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Arachin 27a

ערכין כ״ז ע״א

Arakhin 27a

Learn Arachin 27a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Arachin 27a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Consecrating and redeeming fields: the wording of the משנה about כהנים and לוים, and the rules for bidding on a consecrated field when there is no יובל

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier discussion. רבי יהודה and רבי שמעון learn from an extra letter in a פסוק that a field due to become ancestral is not treated like a bought field. Next the גמרא asks why the משנה says כהנים and לוים may always consecrate, since a ישראל may too. It answers that the wording simply matches the first משנה of the chapter, and that the real new point is about redeeming. The chapter אין מקדישין then ends. A new chapter teaches that when there is no יובל, the owner of a consecrated field opens the bidding, and the גמרא shows he can even be forced to. Several reasons support this: he loves the field, he has the first right to redeem, and he adds a חומש. The story of the man who bid an איסר (or an egg, according to רבי יוסי) turns out to be an argument about how small a redemption payment may be. A new משנה then rules that a bidder who backs out must cover the loss he causes הקדש, and that the owners win when their bid ties with an outsider's. The amud ends as an outsider bids twenty-one, and the ruling for that case comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְהָכָא קְרָא אַשְׁכֻּחַ וּדְרֻשׁי:

But here, they found a verse and expounded it:

לִכְתּוֹב רַחֲמָנָא

Let the Merciful One write:

״אִם מִשְּׂדֵה מִקְנָתוֹ

'If a field that he bought,'

אֲשֶׁר לֹא שְׂדֵה אֲחוּזָּתוֹ״,

'which is not his ancestral field,'

The steps (26)

  1. ResolutionThe extra letter in the verse about a bought field
  2. StatementQuoting the משנה about כהנים and לוים
  3. ChallengeWhy does the משנה need to say כהנים may consecrate?
  4. ResolutionMaybe it means consecrating during the יובל year itself
  5. RejectionThe answer fails according to רב
  6. ChallengeBy your logic, 'before and after the יובל' is also extra
  7. ResolutionThe wording matches the earlier משנה
  8. ResolutionThe words 'consecrate and redeem' were also repeated to match the first משנה
  9. ConclusionHadran — Closing the chapter אין מקדישין
  10. StatementWith no יובל, the owner is asked to open the bidding
  11. StatementA man consecrates a bad field and bids one איסר
  12. Statementרבי יוסי: he bid an egg, not an איסר
  13. ConclusionThe treasurer accepts, and the man gets his field back almost free
  14. ChallengeDoes the treasurer tell the owner, or force him?
  15. Resolution'Telling' really means forcing
  16. ResolutionFirst they ask, then they force
  17. ChallengeWhy does the משנה give the חומש as the reason?
  18. ResolutionAll three reasons are true
  19. QuestionIs the argument about whether something worth money counts as money?
  20. ChallengeBut everyone holds that something worth money counts as money
  21. ResolutionThey actually argue about an item whose fifth is worth less than a פרוטה
  22. ConclusionThe unattributed line in the משנה follows the רבנן
  23. StatementNew משנה: five people bid more and more on the field
  24. StatementEach bidder who backs out pays the difference he caused
  25. StatementEqual bids: the owners come first
  26. StatementAn outsider raises the bid to twenty-one