Gemara Clarity

Arachin 20b

ערכין כ׳ ע״ב

Arakhin 20b

Learn Arachin 20b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Arachin 20b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether someone who pledges a specific animal or house to הקדש must pay if it is lost. This passage first finishes the previous discussion about a pledge made before death.

Overview

This amud opens by finishing the previous sugya. Once a person has stood in court (עמד בדין), his property is already tied to the pledge, so his heirs must pay even if the assessment comes after he dies. A new משנה then teaches the following. If someone says 'this bull is an עולה,' he owes nothing if it dies. If he says 'this bull is upon me (עלי) as an עולה,' he must pay. רבי חייא בר רב limits the second case to someone who pledged the bull's value (דמי). A ברייתא seems to say otherwise, so the גמרא reads it as a case of דמי too. It explains the two clauses of the ברייתא as two ways of pledging value: making the bull holy for its value, or making holy the money from its future sale. Making holy that future money only works for רבי מאיר, who holds אדם מקדיש דבר שלא בא לעולם. A second version reaches the same conclusion as a question and answer. The amud ends by quoting a ברייתא about a rented house struck with נגעים, which some attach this discussion to; that discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מַהוּ דְּתֵימָא,

What might you have said?

כֵּיוָן דְּלָא אֲמָדוּהוּ

Since they did not assess it

לָא אִישְׁתַּעְבּוּד נִכְסֵי,

his property was not tied to the debt,

קָא מַשְׁמַע לַן:

so it teaches us:

The steps (13)

  1. ResolutionStanding in court ties up his property even before the assessment
  2. StatementConsecrating this specific bull or house: exempt if it is lost
  3. StatementSaying 'upon me': obligated to pay if it is lost
  4. Statementרבי חייא בר רב limits the משנה to pledging the bull's value
  5. ChallengeA ברייתא says 'this bull is upon me' does create responsibility
  6. ResolutionThe ברייתא also means he said 'the value'
  7. ChallengeThe later clause says 'value', so the first clause did not
  8. ResolutionBoth clauses say 'value', in two different ways
  9. ChallengeCan someone make holy something that does not exist yet?
  10. ResolutionThe ברייתא follows רבי מאיר
  11. QuestionAnother version: does the ברייתא follow רבי מאיר?
  12. ResponseAnswer: who else could it follow?
  13. StatementSome attach the discussion to a ברייתא about a rented house