Arachin 7a

ערכין ז׳ ע״א

Arakhin 7a

Learn Arachin 7a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Arachin 7a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Debts of the condemned and their heirs, a condemned man's offerings, and the execution of a pregnant woman and her fetus

Overview

The amud opens by asking about a ברייתא: does the תנא קמא really think we would bring a man on his way to execution back to court? רב יוסף explains that the argument is whether a מלוה על פה can be collected from יורשין. רבה explains instead that it is about whether a debt written in the תורה counts like one written in a שטר. A ברייתא about a pit-digger whose heirs must pay for an ox is answered: the digger was already judged by a court before he died, even if the judges had to sit at the mouth of the pit. Next, a ברייתא teaches that a condemned man's execution waits only to sprinkle the blood of an offering already slaughtered, because we may not drag out his suffering. A new משנה rules that a pregnant woman's execution is not delayed until she gives birth, unless she is already in labor. The גמרא learns from the word 'גם' that the fetus dies with her, and explains that once labor begins the baby is a separate body. It then discusses שמואל's rule to strike the womb first, and whether a fetus or its mother dies first. The amud ends with שמואל's ruling that on שבת we cut open a woman who died in labor to save the baby, and the גמרא asks why this even needs to be said. The answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (34)

1. ChallengeDoes the first opinion really allow bringing him back to court?
2. Resolutionרב יוסף: the argument is about collecting an oral loan from heirs
3. Resolutionרבה: the argument is whether a Torah debt counts like a written debt
4. ChallengeChallenge from the case of a pit dug in a public area
5. ResolutionThe digger already stood trial before he died
6. ChallengeBut the ox killed him
7. ResolutionThe ox made him a טריפה
8. Challengeחגא's version: he died and was buried
9. ResolutionJudges sat at the mouth of the pit
10. StatementOfferings of a man going out to be executed
11. QuestionWhy don't we wait for the new offering?
12. ResponseWe may not drag out his execution
13. ChallengeThen why wait in the first case?
14. ResolutionThe animal was already slaughtered
15. ChallengeWhat if his offering was not yet slaughtered?
16. ResolutionAn unslaughtered offering counts like sinning at that moment
17. Statementמשנה: a pregnant woman going to execution, and benefiting from the executed
18. ChallengeIsn't it obvious? The fetus is part of her body
19. ResolutionWe might have thought the fetus is the husband's property
20. ChallengeWhy not really delay for the husband's sake
21. ResolutionA פסוק includes the fetus in the death
22. ChallengeThat פסוק is already used by רבי יאשיה
23. ResolutionThe fetus comes from the word 'also'
24. QuestionWhy wait once she is in labor
25. ResponseOnce the baby moves, it is a separate body
26. Statementשמואל: strike the womb so the fetus dies first
27. ChallengeBut the fetus naturally dies first anyway
28. ProofThe source for the idea that a fetus dies first
29. ChallengeHow the source shows the fetus dies first
30. ResolutionThe fetus dies first only in a natural death
31. ChallengeA story where the fetus moved after its mother died
32. ResolutionThe movement is like a lizard's twitching tail
33. StatementOn שבת we cut open a mother who died in labor to save the baby
34. ChallengeWhy does this ruling even need to be said?