Talmud - Arachin 19a ערכין י״ט א׳

Rather, the baraita should have stated: With regard to the male and with regard to the female, which are the terms the Torah uses with regard to valuations. The terms son and daughter are used in Yotze Dofen.

With regard to valuations, the Gemara asks: And what is different with regard to a female, that when she ages past sixty years she stands at a valuation of ten shekels, one-third of her previous valuation of thirty shekels, and what is different with regard to a male, that when he ages past sixty, at which point he has a valuation of fifteen shekels, he does not stand at even one-third of his previous valuation of fifty shekels? Ḥizkiya said that people say a popular saying: If there is an elderly man in the home, there is a burden [paḥa] in the home, as he does not help with anything; if there is an elderly woman in the home, there is a treasure in the home,as she assists with various domestic labors.

MISHNA: One who says: It is incumbent upon me to donate my weight, gives his weight to the Temple treasury; if he specified silver he donates silver, and if he specified gold he donates gold. There was an incident involving the mother of Yirmatya, who said: It is incumbent upon me to donate the weight of my daughter, and she ascended to Jerusalem and paid her daughter’s weight in gold to the Temple treasury.

In the case of one who says: It is incumbent upon me to donate the weight of my forearm, how does he ascertain the weight of his forearm? Rabbi Yehuda says: He fills a barrel with water and inserts his arm up to his elbow into the water. And in order to measure the displacement, he weighs donkey flesh, and bones, and sinews and places it into the barrel until it fills, and the water level reaches the top of the barrel. He then donates the weight of the meat and the bones to the Temple treasury. Rabbi Yosei said: Displacement is according to volume not according to weight, and how then is it possible to match the amount of the donkey flesh with the flesh of a person and the volume of the donkey’s bones with his bones? Rather, the court appraises how much the forearm is likely to weigh.

GEMARA: What is the meaning of the mishna’s statement: If silver, silver, and if gold, gold? Rav Yehuda said: If one specified that he vows to donate his weight in silver he donates silver, and if he specified gold he donates gold. The Gemara asks: Isn’t that obvious? The Gemara answers: This is what the mishna is teaching us: The reason he donates silver or gold is that he specified silver or gold, from which it may be inferred that if he did not specify the means of payment, he may exempt himself with any material.

The Gemara adds: And this is in accordance with a statement of Raḥava, as Raḥava says: In a place where merchants weigh pitch when selling it, one who vows his weight may exempt himself by donating his weight even in pitch. The Gemara asks: Isn’t that obvious? The Gemara answers: No, the statement of Raḥava is necessary in a place where there are merchants who weigh pitch and there are others who measure its volume. Lest you say: Since not all merchants weigh pitch one may not fulfill his vow by donating his weight in pitch, Raḥava teaches us that as there are merchants there who sell pitch by weight, one can fulfill his vow in that manner.

Rav Pappa says: In a place where merchants weigh onions when selling them, one who vowed his weight may exempt himself by donating his weight even in onions. The Gemara again asks: Isn’t that obvious? The Gemara answers: No, the statement of Rav Pappa is necessary in a place where after they weigh the onions the merchants throw in two or three extra onions to the buyer. Lest you say that its status as a place where onions are sold by weight is void due to the additional onions, Rav Pappa teaches us that it is still considered a place where onions are sold by weight.

§ The mishna teaches: There was an incident involving the mother of Yirmatya, who said: It is incumbent upon me to donate the weight of my daughter, without specifying silver or gold, and she ascended to Jerusalem and paid her daughter’s weight in gold to the Temple treasury. The Gemara asks: Was an incident cited to contradict the previous ruling of the mishna? The mishna had stated: If silver, silver, and if gold, gold, which indicates that if one did not specify the means of payment he may exempt himself with any material that merchants sell by weight, whereas it can be inferred from the incident that one must pay the weight in gold.

The Gemara answers: The mishna is incomplete and this is what it is teaching: And if the one who vowed is a distinguished person, even though he did not specify silver or gold we say he must fulfill his vow in keeping with his socioeconomic status. And likewise, there was an incident involving the mother of Yirmatya, a very wealthy woman, who said: It is incumbent upon me to donate the weight of my daughter, and she ascended to Jerusalem and gave her daughter’s weight in gold to the Temple treasury.

§ Rav Yehuda says that one who says: It is incumbent upon me to donate my height, gives a thick rod that cannot be bent equivalent to his height. One who says: It is incumbent upon me to donate my full height, may give even a thin rod that can be bent, provided it is equivalent to his height. The Gemara raises an objection from a baraita (Tosefta 3:1): With regard to one who says: It is incumbent upon me to donate my height, or: It is incumbent upon me to donate my full height, he gives a thick rod that cannot be bent and that is equivalent to his height.

The Gemara answers: Rav Yehuda says his statement in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who holds that one can draw an inference from superfluous language. As we learned in a mishna (Bava Batra 64a): If one sold his house without specification, he has sold neither the pit nor the cistern [dut] with it, even if he wrote in the document of sale: With its depth and its height. This is because anything that is ancillary to the house, e.g., pits and cisterns, must be mentioned explicitly in the contract. And the seller must purchase for himself a path through to the pit or cistern that he kept back, as he sold his rights to the area surrounding the house along with the house, and therefore he may no longer walk through that area. This is the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

And the Rabbis say: He need not purchase a path, as the seller clearly did not intend to keep the pit or cistern without maintaining access to it. And Rabbi Akiva concedes that when the seller states to the buyer in the document of sale: Excluding these, the pit and the cistern, that he need not purchase for himself a path through to the pit or cistern. Evidently, Rabbi Akiva’s reasoning is that since the seller need not specify that the pit and cistern are excluded from the sale, and yet he says that they were excluded, he is coming with this statement to add an element to the agreement, i.e., the right of access. Here too, when one says: It is incumbent upon me to donate my full height, since it is a case where he need not add the word full, and yet he says it, he is coming to add an element to his vow, i.e., the ability to exempt himself with a thin rod.

A dilemma was raised before the Sages. If one says: It is incumbent upon me to donate my stature, what is the halakha?

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Arachin 19a explores why elderly women retain higher Temple valuations than men, then examines vows to donate one's own weight or forearm in gold or silver.