Talmud - Arachin 24b ערכין כ״ד ב׳

And Rav holds: Even in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon, no a fortiori inference may be drawn, as ultimately, does the field return to the owner during the Jubilee Year? It does not, but rather it leaves the possession of the Temple treasury and is given to the priests. Therefore, there is no basis for an a fortiori inference, as a field consecrated before the Jubilee Year does not return to the owner during the Jubilee Year, and the priests receive their portion from the table of the Most High.

The Gemara asks: What is the reason for the opinion of Rav that consecration of a field during the Jubilee Year is effective and that the field must be redeemed for the full price of fifty sela per beit kor? As the verse states: “If he sanctifies his field from the Jubilee Year, according to your valuation it shall stand” (Leviticus 27:17). The verse indicates that a field is redeemed according to the valuation mentioned in the preceding verse, i.e., fifty sela per beit kor, and the Jubilee Year itself is included in this halakha, as the verse describes a period that begins “from the Jubilee Year,” which can be understood as including the Jubilee Year itself.

The Gemara asks: And how does Shmuel refute this claim? The Gemara explains that Shmuel would respond: Is it written in the verse: If he sanctifies his field during the Jubilee Year? No, instead: “From the Jubilee Year,” is written, indicating that the verse is referring to consecration beginning from the year that is after the Jubilee Year.

The Gemara asks: Granted, according to Rav, this is the meaning of that which is written in the verse: “If he sanctifies his field from the Jubilee Year, according to your valuation it shall stand. But if he sanctifies his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon for him the money according to the years that remain until the Jubilee Year, and a deduction shall be made from your valuation” (Leviticus 27:17–18). According to Rav’s interpretation, the second verse is referring to the year immediately following the Jubilee Year. But according to Shmuel, who maintains that the first verse is dealing with the year following the Jubilee Year, to what is the verse referring when it speaks of the year “after the Jubilee”? The Gemara responds: It is referring to the year after the year after the Jubilee Year.

The Gemara raises an objection to the opinion of Rav from the aforementioned baraita: One may consecrate an ancestral field both before the Jubilee Year and after the Jubilee Year. But during the Jubilee Year itself, one may not consecrate it, and if he nevertheless did consecrate it, that field is not consecrated. The Gemara explains: Rav could say to you: The baraita means that it is not consecrated in order to be redeemed with a deduction. But nevertheless it is consecrated, and one gives the full price of fifty sela per beit kor for its redemption.

The Gemara objects: One can conclude by inference from this response that according to Rav, when the baraita states that a field may be consecrated before the Jubilee Year, it means that it is consecrated to be redeemed with a deduction. But wasn’t it stated that Rav and Shmuel both say that one may not consecrate an ancestral field to be redeemed with a deduction less than two years before the Jubilee Year, but rather it is redeemed according to the total valuation of the field? If so, Rav could not have responded as suggested above.

Rather, Rav could say to you: In accordance with whose opinion is this baraita? It is in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis, who maintain that whenever the verse employs an expression such as: From the first day, the first day itself is not included. Accordingly, when the verse states: “If he sanctifies his field from the Jubilee Year,” the Jubilee Year is not included. But I stated my ruling that a field may be consecrated during the Jubilee Year in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who says: The verse states: “Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel” (Exodus 12:15). It states: “From the first day,” and the first day is included, and it continues: “Until the seventh day,” and the seventh day is also included. Here too, the verse states: “If he sanctifies his field from the Jubilee Year,” and the Jubilee Year is included.

The mishna (25a) teaches that when one redeems an ancestral field, he gives a sela and a pundeyon, which is equivalent to one forty-eighth of a sela, per beit kor for each year remaining until the Jubilee Year. This amount is close to one forty-ninth of the total valuation of fifty sela, and there are no tannaitic disputes with regard to this mishna. The Gemara therefore asks: If Rav holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, that one may consecrate an ancestral field during the Jubilee Year, what is the purpose of the additional pundeyon that one gives for each remaining year until the Jubilee? If the Jubilee Year itself is included in the calculation, the total price of fifty sela should be divided evenly, i.e., one sela should be paid for each remaining year of the fifty years.

And if you would say that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi does not require the addition of a pundeyon for each remaining year, that is difficult: But didn’t we learn in a baraita: If one consecrated the field two or three years before the Jubilee Year, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: I say that he gives a sela and a pundeyon per year? The Gemara answers: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who says that the fiftieth year is counted both for this cycle and for that one, i.e., he maintains that the Jubilee Year is also considered the first year of the next cycle. Accordingly, there are actually only forty-nine years in a Jubilee cycle, and the total valuation of a field is therefore divided into forty-nine parts, which comes out to a sela and a pundeyon for each year.

The Gemara objects: According to Shmuel, who maintains that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi concedes that an ancestral field may not be consecrated during the Jubilee Year, let him say that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi holds in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis, who disagree with Rabbi Yehuda and hold that the fiftieth year is not counted as the first year of the following cycle. Because if he holds in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, then he should require one to pay a sela and two pundeyon, i.e., one forty-eighth of the total valuation of a field, per year, as there are only forty-eight years during which one may consecrate a field. The Gemara explains: This is indeed the case. Perforce, according to Shmuel, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi holds in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis.

The Gemara suggests: Come and hear a proof for the opinion of Shmuel from the mishna: Nor may one redeem an ancestral field that was consecrated less than one year after the Jubilee Year. Granted, according to Shmuel, who says that one may not consecrate an ancestral field during the Jubilee Year itself, and therefore if a field was consecrated during the Jubilee Year it requires no redemption at all, the mishna is teaching that one may not redeem a field less than one year after the Jubilee, i.e., until the year after the Jubilee, as it cannot be consecrated until then. But according to Rav, who maintains that a field may be consecrated and redeemed during the Jubilee Year itself, what does the mishna mean when it states that one may not redeem a field less than one year after the Jubilee?

The Gemara responds: Do you maintain that the mishna is referring to the actual year after the Jubilee Year? This is not the case; rather, to what is the phrase: After the Jubilee Year, actually referring?

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

Arachin 24b examines the dispute between Rav and Shmuel over whether consecrating a field during the Jubilee Year requires full redemption value.