Study Arakhin folio 31A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
תני חדא: לוה וגואל וגואל לחצאין, ותניא אידך: אינו לוה וגואל ואינו גואל לחצאין. לא קשיא, הא רבנן והא רבי שמעון.
The Talmud raises a contradiction between two baraitot with regard to redeeming a field from the Temple treasury: It is taught in one baraita: One may borrow money and redeem a field, and one may partially redeem it. And it is taught in another baraita: One may not borrow money and redeem a field, nor may one partially redeem it. The Talmud explains: It is not difficult. This baraita, which teaches that one may not borrow money and redeem his field, is in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis; and that baraita, which states that one may borrow money and redeem his field, is in accordance with the opinion of R' Shimon, who is lenient with regard to redeeming a field from the Temple treasury.
מתני׳ המוכר בית בבתי ערי חומה — הרי זה גואל מיד, וגואל כל שנים עשר חדש, הרי זה כמין רבית, ואינו רבית.
Mishnah: One who sells a house from among the houses of walled cities may redeem the house immediately, even without the consent of the buyer, and he may redeem the house during the entire 12 months following the sale, but not after that. When he redeems the house within the 12-month period, he returns the sale price to the buyer, and this is ostensibly like a form of interest, as the buyer has effectively resided in the house for free in exchange for the fact that the buyer’s money was in the possession of the seller. It is not considered interest, because the buyer owned the house during the period in which he resided in it.
מת המוכר — יגאל בנו, מת הלוקח — יגאל מיד בנו. אין מונין שנה אלא משעה שמכר, שנאמר: ״עד מלאת לו שנה״.
If the seller died, his son may redeem the house from the buyer. If the buyer died, the seller may redeem it from the possession of the buyer’s son. If the buyer sold the house to another, one calculates the year only from the time that the owner sold the house to the first buyer, as it is stated: “And if it is not redeemed until the passage of a full year for him, then the house that is in the walled city should stand in possession of the one who bought it in perpetuity” (Leviticus 25:30). The term “for him” indicates that the year is calculated from when the initial owner sold the house.