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Arakhin 19 for kids: What Does It Weigh?

ערכין י״ט

⚖️ This daf asks how to keep a promise to donate your weight, height, or the weight of your arm. It also asks how to work out the value of an arm.

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Stories from Arakhin 19

Words to know

Rashi and Tosafot on Arakhin 19 in simple English

Rashi on Arakhin 19a, in English Tab translation (26)
  1. For the male and for the female, it should have said — This is the Torah’s wording for valuations: “if male” and “if female” (Leviticus 27), not “son” and “daughter.” The law of a birth by cesarean section, however, uses “son” and “daughter” throughout.
  2. And what is different — In valuations, a female over sixty retains one-third of her younger valuation: thirty shekels when younger and ten when older.
  3. And what is different about a male — After sixty, his valuation falls below one-third of his younger valuation: fifty shekels when younger and fifteen when older.
  4. A burden — Something broken that is only a burden. Alternatively, the text reads “paḥaḥa,” meaning nakedness, like the Aramaic translation of “naked” in Ezekiel 16.
  5. A treasure — Something valuable: even in old age, she can work and perform tasks.
  6. Mishna: One who says, ‘My weight is upon me’ — One who undertakes to donate an amount equal to his weight.
  7. Yirmatya — The woman’s name.
  8. The weight of my hand is upon me — How is it weighed? He could make it heavier or lighter at will.
  9. He fills a barrel with water and inserts it — Into the barrel.
  10. Up to his elbow — The joint called the elbow. When he inserts his arm, water spills out; when he removes it, the barrel is short of water.
  11. And he weighs donkey flesh — Donkey flesh has the same weight as human flesh. It must include sinews and bones in the proportions found in the arm, since they do not weigh the same as flesh. He adds it to the barrel until it is full; the material then has the volume of his arm, and he donates its weight.
  12. Gemara: He may discharge his obligation with anything — He may choose whatever material he wishes to weigh.
  13. With pitch — Tar.
  14. In a place where they weigh pitch — Where pitch is sold by weight.
  15. Onions — The word means onions.
  16. They throw in two or three — As sellers customarily do.
  17. Its sale by weight is negated — It would then appear that onions are not sold by weight.
  18. Was the incident cited to contradict the ruling? — The opening teaches that one who specifies silver gives silver, and so on. We explained that without a specified material, any material sold by weight suffices. Yet the mother of Yirmatya simply said, ‘My daughter’s weight is upon me,’ and paid in gold.
  19. My height — This implies a rod matching his build, so he gives a thick rod that cannot be bent. If he specified silver, he gives silver; if gold, gold.
  20. My full height — He intended only the measure of his height, not his thickness.
  21. Rav Yehuda follows Rabbi Akiva — Rav Yehuda’s ruling accords with Rabbi Akiva’s view.
  22. Nor the pit — A person selling a house does not thereby sell its pit or cistern. A pit is dug without built walls; a cistern has built walls.
  23. He must — The seller must buy from the purchaser a right of way to the pit or cistern: he sold all the land and retained no path, since he sells generously.
  24. He need not — The seller retains a path, since he sells sparingly.
  25. When he said to him — If the seller told the buyer, ‘I sell you the house except for this pit and cistern,’ he need not buy a right of way. The exception was unnecessary, since a pit and cistern are not ordinarily included; its added words show that he retained access. Likewise, ‘my height’ already refers to his height, so adding ‘full’ shows that he means only the measure of his height.
  26. My height is incumbent upon me — Does this mean a rod as tall as he is, or not?
Tosafot on Arakhin 19a, in English Tab translation (5)
  1. One who says, “My weight is incumbent upon me” — he vows to donate an amount equal to his weight to the Temple treasury.
  2. Up to his elbow — Rashi explains that the word means the armpit, but this is difficult: the baraita says “up to the elbow,” and the passage about where priests wore their belts places the elbow away from the armpit, which is a place of sweat. Rabbi Yitzḥak therefore explains that it means the elbow. I discussed this further in my comments on Menaḥot and Zevaḥim.
  3. After weighing, they throw in two or three — But merchants everywhere gave more than the exact weight, as is clear from Bava Batra. Why, then, might this practice mean that onions are not sold by weight? Here they add two or three onions beyond the usual allowance. Since they give more than required, one might have thought that weighing no longer determines the sale.
  4. He follows Rabbi Akiva — But who taught the baraita? It seems to follow neither Rabbi Akiva nor the Rabbis. Their disagreement concerns whether a seller sells generously or reserves a path for himself; the Rabbis do not need the extra wording in that case. Where extra wording is needed to distinguish two expressions, however, even the Rabbis agree that it has an effect. So how can the baraita be reconciled with either view?
  5. They asked: What does “my standing height” mean? — The questions can be read as a sequence. Does “my standing height” require a rigid rod, or only one that can stand upright even if it bends? If a bendable rod suffices, does “my width” require a rigid rod, since bending one’s height does not bend one’s width, or merely a rod as long as one’s width? If a bendable rod suffices for width, does “my seated height” mean a straight rod measuring from head to feet, or a bent rod, reflecting the seated posture? If it means a bent rod, does “my thickness” require a rigid rod as thick as my body, since my thickness does not bend, or may a bendable rod of that size suffice? If a bendable rod suffices, does “my circumference” require a rod that goes around my whole body and is so thick that it cannot straighten after bending, or may it be any rod that encircles me, however thin? Rabbi Elḥanan explains the question about seated height differently: does it measure from the head to where one sits, roughly half the body, or from head to feet while seated? Others explain: does it mean a rod measuring one’s seated height rather than standing height, or a rod measuring the space one occupies while seated?
Rashi on Arakhin 19b, in English Tab translation (22)
  1. My width — What does this vow mean? Must he give a rod as wide as he is, or a long rod whose length equals his width?
  2. My girth — Must he give a curved rod as long as his circumference, or a thick rod with the same circumference as his? The question remains unresolved.
  3. Elbow — The joint between the forearm and upper arm.
  4. Up to the knee — Above the knee it is called the thigh, not the leg.
  5. Up to the joint — The wrist, where the hand meets the forearm. This suggests that the word “hand” in the verse extends only to the wrist.
  6. Ordinary language — People call the limb a “hand” up to the elbow.
  7. Biceps — The bulge of the upper arm, a little above the elbow.
  8. Pilgrimages — “Three pilgrimages in the year.”
  9. Excluding people with artificial legs — This refers to someone whose foot was severed at the ankle, near the shin, and who places his stump in a hollowed-out wooden leg. He is exempt from appearing at the Temple because he has no foot. This suggests that “foot” extends only to the ankle.
  10. If she performed ḥalitza — If part of the leg remains below the knee, removing the shoe from that part is valid. This suggests that the leg extends to the knee; if so, he should also be obligated to appear at the Temple.
  11. From upon his foot — This includes what is above the foot: the lower leg up to the knee.
  12. Conclude from this — The lower leg, up to the knee, is not considered a second level above the foot.
  13. This ankle bone — It extends to the ground. It has an upper joint connecting it to the shin, but no joint below it separating it from the foot; rather, it is part of the foot’s bone. If it were separate below as well, the ankle would be considered above the foot.
  14. This is a stringency of vows over valuations — If someone says, “The valuation of my hand is incumbent upon me,” or “The valuation of my leg is incumbent upon me,” the statement has no effect unless he names a body part on which life depends.
  15. The appraisal used for damages — When someone cuts off another person’s hand, they appraise the injured person as a slave sold in the market: what he was worth before and what he is worth now.
  16. There, the man is diminished — His hand has already been cut off. Even when appraisers estimate his former value, they assess it at a discount because they see him in his diminished state.
  17. Here, the man is whole — Both his hands are intact. They must appraise his present value, which he undertakes to donate, and what he would be worth if his hand were cut off.
  18. What does it mean that he has one hand? The other is severed — That is, why does he work with only one hand? Because the other has been cut off. This is the same appraisal used for damages.
  19. His hand is assigned to his first master — He may not use it to work for the second master. Thus, the appraisal concerns a man whose hand is still intact.
  20. They appraised him for damages — Someone injured him, and they assessed what he was worth before and after the injury.
  21. And he said, ‘My value is incumbent upon me’ — He did not say, ‘My fixed valuation is incumbent upon me.’ Must he be appraised again, or not?
  22. An appraisal by ten — A person who says, “My value is incumbent upon me,” is appraised by ten people. As the first chapter of Sanhedrin teaches, land is appraised by nine people and a priest, and a person is appraised the same way. Damages, however, are appraised by three.
Tosafot on Arakhin 19b, in English Tab translation (5)
  1. He weighs donkey flesh, sinews, and bones and puts them in until the barrel is full — Rabbi Elchanan asks: If he has already weighed out donkey flesh corresponding to the weight of the man’s hand, why put it in the barrel? He therefore suggests that the flesh is first put in until the barrel is full and only then weighed. I found, however, in the name of Rabbi Yitzḥak, that it must be weighed first: otherwise it absorbs water and becomes too heavy. A living limb supports its own weight and is lighter than a dead one. It is difficult to say that the donkey flesh is weighed against a severed hand, which weighs more than when it was attached to the body.
  2. Pilgrimage festivals excludes people with artificial legs — Rabbi Elchanan asks how this proves that “leg” means only the foot up to the ankle. Perhaps they are excluded because they cannot walk and support themselves unaided, even if “leg” extends to the knee. He answers that the tractate Ḥagiga derives two separate exclusions from “pilgrimage festivals”: one for a lame or blind person who cannot walk unaided despite having feet, and another for a person with artificial legs, who lacks a foot.
  3. She removed the shoe — Rashi explains that the leg was cut off but a little remained below the knee, and removal there is valid. This is difficult: Yevamot says removal is invalid even if the man’s foot is turned backward. Rather, this passage concerns where the shoe’s straps are tied. If they are tied below the knee, removing the shoe is valid as removal “from upon his foot”; if tied above the knee, it is invalid.
  4. There the man is diminished in value — Rashi explains that because his hand has already been severed, even his former value is assessed at a discount: the appraisers see him disfigured. Rabbi Yitzḥak objects: Why should damages differ from a vow, which requires payment of the person’s full value? Also, the later comparison to valuing a slave as though he had only one hand and then lost the other would not match damages: an amputee’s disfigurement lowers his value further, whereas the slave’s remaining hand is valued for the work it can do. Rabbi Yitzḥak therefore explains Abaye’s distinction this way: In damages the man is actually disfigured by the amputation, so that loss of value counts. In a vow both hands remain intact, so his value is reduced only as though one hand had been assigned to royal service.
  5. Or perhaps an assessment by ten is different — As taught in Sanhedrin, land is assessed by nine people and a priest, and a person likewise, because the word “priest” appears ten times in the passage, as Rashi explains. Rabbi Elchanan asks why eleven are not required: ten is an even-numbered court, and matters decided by judgment require a majority. As Sanhedrin teaches concerning monetary and capital cases, an even-numbered court must add one member.

Sources

Kid summary and story cards written by Tab from the William Davidson Edition English (Sefaria, CC BY-NC 4.0).

Tab translation (machine-assisted) of Rashi and Tosafot, from the Vilna Edition Hebrew (public domain) on Sefaria. May contain mistakes.

In the app, the Gemara text comes from Sefaria (William Davidson Edition, CC BY-NC 4.0; Hebrew/Aramaic Vilna Edition). Rashi and Tosafot Hebrew: Vilna Edition (public domain) via Sefaria.

Also spelled: Arachin, Erchin 19.