Arakhin

MISHNAH. IF ONE SOLD HIS FIELD [OF POSSESSION] AT THE TIME WHEN THE LAW OF THE JUBILEE WAS IN FORCE, HE MAY NOT REDEEM IT UNTIL AFTER [A TIME OF LESS THAN] TWO YEARS, AS IT IS WRITTEN: ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THE YEARS OF THE CROPS HE SHALL SELL UNTO THEE.1 IF [AMONG THE TWO] THERE WAS A YEAR OF BLIGHT OR MILDEW, OR A SEVENTH YEAR, IT IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE RECKONING. IF HE ONLY BROKE THE GROUND [WITHOUT PLANTING] OR LEFT IT FALLOW [FOR A YEAR], THAT YEAR IS INCLUDED IN THE RECKONING. R. ELEAZAR SAYS: IF HE SOLD IT TO HIM BEFORE THE NEW YEAR, WHILST IT WAS STILL FULL OF FRUIT, HE ENJOYS THREE CROPS IN TWO YEARS. GEMARA. IF ONE SOLD HIS FIELD AT THE TIME WHEN THE LAW OF THE JUBILEE WAS IN FORCE, etc. It does not state: He cannot redeem,2 but ‘he may not redeem’; this shows that it is even prohibited. so that it is forbidden even to clapper zuz to him [to rouse his love of money]. And it is not necessary [to state] that the seller [in redeeming it] acts against a positive command, as it is written: ‘According to the number of the years of the crops he shall sell unto thee’,1 but even the purchaser transgresses a positive commandment, as we require: [According to the number of] the years thou shalt buy,1 which was not done here.3 It was stated: If one sells his field in the year of Jubilee itself, Rab said, It is sold but goes out [immediately]. whilst Samuel said, It is not sold at all. What is the reason of Samuel's view? It is an argument a minori. If [a field] that was already sold goes out [in the Jubilee] it is not logical that one which is not sold yet cannot be sold [now]! — But according to Rab, do we not argue a minori in such a case? Was it not taught: One might have assumed that a man can sell his daughter when she is a na'arah4 lass, therefore one argues a minori: If she who was sold already goes out [free],5 is it not logical that if not sold yet, she cannot be sold now? — There she cannot be sold again, but here it [the field] can be sold again.6 An objection was raised: Years after the Jubilee thou shalt buy,7 that teaches that one may sell immediately after the year of the Jubilee. Whence [do we know] that one may sell [at a period] removed from the year of Jubilee? Therefore it is said: According to the multitude of the years . . . and according to the fewness of the years.8 In the year of Jubilee itself one may not sell, and if he has sold [a field], it is not [validly] sold!9 Rab will answer you: [It means,] It is not sold ‘according unto the number of the years of the crops’, but it is sold and goes out [immediately]. But if it is legally sold, let it remain in his possession until after the year of the Jubilee, and after the Jubilee let him enjoy the [two] years of the crops, and thereupon return it; for was it not taught: If he enjoyed it one year before the Jubilee, one lets him complete [the two years by] one year after the Jubilee? — There he has started10 enjoying it, but here he has not started to enjoy it. 11 R. ‘Anan said: I heard from Mar Samuel two things; one in relation to this point, and the other in relation to the statement: If one sells his slave to an idolater or outside the Land [of Israel], he goes out free. In one case [he said] the purchase money is returned,12 and in the other it is not returned, and I do not know which is which. Said R. Joseph: Let us see. It was taught in a Baraitha: If one sells his slave outside the Land [of Israel], he goes out free, and he requires a document of manumission from his second master. Now since he refers to the second as his master, it is evident that the purchase money is not returned, and it is therefore here that Samuel said it is not sold and the purchase money is returned. commandment to that effect. after the year of Jubilee.