Arachin 8a

ערכין ח׳ ע״א

Arakhin 8a

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Topic

Two ערך vows on five סלעים, the limits of ערך payments, and how many clean days a טועה needs

Overview

This amud first finishes a ruling about a man who owns only five סלעים and made two ערך vows, one after the other. If he pays four toward the first vow and one toward the second, the second vow is paid but the first is not, because all five סלעים were already tied (משועבד) to the first vow. רב אדא בר אהבה then asks what happens if he made both vows in one breath: do they split the money, or does each vow claim all five? The question stays unanswered (תיקו). Next the גמרא asks why the משנה repeats that ערכין are never less than a סלע or more than fifty. It answers that the repetition teaches a payment can fall in between, following the רבנן. A new משנה then teaches that a טועה, a woman who lost track of her cycle, has her doubt resolved after no fewer than seven and no more than seventeen clean days. A ברייתא works through the cases: one, two or three days of blood need seventeen clean days. From four days on, each extra day of blood lowers the count by one, down to eleven days of blood needing nine.

Opening lines

The steps (12)

1. StatementPaying four to the first vow and one to the second
2. QuestionTwo vows made at the same moment
3. ConclusionThe question stays unanswered
4. ChallengeWhy does the משנה repeat this rule?
5. ResolutionThe repetition teaches that payments can fall in between
6. StatementNew משנה: A confused woman's doubt resolves in seven to seventeen days
7. StatementOne day of blood: her opening is seventeen days
8. StatementTwo or three days of blood: still seventeen days
9. StatementFour days of blood need sixteen clean days
10. StatementFive to eight days of blood: each extra day takes one clean day off
11. StatementNine days of blood need eleven clean days
12. StatementTen days need ten clean days, eleven days need nine