Arachin 4a

ערכין ד׳ ע״א

Arakhin 4a

Learn Arachin 4a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Arachin 4a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Why 'everyone' lists are needed: כהנים in שופר, מגילה, זימון, and ערכין, and the ברייתא on who can be valued

Overview

The גמרא goes through a series of ברייתות that say 'everyone, כהנים, לוים, and ישראלים' is obligated in something. Each time it asks 'פשיטא, isn't that obvious?' and then finds the special case that makes the ruling necessary: שופר, מקרא מגילה (people stop their מקדש service to hear it), being obligated in זימון (even כהנים eating קדשים), and joining a זימון (a כהן eating תרומה with a זר eating חולין). Then it asks the same question about our own משנה, which says everyone can make an ערכין vow. רבא first ties the answer to בן בוכרי, who held that כהנים don't give the half-shekel, and the גמרא explains that view. אביי rejects that reason and suggests a link to פדיון הבן instead. רבא knocks that down from the איל אשם and gives a final reason: 'set before the כהן' might have seemed to leave out a כהן. Finally the גמרא asks for the source that a מנוול and a מוכה שחין can be valued. It begins a ברייתא that reads the words בערכך and נפשות to teach who can and cannot be valued, and that ברייתא continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (34)

1. ResolutionWhy the שופר ruling is needed for כהנים
2. StatementEveryone is obligated in reading the מגילה
3. ChallengeIsn't that obvious?
4. ResolutionThey must stop their Temple service
5. ProofSupport from רב יהודה in the name of שמואל
6. StatementEveryone is obligated in זימון
7. ChallengeIsn't that obvious too?
8. ResolutionThe case of כהנים eating קדשים
9. ConclusionEating and being satisfied requires bentching
10. StatementEveryone joins together for a זימון
11. ChallengeIsn't that obvious?
12. ResolutionThe case: כהנים eat תרומה while a זר eats regular food
13. ConclusionA כהן can eat the זר's food, so they join
14. StatementBack to our משנה: everyone can make a valuation vow
15. ChallengeIsn't that obvious for our משנה too?
16. Resolutionרבא: It is needed because of בן בוכרי
17. Proofבן בוכרי: a כהן who gives the half-shekel is not a sinner
18. Rejectionרבן יוחנן בן זכאי: a כהן who doesn't give is a sinner
19. StatementThe כהנים finish their argument for not giving
20. ChallengeEven according to בן בוכרי, a giving כהן should be a sinner
21. ResolutionHe hands the money over to the community
22. ResolutionWhy בן בוכרי's view makes the משנה's list necessary
23. Challengeאביי: that פסוק teaches a minimum of a סלע
24. Resolutionאביי's reason: one might link ערכין to redeeming a firstborn
25. Challengeרבא objects using the ram of the guilt offering
26. ResolutionA new reason: a כהן might not be set before another כהן
27. QuestionWhere do we learn that a מנוול and a מוכה שחין can be valued?
28. ResponseThe answer begins with a ברייתא on 'בערכך'
29. StatementYou value a whole person, not a limb
30. StatementA limb you cannot live without counts as the whole person
31. StatementA dead person cannot be valued
32. StatementA dying person (גוסס) cannot be valued either
33. StatementOne person can value a hundred people
34. StatementStarting one more reading of 'נפשות'