Arakhin 29b — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

1. It is written [Leviticus 27:25–27]: “When your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his ancestral property [the fields called ancestral fields are those that fell by inheritance to each of the Israelites when the land was apportioned; likewise, one whose ancestral property increased because the inheritance was transferred through a daughter who inherited property—Sefer HaChinukh, mitzva 339; see Minchat Chinukh there, section 26 in the newly printed edition]. Then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother sold [and the purchaser cannot prevent him]”. “

And if a man has no redeemer [who can redeem what he sold], but he acquires means [the seller] and finds sufficient for his redemption”. “ And he shall calculate the years of his sale [how many years there were from the sale until the Jubilee: so many! And for how much did I sell it to you: so much! You were destined to return it in the Jubilee! It follows that you acquired each year for such-and-such! You consumed it for three or four years; remove their value from the calculation], and he shall return the remainder [take what remains after you have removed from the calculation the value of the years that have passed, which is the excess of the purchase price over what the purchaser has already consumed] to the man to whom he sold it [and this is called “the deduction of money”], and he shall return to his ancestral property”. 2. It is written [Leviticus 25:14–15]: “And when you sell a sale to your fellow, or buy from the hand of your fellow, do not wrong one another”. [ Therefore: ] “ According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall purchase from your fellow, according to the number of years of crops [according to the number of years in which the field will produce crops in the purchaser’s possession] he shall sell it to you [the seller to the purchaser]”. “ According to the greater number of years [from the sale until the Jubilee] you shall increase its purchase price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall decrease its purchase price, for he is selling you a number of crops”! From what the Torah said: “According to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you,” the Sages learned: that one who sells his field at the time of the observance of the Jubilee is not permitted to sell to redeem the field from the purchaser in fewer than two years from the time he sold it, as it is stated: “According to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you,” and the Sages expounded: The field must be in the purchaser’s possession for “two crops,” and the minimum of a plural is two. [But after two years, the seller redeems his field from the purchaser and deducts from the money he gave according to the number of years that have passed, and even against the purchaser’s will].

“then he shall calculate the years of his sale”—how many years there were from the sale until the Jubilee: so many; and for how much he sold it: so much; you were destined to return it at the Jubilee, so you are found to have purchased each year for so much; you have consumed its produce for three or four years, so deduct the value of those years from the calculation—“and he shall return the surplus”—take what remains after deducting the value of the years that have passed, namely, the excess of the sale price over the value already consumed by the purchaser—“to the man to whom he sold it”; this is called the deduction from the money. “And he shall return to his ancestral land.”

2. It is written: “And if you sell anything to your fellow, or buy from your fellow’s hand, you shall not wrong one another.”

And therefore:

“According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall purchase from your fellow; according to the number of years of crops shall he sell it to you”—the seller sells it to the purchaser.

“According to the greater number of years you shall increase its purchase price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall reduce its purchase price, for he is selling you a number of crops.”

From what the Torah says, “According to the number of years of crops shall he sell it to you,” the Sages derived:

that

one who sells his field during

the time when the Jubilee is in force

is not permitted

to

redeem

the field from the purchaser

before two years

from the time he sold it,

as it is stated: “According to the number of years of crops shall he sell it to you,”

and the Sages expounded: the field must remain in the purchaser’s possession for “two crops,” and the minimum plural number is two. [But after two years, the seller redeems his field from the purchaser and deducts from the money he paid according to the number of years that have passed even against the purchaser’s will].

If

one of the years in the purchaser’s possession was

a year of blight

or mildew, or a Sabbatical year

which is forbidden for sowing,

it is not counted for him

this year

in the count

of the two years that he must wait until he redeems, since this year is not included in “two crops”.

But if he

plowed [he plowed the field but did not sow it]

and it did not produce the crop appropriate to it,

or left it fallow [he did not plow at all]—and it was fit to produce crops—

he did not plow it at all—although it was capable of producing a crop,

it is counted for him

even this year in

the count,

for it was the purchaser who caused the loss to himself.

Rabbi Eliezer says [and the Rabbis do not disagree with him]: If he sold it to him while it was full of produce and after some years redeemed it, he cannot say to him: Return it to me full of produce as I sold it to you! Therefore, if he

if

sold it to him before

Rosh HaShanah and it

was still

full

of produce, and the seller redeemed it after two years,

and the seller redeemed it after two years,

then

the purchaser

consumes three crops in two years,

and he calculates with him [in the calculation of the deduction of the money] only according to two years, [and the seller returns to the purchaser all the excess of the sale money, and redeems it]. [According to the wording of Rambam, Laws of Sabbatical Year and Jubilee 11; see Rashi here and in the Gemara, and above 18b, s.v. “two crops”].

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna:

“One who sells his field at the time of the Jubilee”

is not permitted to redeem it in fewer than two years. And we infer:

“He does not redeem”—

which implies that he cannot compel the purchaser to return it to him before two years—

it did not teach this! Rather,

it teaches

“he is not permitted to redeem”; evidently, there is a prohibition

as well: even rattling coins [rattling money in a vessel]

for the purchaser, so that it will please him to return it to the seller,

is also forbidden!

And it is not necessary to say that the seller

is subject to a positive commandment, as it is written: “According to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you,”

and this is a positive commandment that the seller leave it in the purchaser’s possession for two years.

Rather, even the purchaser—

who is not included in “according to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you”—

is also subject to another positive commandment,

since

we require “

according to the number of

years

after the Jubilee

you shall purchase,”

which implies that it shall be “purchased” by him for two years [the minimum of “years” is two],

and there is no such thing

if he returns it to the seller before this.

It was stated: One who sells his field in the Jubilee year itself: Rav said: It is sold

the field

and it leaves

the purchaser’s possession immediately, like other fields that are sold and leave in the Jubilee; and consequently the purchaser loses his money.

And Shmuel said: It is not sold

the field

at all,

and consequently the money returns to the purchaser.

And we explain:

What is Shmuel’s reason? It is a kal va-chomer

:

What was already sold

before the Jubilee

leaves now

in the Jubilee;

that which was not sold

before the Jubilee, and was sold at a time fit for it to leave the purchaser immediately,

is it not logically certain that it should not be sold?!

And we object:

But according to Rav

—who disagrees with Shmuel and does not derive from the kal va-chomer that it is not sold at all—can it be that

we do not say a kal va-chomer of this sort?! But it was taught

that they learn from such a kal va-chomer:

Can a person sell his daughter

as a Hebrew maidservant

when she is a na'ara,

so that the sale takes effect, and she leaves immediately upon the signs of her adolescence, like a maidservant who was sold in her childhood?

You say a kal va-chomer

that she should not be sold at all:

What was already sold

before she became a na'ara

leaves now

when she is a na'ara;

that which is not sold

when one comes to sell her when she is a na'ara,

is it not logically certain that it should not

be sold?!

And this is difficult for Rav.

And we answer: There is a distinction between the departure of a Hebrew maidservant upon adolescence and the departure of a field to its owners in the Jubilee.

There, in the departure upon adolescence,

there is again

no returning and selling [it does not return and get sold], for we learned that “a person does not sell his daughter into servitude after servitude.” If so, departure upon adolescence is complete departure, and therefore we make a kal va-chomer that this departure can cancel the sale from the outset when he sold her during her adolescence. But

But

here, in the departure of a field in the Jubilee to its owners, the owner’s right to sell it again is not removed; if he comes to sell it after the Jubilee,

it returns and is sold again

it returns to being sold [it returns and is sold]. If so, the departure in the Jubilee is not complete departure, and we do not make a kal va-chomer that the field should not be sold at all in the Jubilee.

They raise an objection from a source against Rav: It is written, “According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall purchase,” and we learned that the field must remain in the purchaser’s possession for no fewer than two years after the Jubilee—the minimum number of “years” is two—as though it said:

He raised an objection

against Rav: It is written: “According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall purchase, etc.,” and we learned: The field shall be in the purchaser’s possession for no fewer than two years after the Jubilee [the minimum of “years” is two]. As though it had said: “After the Jubilee, two years

that are two

you shall purchase”—

this teaches that they sell close to the Jubilee

after it—immediately, for this is what “after the Jubilee” implies, and the two years after the Jubilee will be in the purchaser’s possession [Rabbeinu Gershom; see also Rashi].

How do we know that, when distant from the Jubilee,

he can sell his field, and we should not say that since it is written “after the Jubilee,” he can sell only close to the Jubilee [Ra'avad on Sifra]?

The verse says: “According to the greater number of years”

until the Jubilee, you shall increase its purchase price;

“and according to the fewer number of years”

until the Jubilee, you shall decrease its purchase price. We have learned that sometimes it is sold with few years remaining before the second Jubilee; thus it was sold distant from the first Jubilee.

And in the Jubilee year itself he shall not sell, and if he sold, it is not sold!

This is explicit in the beraita in accordance with Shmuel, and it is difficult for Rav?

And we answer:

Rav could say to you: That which we learned in the beraita, that if he sold it in the Jubilee it is not sold, does not mean literally that the sale does not take effect. Rather, it means that

When we learned in the beraita that if one sold it at the Jubilee it is not sold, this does not mean literally that the sale does not take effect. Rather,

it is not sold for the purpose of

the

the number of years of

crops

that the Torah requires in every sale of a field—that it remain in the purchaser’s possession for two years even if the Jubilee has passed [apart from the matter of redemption mentioned in our Mishna].

But

nevertheless,

it is sold

for the purpose of the purchaser losing his money—

and it leaves

immediately.

And we object:

And if

the law is according to Rav, who holds that

it is sold [and this is a complete sale] in the Jubilee, since the law is that the sale must remain in the purchaser’s possession for two years,

at the Jubilee—and the law is that the sale must remain in the purchaser’s possession for two years—

it should remain in his possession

of the purchaser [Rabbeinu Gershom]

until after the Jubilee, and after the Jubilee he should consume it

the purchaser further

“two crops”,

to fulfill “According to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you,”

and he should then return it

the purchaser, because the Jubilee has passed over the field?

Was it not taught

something similar: If

the purchaser consumed

the purchaser

one year

only

before the Jubilee, they complete for him

for the purchaser

another year after the Jubilee!

If so, why, when the sale is in the Jubilee itself, do they not complete for the purchaser after the Jubilee “two crops”?!

And we answer:

There, when the purchaser consumed

one year before the Jubilee: already

the purchaser had entered

into

into consumption, and had begun to fulfill “According to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you.” Therefore, we fulfill the verse for him even after the Jubilee, and complete a year.

and had begun fulfilling “According to the number of years of crops shall he sell it to you.” Therefore, we apply the verse to him even after the Jubilee and complete the year for him.

Here, when he sold it in the Jubilee itself:

the purchaser

the purchaser did not enter

into

into consumption, for as soon as he purchased it, this was the Jubilee; therefore, we do not fulfill in his case at all “According to the number of years of crops he shall sell it to you”.

since immediately upon his purchase it was already the Jubilee. Therefore, we do not fulfill for him at all “According to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you.”

Rav Anan said: I heard from Mar Shmuel

two

things

as one:

A.

One: this

that Shmuel said: One who sells his field in the Jubilee year is not sold at all.

B.

And the other: One who sells his slave

the Canaanite

to a gentile,

thereby removing him from observance of the commandments,

or

who sells his Canaanite slave to an Israelite

outside the Land of Israel,

the Rabbis penalized him and

the slave went out

to

to freedom.

And in

one

of them I heard from Mar Shmuel that

the money of the sale returns,

the money of the

sale

that the purchaser gave.

And one

of them I heard that

the money does not return,

the money of the

sale. And I do not know

in

which of them

Shmuel said that the money returns and in which it does not return?

And we resolve it:

Rav Yosef said: Let us see

in which of them the money returns.

From that which was taught: one who sells his slave

after

[unclear: the phrase is incomplete] outside the Land, he goes free and requires a deed of emancipation from “his second master”! Infer from the fact that he calls the

second master

“his master,” evidently

the principal element of the sale took effect, and consequently the money of the

sale does not return.

And since we know that in one case Shmuel said that the money does not return, and in the other that it returns, it follows as proven:

And when Shmuel says here

regarding one who sells his field in the Jubilee year:

“It is not sold,”

that is:

it is not sold, and the money

also

returns,

and we do not say: since the purchaser’s acquisition does not take effect, he certainly gives the money as a gift.

returns,

and we do not say: Since the purchaser’s acquisition does not take effect, he certainly gives the money as a gift.