Commento su 'Arakhin 4:1

השג יד-בנודר (the law regulating the payment of certain vows according to one’s means – Leviticus 27:8) -the teaching of the law regulating the payment of certain vows according to one’s means, that the poor person is judged in Valuation according to his means/wealth, for we follow after the person making the vow, and not after the person about whom the vow is taken, as will be explained further on (see Mishnah 4 of this chapter) and as we learned in Tractate Arakhin, Chapter 2, Mishnah 1, the valuation is no less than a Sela).

The sufficiency of means is according to the ability of the vower.
And the age is according to the subject of the vow.
The evaluation is according to the subject of the evaluation.
And the evaluations [shall be paid according to the rate prescribed] at the time of the evaluation.
The sufficiency of means is according to the ability of the vower. How so? If a poor man evaluated a rich man, he pays only the valuation of a poor man. But if a rich man evaluated a poor man, he must pay the valuation of a rich man.
Our chapter provides several central rules as to how the amount paid for evaluations is determined. We should note that the literary structure of this chapter is the same as that of the previous chapter the first mishnah gives brief headlines that are further explicated in the rest of the chapter. Therefore, I will again leave the explanation of these headlines for subsequent mishnayot.
Section five: Leviticus 27:8 states, “But if one cannot afford the evaluation, he shall be presented before the priest and the priest shall assess him; the priest shall assess him according to what the vower can afford.” Our mishnah teaches that this is an assessment of the means of the person who made the vow, and not the person whose value was vowed. So if a poor person vows to give the value of a rich person he only pays the amount that a poor person could afford to pay. This estimate has nothing to do with the fact that the person being evaluated was rich. Conversely, if a rich person vows the value of a poor person, he must pay the full amount because he is rich. It does not matter at all that the person whose value he vowed is poor.

והשנים בנידר – a young child that made a valuation of the value of an old person gives the valuation of the old person, and we don’t follow after the years of the person who is making the vow. And the Tanna/teacher who calls the one dedicating the value of the person [or of an animal unfit for the altar] the one making a vow, as he took the language of Scripture, as it is written (Leviticus 27:8): “and the priest shall assess hm according to what the vower can afford.” And since it (i.e., the Mishnah) stated, “[the estimate of] ability to pay [is made in accordance with the status of] the one who vows, it (i.e., the Mishnah) also stated, [the estimate of the] the years [of age is made in accord with the status of] the one [whose Valuation] is vowed.

והערכים בנערך (the vows of value are regulated by the condition of the person whose value is vowed) - the determination of the valuation of a male and a female, we follow after that of the one who is the subject of Valuation, as it will be explained further on (see Mishnah 4 of this chapter).

והערך בזמן הערך – as it is explained further on (Mishnah 2), for if he made a valuation of himself when he was less than twenty-years of age, which is the valuation of a minor, and prior to his giving it, he was twenty-years of age, he does not give other than at the time of the valuation.