Study Arakhin folio 28B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
לך יהיה״. החרים שדותיו — נותנן לכהן שבאותו משמר, שנאמר: ״כשדה החרם לכהן תהיה אחזתו״, וגמר ״לכהן״ ״לכהן״ מגזל הגר.
should be yours” (Numbers 18:14), i.e., for Aaron and any of his descendants. But if one dedicated his fields, he gives them to a priest of that priestly watch which is currently serving in the Temple, as it is stated: “As a field dedicated; its possession should be to the priest” (Leviticus 27:21). And one derives a verbal analogy between “to the priest” here and “to the priest” from a verse (Numbers 5:8) discussing property robbed from a convert. The halakha in that case is that if one took an oath that he did not rob a convert, and then after the convert died and left no descendants he admitted to taking a false oath, he must give the stolen property to the priests of the priestly watch currently serving in the Temple.
והתם מנלן? דתניא: ״לה׳ לכהן״ — קנאו השם ונתנו לכהן שבאותו משמר.
The Talmud asks: And there, in the case of property robbed from a convert, from where do we derive that it is given to the priests of the current priestly watch? As it is taught in a baraita: In the verse: “But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt that is made should be YHWH’s, to the priest” (Numbers 5:8), the phrase: “should be YHWH’s, to the priest,” indicates that God has acquired the restitution for the guilt and has given it to the priest of that priestly watch.
אתה אומר לכהן שבאותו משמר, או אינו אלא לכל כהן שירצה? כשהוא אומר: ״מלבד איל הכיפרים אשר יכפר בו עליו״, הרי בכהן שבאותו משמר הכתוב מדבר.
The Talmud objects: Do you say the restitution is given to the priest of that priestly watch; or perhaps is it necessary only for it to be given to any priest to whom the robber wishes to give it. The Talmud explains that when the same verse says: “Besides the ram of the atonement, by which atonement should be made for him,” this indicates that the verse speaks of a priest of that priestly watch, i.e., the watch that is currently involved in sacrificing offerings.