Talmud - Arachin 8a ערכין ח׳ א׳

By contrast, if he first gave four sela for payment of the first vow and then one sela for payment of the second vow, he has fulfilled his obligation with regard to the second vow, because all he had at that stage was one sela. But he has not fulfilled his obligation with regard to the first vow, because all five sela in his possession were liened for payment of the first vow, and therefore he did not fulfill his obligation by paying only four.

Rav Adda bar Ahava raises a dilemma: If one had in his possession five sela and he said: It is hereby incumbent upon me to donate my valuation twice, and consequently both obligations take effect simultaneously, what is the halakha? One can claim that since he vowed both vows simultaneously, they take effect together, and therefore he gives two and a half sela for this vow and two and a half sela for that vow; or perhaps all of the five sela are fit for this vow and all of them are also fit for that vow, and therefore he must pay five sela for each vow? The Gemara concludes: The dilemma shall stand unresolved.

§ The mishna teaches at its conclusion that there is no payment of valuations less than a sela; nor is there a payment greater than fifty sela. The Gemara asks: Why do I also need this statement, as this halakha was already stated at the beginning of the mishna?

The Gemara answers: This additional statement teaches us that there is no payment of valuations less than a sela, but, by inference, there is a payment of valuations more than a sela. Similarly, there is no payment of valuations for a sum greater than fifty sela, but there is a payment that is less than fifty sela. And this unattributed statement of the mishna is in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis, who maintain that if one cannot pay the full amount of the valuation, he pays however much he can afford, even if it is more than a sela, rather than paying only one sela, as stated by Rabbi Meir.

MISHNA: If a woman experienced a discharge of blood and is unsure whether it was during her days of menstruation or during the eleven days that would render her a zava, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty does not occur in fewer than seven clean days, nor in more than seventeen clean days, depending on the number of days that she experiences the discharge.

GEMARA: The Sages elaborated on the principle of the mishna, as taught in a baraita: With regard to a woman who had a discharge of blood and is unsure whether it was during her days of menstruation or during the eleven days that would render her a zava, who said: I saw one impure day, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for one day, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after seventeen clean days, i.e., seventeen days without any discharge. If her discharge occurred on the first of her days of menstruation, she has another six days of menstruation followed by eleven days of ziva; if she experiences a discharge after these seventeen clean days, she has certainly returned to her days of menstruation. If the initial discharge had been on any of the other days of the seven-day followed by eleven-day cycle, she would return to her days of menstruation after fewer days, but the definitive alleviation of her uncertainty does not occur until seventeen days.

If she said: I saw two impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for two days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences seventeen clean days. If the two days had been at the beginning of the days of her menstrual cycle, she would begin another menstrual cycle if she experienced her next discharge after sixteen clean days. Yet, there is a possibility that the first day of her discharge was on the last of the eleven days of ziva, and the second day was on the first of the days of her menstrual cycle. In that case, she would return to the beginning of her menstrual cycle only after the six remaining days of menstruation followed by eleven additional days, for a total of seventeen.

If she said: I saw three impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for three days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences seventeen clean days, as it is possible that the first two days of discharge were on the last two of the eleven days of ziva, and the third day of discharge was on the first of the days of her menstrual cycle.

If she said: I saw four impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for four days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences sixteen clean days. This is because the longest possible interval between these days of discharge and the beginning of her next menstrual cycle would occur if the first two days of discharge were at the end of her days of ziva and the other two were at the beginning of the days of her menstrual cycle. She would then require another five days of menstruation and the eleven days of ziva, for a total of sixteen.

If she said: I saw five impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for five days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences fifteen clean days, to account for the possibility that the first two days of discharge occurred on the last two of the eleven days of ziva and the other three were on her days of her menstrual cycle. If she said: I saw six impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for six days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences fourteen clean days, to account for the possibility that the first two days of discharge occurred at the end of her days of ziva and the other four occurred at the beginning of her days of menstruation.

If she said: I saw seven impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for seven days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences thirteen clean days, to account for the possibility that the first two days of discharge occurred on the last two of the eleven days of ziva and the other five occurred at the beginning of her menstrual cycle. In that case, she would have another two days to conclude her days of menstruation, followed by the eleven days of ziva, before she would start a new menstrual cycle.

If she said: I saw eight impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for eight days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences twelve clean days, to account for the possibility that the first two days of discharge occurred on the last two of the eleven days of ziva and the other six occurred at the beginning of her menstrual cycle.

If she said: I saw nine impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for nine days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences eleven clean days, to account for the possibility that the first two days of discharge occurred at the end of her days of ziva and the other seven occurred on the days of her menstrual cycle. In that case, she would have only the eleven days of ziva before beginning a new menstrual cycle.

If she said: I saw ten impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for ten days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences ten clean days, to account for the possibility that the first two days of discharge occurred on the last two of the eleven days of ziva and the other eight occurred on the seven days of her menstrual cycle and one additional day. If she said: I saw eleven impure days, i.e., I had a discharge of blood for eleven days, the alleviation of her state of uncertainty occurs after she experiences nine clean days, to account for the worst-case scenario that the first two days of discharge occurred on the last two of the eleven days of ziva and the other nine occurred on the seven days of her menstrual cycle, followed by two additional days.

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

Arachin 8a examines simultaneous valuation vow payments with limited funds, then debates the minimum and maximum sela amounts owed per vow.