Arakhin 24a (כד.) — the Talmud in English

in the passage concerning valuations:

his wife and children. The same law applies to clothing as well.

the

It is written [Leviticus 27:16–21]: “And if a man dedicates to the Lord part of the field of his ancestral property [that is, a field that he inherited from his father or from another of his heirs – Rambam], then its valuation [for redemption from the Temple treasury, by the owner or another] shall be according to the seed required for it: a homer of barley seed at fifty shekels of silver [each beit kor at fifty sela, when he redeems it at the beginning of the Jubilee cycle].

“If he dedicates his field from the Jubilee year [that is, at the beginning of the Jubilee cycle], it shall stand according to this valuation [the valuation stated here].”

“And if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, the priest shall calculate the money for him [when he comes to redeem it] according to the years remaining [until its redemption] until the Jubilee [what are the details? The value for forty-nine years, when he redeems it at the beginning of the Jubilee cycle, is fifty sela: one sela and one pundeyon for each year. When he comes to redeem it, he gives one sela and one pundeyon for each of the remaining years until the Jubilee], and it shall be deducted from your valuation [the stated valuation—which is fifty sela—one sela and one pundeyon for each year from the beginning of the Jubilee cycle until the year in which he redeems it. This is called ‘the deduction of money’].”

“And the field, when it leaves his possession in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, like a field devoted to the priest; his ancestral property shall be his [that is, it shall belong to the priest of that watch whose Yom Kippur falls during the Jubilee year].”

The Sages derived from what the Torah states, “according to the years” remaining until the Jubilee—and there are no fewer than two years—that one who dedicates a field less than two years before the Jubilee does not redeem the dedication with a deduction of money; rather, he gives the entire amount prescribed by the Torah. Therefore:

Mishna:

One may not dedicate a field less than two years before the Jubilee,

for if he comes to redeem it, he will have to give the entire fifty sela for its redemption. Therefore, the tanna teaches us sound advice: He should not dedicate it at all. This is how the Gemara explains it in its conclusion.

Nor may another redeem it

at the beginning of the year

of the Jubilee less than one year [before the Jubilee],

that is, during the Jubilee year itself. [This is the straightforward meaning, and the Gemara explains it.]

Months are not calculated for the Temple treasury.

One who redeems the field in the middle of a year does not deduct from the redemption price the months that have elapsed; rather, he gives one sela and one pundeyon for that year, as though he had redeemed it from the Temple treasury at the beginning of the year.

But the Temple treasury

benefits when it is advantageous for it to calculate the months that have elapsed, rather than calculating as though he were standing at the beginning of the year; therefore it

calculates months!

For example, if he dedicated the field in the middle of the forty-eighth year before the Jubilee: If we take into account that several months of that year have already passed, it turns out that he dedicated it less than two years before the Jubilee. One who dedicates a field less than two years before the Jubilee does not deduct anything from the redemption price; rather, he gives the entire fifty sela to the Temple treasury. But if we do not take into account the months that have elapsed, and instead say that he is considered to be standing at the beginning of the year, it turns out that there are two years from the time of his dedication until the Jubilee. He then deducts all the years that have elapsed from the redemption price. It follows that it benefits the Temple treasury to take into account that these months of the year have already elapsed!

Gemara:

We raise a difficulty against the Mishna, which states that one may not dedicate a field less than two years before the Jubilee, apparently meaning, according to its straightforward sense, that the dedication does not take effect at all:

And yet we raised a contradiction: One may dedicate a field both before the Jubilee

which apparently includes even less than two years before the Jubilee,

and after the Jubilee; but during the Jubilee year itself, one may not dedicate a field, and if he dedicated it, it is not holy?!

And we answer:

Rav and Shmuel both say: One may not dedicate a field in order to redeem it with a deduction less than two years [before the Jubilee],

for one who dedicates it less than two years before the Jubilee has no law of deduction for its redemption; rather, he gives fifty sela.

And since one may not dedicate a field in order to redeem it with a deduction less than two years [before the Jubilee],

the Mishna therefore teaches us that

a person should be concerned

about his property and should not dedicate a field less than two

years

before the Jubilee, so that he will not lose forty-eight sela on its redemption.

It was stated: One who dedicates his field during the Jubilee year itself: Rav said: It is holy, and he gives fifty [shekels]!

This is what the Torah states: “If from the Jubilee year he dedicates his field, according to your valuation it shall stand.”

And Shmuel said: It is not

holy at all,

for when one dedicates an ancestral field before the Jubilee, it leaves the Temple treasury at the Jubilee and goes to the priests. Therefore, when he dedicates it during the Jubilee itself, the dedication does not take effect at all, since during the Jubilee it is leaving the authority of the Temple treasury!

Similarly, below, on 29b, they dispute concerning the sale of an ancestral field that returns to its owners at the Jubilee: If he sold it during the Jubilee year itself, Rav holds that it is sold and immediately leaves the purchaser’s possession for the owners, while Shmuel holds that it is not sold at all.

Rav Yosef challenged

Shmuel:

Granted, with regard to a sale,

this is understandable,

that Shmuel disagrees with Rav

—that he holds that the field is sold and then leaves the purchaser’s possession—because

one can say by means of a kal va-chomer: Just as a sold field

before the Jubilee

already leaves his possession now

at the Jubilee and returns to its owners, a field

that is not sold

before the Jubilee,

should it not follow that it cannot be sold

during the Jubilee?!

But here,

with regard to a dedication,

can one say

such a

kal va-chomer: A field that is holy already leaves the Temple treasury now; one that is not holy, should it not follow that it cannot become holy?!

But we learned

with regard to a field that he dedicated before the Jubilee:

The Jubilee arrived and it had not been redeemed—

the priests enter it and give its value

to

the Temple treasury for the upkeep of the Temple,

the statement of Rabbi Yehuda!

Since it leaves the Temple treasury in exchange for payment, it is no longer possible to derive by a kal va-chomer that a field dedicated during the Jubilee does not become holy at all.

And we answer:

Shmuel holds in accordance with Rabbi Shimon,

who disagrees with Rabbi Yehuda, and

he maintains that the priests enter

the field

but do not give

payment! Since it leaves the Temple treasury without payment, there is a kal va-chomer with regard to one who dedicates it during the Jubilee itself, that it is not holy at all!