Study Arakhin folio 25A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
באמצע יובל, דכל כמה דלא מליא ליה שנה לא מגרע ליה.
It is referring to any year in the middle of the Jubilee cycle. The Mishnah’s statement should be read as follows: After the Jubilee Year, one may not redeem a field for less than the price of a year, meaning that as long as a year has not been completed, he does not deduct it from the price of redemption. For example: if there are 5½ years remaining until the Jubilee Year, he must give 6 sela and 6 pundeyon for its redemption, not 5½ of each of a sela and a pundeyon.
מאי קא משמע לן, דאין מחשבין חדשים עם ההקדש? הא בהדיא קתני: ״אין מחשבין חדשים עם ההקדש!״ מה טעם קאמר: מה טעם לא גואלין לאחר יובל פחות משנה — משום דאין מחשבין חדשים עם ההקדש.
The Talmud asks: What is the tanna teaching us? Is he saying that one does not count months in order to lower the price to be paid to the Temple treasury? Such an interpretation is untenable, as that halakha is taught explicitly in the following line of the Mishnah: One does not count months in order to lower the price to be paid to the Temple treasury. The Talmud answers: The tanna is not attempting to teach a separate halakha here. Rather, he employs the style known as: What is the reason, and the Mishnah is to be read as follows: What is the reason that one may not redeem a field after the Jubilee Year with less than the price of a complete year? It is because one does not count months in order to lower the price to be paid to the Temple treasury.
אין מחשבין חדשים וכו׳. תנו רבנן: מנין שאין מחשבין חדשים עם ההקדש? תלמוד לומר: ״וחשב לו הכהן את הכסף על פי השנים הנותרות״ — שנים אתה מחשב, ואי אתה מחשב חדשים.
§ The Mishnah teaches: One does not count months in order to lower the price to be paid to the Temple treasury, but the Temple treasury may count months in order to raise the price of redemption. With regard to this statement, A baraita states: From where is it derived that one does not count months in order to lower the price to be paid to the Temple treasury? The verse states: “Then the priest should reckon for him the money according to the years that remain until the Jubilee Year, and a deduction should be made from your valuation” (Leviticus 27:18). This teaches that you are to calculate years, but you are not to count months.