Arakhin

Behold I am like Ben ‘Azzai in the streets of Tiberias!1 One of the Rabbis said to Abaye: Since these verses may be interpreted both leniently and stringently. Why do you interpret them leniently, perhaps say they should be interpreted stringently?2 — Let not that enter your mind, since the All Merciful was lenient to him. For it was taught: Because he fareth well with thee,3 i.e., he must be with [like] thee in food, with thee in drink, that thou shouldst not eat fine bread and he coarse bread, thou drink old wine and he drink new wine, thou sleep on a soft bed and he on straw. Hence it was said: Whosoever buys a Hebrew slave almost buys a master of himself. But on the contrary, let us deal more stringently with him, in accordance with what R. Jose b. Hanina said. For R. Jose b. Hanina said: Come and see how hard is the very dust4 of [violating the laws of] the seventh year. For a man who sells and buys the produce of the seventh year ultimately must sell his movable property, as it is said: In this year of Jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession;5 and it is said: And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbour. or buy of thy neighbour's hand,6 i.e., something which is acquired from hand to hand.7 If he does not perceive this,8 he eventually must sell his fields, as it is said: If thy brother be waxen poor, and sell some of his possessions.9 He has no opportunity [of amending his ways]10 until he sells his house, as is added: And if a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled city.11 Why state there: ‘If he does not perceive’. and here ‘He has no opportunity’? — This is in accord with R. Huna, for R. Huna said: Once a man has committed a transgression and repeated it, it is permitted to him. ‘Permitted to him’, how could you think so? Say, rather, it becomes as permitted to him.12 It is not brought home to him10 until he sells his daughter, as it is said: And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant,13 and although the [sale of] the daughter is not mentioned in this section, he teaches us that a man should rather sell his daughter than borrow on usury; for in the former case she goes on making deductions [and goes out free], whereas here [the debt] becomes ever larger.14 It is not brought home to him until he sells himself, as it is said: And if thy brother be waxen poor with thee and sell himself to thee.15 And not even ‘unto thee’, but unto a proselyte, as it is said: Unto the proselyte,16 and not even to a proselyte of righteousness, but to a resident alien, as it is said: Or unto the resident alien.17 ‘A prose lyte's family’, i.e., an idolater. When it is said, ‘to the stock’, it means one who sells himself to become a servant to an idol itself! — He replied: But Scripture restores him [to his brethren's regard]. For the School of R. Ishmael taught: Since this one went and sold himself to the service of idol worship, [I might have said] let us cast a stone after the fallen?18 Therefore it is said: After that he is sold, he shall be redeemed, one of his brethren shall redeem him.19 But perhaps ‘he shall be redeemed’ means, he shall not be absorbed by the idolaters, but as far as redemption is concerned, we should indeed deal stringently with him? — Said R. Nahman b. Isaac: It is written, If there be yet increases in the years,20 and if there remain but little in the years:21 are there then prolonged years and shortened years?22 But [the meaning is this]. If his value increased, [then his redemption shall be paid] Out of the money that he was bought for;23 and if his value decreased [the basis of the redemption shall be] According unto his [remaining] years! But perhaps [the meaning is this]: If he served two years, with four remaining, let him repay him for four years ‘out of the money that he was bought for’; while if he served four years, with two remaining, let him repay two years ‘according unto his years’?24 — If that were the meaning. let Scripture write: ‘If there be yet [shanim] many years’. Why ‘in years [he-shanim]’? [It means:] If his value increased [in these] years [then his redemption shall be paid] ‘out of the money that he was bought for’; and if his value decreased, in [these] years [the basis of the redemption shall be] ‘according unto his [remaining] years’. R. Joseph said: R. Nahman interpreted these verses [with authority] as of Sinai. HE MAY NOT SELL A DISTANT FIELD etc. Whence do we know these things? For our Rabbis taught: And his hand shall reach,25 i.e., his own hand, [implying] that he must not borrow to redeem; ‘and find’ excludes that which he possessed already. He must not sell a remote [field] to redeem a nearer one; nor a bad one to redeem a good one; ‘sufficient means to redeem it’, i.e., he may redeem it [wholly], but not by halves. Shall we say that [the phrase] ‘and he find’ means that which is here already? Against this I will raise a contradiction: ‘and findeth’,26 that excludes the case where he [the victim] brought himself [within the range of the missile]. Hence R. Eliezer said: If after the stone had left his hand the other put out his head and received it [the blow], he [the former] is free.27 This shows that ‘he find’ refers to something that had been [here already before]? — Raba replied: [Here] in our case [we consider] the context of Scripture, and there, too, [we consider] the context of Scripture. Here it corresponds to ‘and his hand reaches’; just as ‘his hand reaches’ means only now, thus also ‘and find’ means just now. And there, too, ‘and findeth’ corresponds to ‘the forest’: just as the forest was here before, so does ‘and findeth’ means that he [the neighbour] was here already before. IN THE CASE OF OBJECTS CONSECRATED, etc. Whence do we know these things? — Because our Rabbis taught: And if he [that sanctified the field] will indeed redeem it:28 that teaches that he can borrow and redeem and redeem by halves. Said R. Simeon: What is the reason? Because we find in the case of one who sells a field of possession that [since] his privilege is strengthened in that if the Jubilee arrives and it has not been redeemed it reverts to the owner, his rights are weakened in [so far] that he cannot borrow and redeem, or redeem by halves, whereas he who consecrates a field of possession, since his rights are weakened in that if the Jubilee comes and it is not redeemed, it goes out to the priests, therefore his privilege is strengthened, in [so far] that he may borrow and redeem as well as redeem by halves. be challenged on any point of Jewish law. Abaye does not suggest that he is as complacent in his judgment on all other Sages as Ben ‘Azzai, but that like the latter he is eager to hear questions and to answer them. Cf. Bek. 58a. appreciation in value, so that the slave is always assessed on his higher value. fruit for speculation; ‘dust’ suggests ‘shade’, something akin to, here, an occupation indirectly related to those forbidden in the seventh year. Selling its produce is such indirect transgression. nevertheless the consequences are as serious as described (R. Gershom). habit hardens and develops into wrong character. be redeemed after some years, it may be small indeed, but a debt contracted upon usurious terms increases from year to year. Whereas there is no reference to the daughter in that section, usury is mentioned therein, and the suggestion is made that he had sold his daughter already. in accord with the advice given. former, for the sake of the faith, accepts upon himself all the laws of the Torah, whereas the resident alien, in order to acquire a limited citizenship. renounces idolatry but does not accept the rest of the law. foretold and effected punishment of one who even indirectly transgressed the laws of the seventh year, why deal leniently with him? redundancy is here interpreted also to suggest that he may redeem any way, i.e., by borrowing, or by halves as long as he redeems.