Study Arakhin folio 21A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הקדישו הדר בו — מעלה שכר להקדש. הקדישו הדר בו? היכי מצי מקדיש לה? ״איש כי יקדיש ביתו קדש״ אמר רחמנא, מה ביתו ברשותו — אף כל ברשותו! הכי קאמר: הקדישו משכיר — הדר בו מעלה שכר להקדש.
If the one living in it, i.e., the renter, consecrates the house, he pays the rent to the Temple treasury. The Talmud express surprise at this last statement of the baraita: If the one living in the house consecrates it? How can the renter consecrate it? God states: “When a man should sanctify his house to be sacred” (Leviticus 27:14), from which it is derived that just as one’s house is in his possession, so too, anything that one consecrates must be in his possession. If so, the renter cannot consecrate the house, as he is not its owner. The Talmud answers that this is what the baraita is saying: If the one renting out the house consecrates it, the one living in it pays the rent to the Temple treasury.
הקדישו משכיר, היכי דייר ביה? במעילה קאי! ותו מעלה שכר להקדש? כיון דמעל ביה, נפיק ליה שכר לחולין!
The Talmud asks: If the one renting out the house consecrates it, how is it possible for the renter to live in it? Since the house is consecrated property he is standing liable for the prohibition of misuse of consecrated property by living there. And furthermore, why must he pay the rent to the Temple treasury? Since he misused consecrated property the payment of the rent immediately leaves the state of consecration and becomes non-sacred.
דאמר: ״לכשיבא שכרו יקדש״, והא אין אדם מקדיש דבר שלא בא לעולם!
The Talmud answers: The baraita is discussing a case where the one renting out the house says: When the payment of the rent will come to me, the money should be consecrated. The Talmud asks: But how is it possible for the one renting out the house to consecrate money he will receive in the future? After all, a person cannot consecrate an entity that has not yet come into the world.