו לא גאלו - "Even if they did not redeem": let it go out from the treasury too, since it is written "and in the jubilee it shall go out", which is not needed for the sale of a commoner, since that is already likened to fields.

Abaye said to him: lest they say, "consecrated property goes out without redemption." From where do we know this?

From where [do we know]? From the Levite.^[15]

Just as the Levite, whose strength is great in his sale, has his strength weakened in his dedication, shall not Israel, whose strength is weakened in his sale, [have it] weakened in his dedication?

בן לוי יפה כחו בממכרו - "A Levite's power is great in his sale": he may redeem immediately the open land of their cities; houses of walled cities may be redeemed at any time and go out in the jubilee, as stated below.

הורע כחו בהקדישו - "Its power is weakened in its dedication": it does not go out without redemption, as explained below.

And from where do we know that? As it was taught: "And it shall go out" (Leviticus 25:33). I might think [this includes] even his servants, his movables and his documents. The verse says "house and city of his possession." What does "sale" add? That the sold [items] go out for free, but consecrated [property] does not go out for free, only by redemption.

ויצא ממכר - "And it goes out from the sale": if it had said only "and what is redeemed of the Levites goes out in the jubilee" and not "house", I would think even a Levite's documents and movables, if he sold them, go out to him in the jubilee.

And it disagrees with Rabbi Oshaya.

ופליגא דרבי אושעיא - "And it disagrees with Rabbi Oshaya": what Rav Huna said above, that one who dedicates a house in courtyard villages and another redeems it from the treasury, it leaves his hand and returns to the owners in the jubilee, disagrees with Rabbi Oshaya.

For Rabbi Oshaya said: all [items] were included in the general clause: "and he shall add the money and it shall be his" (Leviticus 27:19), since the verse singled out the ancestral field: "and the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord" (Leviticus 27:21). That field was singled out and goes out to the priests; but those others remain as they stand.

בכלל ונתן הכסף וקם לו - "In the general clause: and he shall add the money and it shall be his": that a buyer from the treasury keeps the purchase in his hand forever.

כשפרט לך הכתוב - "When the verse singled out": regarding one who redeems an ancestral field of others from the treasury: it leaves his hand and is divided. This is what the Merciful One expressly removed from the general clause "and he shall add the money and it shall be his."

אבל הנך - "But those": houses in courtyards, as they stand, remain within the general clause "and it shall be his", and they do not leave the buyer's hand.

What is "and in the jubilee it shall go out" needed for?

וביובל יצא - "And in the jubilee it shall go out": according to Rabbi Oshaya, what is it needed for?

Rav Pappa said: [the verse] is needed only for one who sold a house in a courtyard village, and the jubilee came in the second year.

To what do we compare it? If we compare it to houses in walled cities, it has become fully the buyer's. If we compare it to an ancestral field, it requires completion. Therefore the verse is needed: "and in the jubilee it shall go out."

השלמה בעי - "Needs completion": to complete for him one year of the two years that it is fit to remain in a buyer's hand, as taught above at the beginning of the chapter: if one year passed before the jubilee, we complete for him another year after the jubilee.

A baraita was taught in accordance with Rav Huna:

And it is a refutation of Rabbi Oshaya:

ותיובתא דרבי אושעיא - "A refutation of Rabbi Oshaya": who said they remain as they stand, in the buyer's hand.

One who dedicates a house in a courtyard village may redeem it immediately, and he may redeem it at any time. If another redeemed it from the treasury, and the jubilee came before it was redeemed, it returns to the owners in the jubilee.^[16]

וגואלו לעולם - "And he may redeem it at any time": even if another redeemed it from his hand, and it is not like an ancestral field, of which it is written: "it shall not be redeemed again."

גאלה אחר מיד הקדש והגיע יובל ולא גאלה - "If another redeemed it from the treasury and the jubilee came and it was not redeemed": it returns to the dedicator without payment.

Tosafot

אלא מלמד שהחזירן ירמיה ויאשיה מלך עליהם - Strange: after Jeremiah returned them, they did not stand in the land before the destruction for more than thirty-six years, as I explained above in chapter 2 (Arachin 12a). So they did not reach the jubilee, and how can we find "and they listened and let them go"? The answer is that we can find those slaves who were theirs before they were exiled. And the objection above, "and it is written: and they listened and let them go", the main refutation is from "and all the princes and all the people who entered into the covenant listened" (Jeremiah 34:10), which implies that they entered into the covenant to let their slaves go free at the jubilee when it arrives.

Notes

1. 1. Yovel: the fiftieth year, when ancestral fields return to their owners and Hebrew slaves go free (Leviticus 25).
2. 2. Shemitin: the seventh (sabbatical) year, when debts are released and the land is not worked; these years are counted in cycles of seven.
3. 3. Sennacherib: king of Assyria. Rashi here says that in his days the tribes were exiled. In fact the exile of the northern kingdom was carried out in the days of Shalmaneser and Sargon (II Kings 17). Fact from general knowledge.
4. 4. Jeremiah: the prophet who, in Zedekiah's days, rebuked the people to free their Hebrew slaves (Jeremiah 34).
5. 5. A Hebrew servant serves six years, and in the seventh he goes free (Deuteronomy 15; Exodus 21).
6. 6. Rebuke: a prophet's reproof and warning about the people's deeds; here, Jeremiah's words to Zedekiah and the people.
7. 7. Josiah: king of Judah, who sought to root out idolatry and bring the people back to God. Fact from general knowledge.
8. 8. Houses in courtyard villages: houses in villages and towns without walls. Their status lies between the houses of walled cities and fields.
9. 9. The better status: the owner's right to redeem immediately, without waiting a year, as with houses in walled cities.
10. 10. Deduction of money: the buyer deducts from the price according to the years he lived in the house; the seller redeems for the remainder.
11. 11. Ancestral field: a family inheritance that is not sold permanently; it returns to its owner in the jubilee.
12. 12. Redemption: the right of a redeemer to buy back property that was sold.
13. 13. Hekdesh: property dedicated to the Temple. If it is redeemed or sold, the laws of hekdesh and redemption apply to it.
14. 14. Houses in walled cities: houses in a walled city. They may be redeemed within one year and do not leave in the jubilee.
15. 15. Levite: the Levites' houses in their cities may be redeemed at any time and return in the jubilee.
16. 16. Forever: even if another redeemed it from him. Houses in courtyard villages may always be redeemed, unlike an ancestral field, which cannot be redeemed again.