Arachin 2a — ערכין ב.

A new masechet, and its first Mishnah. The Torah, in Parshat Bechukotai, sets a fixed value, an erech, for a person who is pledged to the Beit HaMikdash. The erech depends only on age and on male or female, never on what the person would fetch. Four words in the Mishnah describe the two kinds of pledge. Ma'arichin: who can pledge an erech, saying "I take my own erech on myself" or "I take so-and-so's erech on myself." Ne'erachin: whose erech can be pledged. Nodrin: who can pledge damim, the market value, saying "I take my value on myself" or "I take so-and-so's value on myself." Rashi explains that the value is set the way we price a slave sold in the market. Nidarin: whose value can be pledged. The Rambam rules (1:10) that this money, whether erech or damim, goes to the upkeep of the Beit HaMikdash, bedek habayit, when the person did not say otherwise.

All of these apply to everyone: Kohanim, Leviim and Yisraelim, women and slaves. Rashi notes that a woman or a slave may have no money of their own, so they pay later, once the woman is divorced or the slave is set free. Tosafot add another way: someone gave them money on the condition that the husband or the master has no rights in it. Tosafot also point out that a male slave pledged for his erech is valued as a man, although for many mitzvot a slave follows the rules of a woman.

A tumtum, whose genital organs are covered so we cannot tell which gender the person is, and an androgynous, with the genital organs of male and female, can pledge damim (coins/money), can have their own value pledged, and can pledge the erech of someone else. Each of them has a market value, as any person does.

But no one can pledge an erech on them. The Torah gave an erech only to one who is definitely male or definitely female. The Rambam rules this way (1:5): when a tumtum or an androgynous takes his own erech on himself, or someone else takes on his erech, nothing is owed.

A cheresh, a deaf-mute (not simply deaf, also cannot speak); a shoteh, a person who is not mentally competent; and a katan, a minor: other people can pledge their value or their erech.

But they cannot make a pledge themselves, because they lack da'at, the understanding that (the severity of) a vow needs. Rabbeinu Gershom explains that the Torah speaks of "a man who sets apart a vow," one who knows to Whom he is vowing.

The Gemara asks about the opening word, hakol, "everyone." It must come to add someone. Who is added to the list of those who can pledge an erech?

The answer is a mufla samuch le'ish: a boy in the year before he becomes a man, from twelve years and a day, as Rashi gives the age. Rabbeinu Gershom adds that for a girl it is a year earlier. He is called mufla because we test him to see whether he understands for Whose sake he vows or dedicates. If he does, his vow stands. Rashi points to the source in Masechet Niddah 45b.

And everyone can have an erech pledged on him. Who does that come to add?

A person who is badly disfigured, and a person covered with boils. Rabbeinu Gershom explains why they need a special word: no one would pay anything to buy them, so their price in the market is nothing.

The Gemara explains the reasoning it is ruling out. The pasuk joins the two ideas, "a vow of your erech," so one might think the erech follows the value: a person who has a market value can have an erech, and a person with no market value has no erech either.

That is why the Mishnah needs "everyone." The same pasuk says nefashot, persons, and that means any person at all, whatever he is worth. The Rambam rules (1:8) that even for a person covered with boils, or blind, or missing a hand, the one who pledged pays the erech of his years, as the Torah sets it.

The Gemara asks: everyone can pledge damim. Who does that come to add?

The answer: hakol was not written for nodrin (those who make a vow) at all. It was needed for the next word, nidarin. Whoever can pledge an erech can surely pledge a value, so nodrin adds no one new.

So who is added by "everyone can have his value pledged"?

If it means the tumtum and the androgynous, the Mishnah already lists them by name.

If it means the deaf-mute, the shoteh and the minor, the Mishnah lists them by name too.

If it means a baby who is not yet thirty days old, the Mishnah states that plainly as well, later in the same perek (Mishnah Arachin 1): for such a baby, a value can be pledged, but not an erech.

And if it means a non-Jew, the next Mishnah speaks about him by name.

The Gemara answers: in truth hakol does come to include the baby under a month. The Mishnah first includes him in the general word and then spells him out. Rashi gives a second reason why the Mishnah bothers. Later in this perek, on Arachin 5a, Rabbi Meir and the Chachamim argue about one who pledges the erech of a baby under a month. Rabbi Meir says he pays the value, since a person knows such a baby has no erech and must have meant its value. The Chachamim say he owes nothing. So the Mishnah tells us here that if he said "I take on the baby's value," he pays, even according to the Chachamim.

The Gemara now goes through other Mishnayot that open with "everyone." The first is "everyone does semichah" (Menachot 93a), pressing down with both hands on a korban before it is slaughtered. Who does that add? An heir. Rashi explains the case: a father set aside a korban and died before he could bring it. The son leans on it in his place. This is not the view of Rabbi Yehuda.

Next, "everyone can make a temurah" (Temurah 2a). Temurah is the attempt to swap a holy animal for another one. The Torah says both animals are then holy. This too adds the heir: if he tries to swap his father's korban, the second animal becomes holy. And this too is not like Rabbi Yehuda.

We learned in a baraita that the heir leans on the korban and that the heir's temurah takes hold. Rabbi Yehuda disagrees: for an heir there is neither semichah nor temurah on the animal.

What is Rabbi Yehuda's reason? In Parshat Vayikra the Torah says "his korban": his own, and not his father's.

And he learns the beginning of the hekdesh (kedushah) from its end. Rashi explains the terms. Temurah is the beginning, since it brings holiness to a new animal. Semichah is the end, since it comes right before the shechitah. At the end, an heir does not do semichah, so at the beginning an heir cannot make a temurah either.

The Rabbanan read the doubled words in Parshat Bechukotai, hamer yamir, "if he shall indeed swap." Rabbeinu Gershom explains that one word would have been enough, so the extra word adds the heir to temurah.

And the Rabbanan learn in the other direction, the end from the beginning. An heir can make a temurah at the beginning, so at the end an heir does semichah.

And what do the Rabbanan do with the word "his korban"?

They need it for three teachings. Rashi says the word appears three times with semichah, in the parsha of the shelamim in Parshat Vayikra. His korban, and not a non-Jew's: Rabbeinu Gershom explains that the korban of a non-Jew needs no semichah. His korban, and not his friend's: a person does not lean on a korban that is not his. And his korban, to include all the partners: when several people bring one korban together, each of them leans on it.

As for Rabbi Yehuda, he does not accept that each partner must lean. Rashi explains his view: one partner leans for all of them, and that is not like leaning on someone else's korban, since he owns a share of it.

Or even if Rabbi Yehuda does hold that every partner leans, he still has a word left over for the heir, as the Gemara goes on to show.