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My Weight in Gold

Erchin (5:1) | Yisrael Bankier | 8 hours ago

The Mishnah (5:1) teaches that if one declared that they wanted to give their weight as a dedication to the Beit HaMikdash, they are obligated to do so. If they stipulated that they wanted to give their weight in silver, then it would be their weight in silver. If they stated it would be gold, then they would give gold. The Mishnah then continues with the incident of Yirmatya's mother, who promised to give the weight of her daughter. They went to Yerushalaim, weighed her and then gave her weight in gold. We shall try to understand this Mishnah.

The Bartenura notes that the Mishnah stressed that the person is required to provide the material that they specified. The Gemara explains that this implies that if he did not express any material, then he could satisfy his obligation by providing an substance of that weight, provided it is something that is normally weighed in his area.

The Gemara continues however that the incident with the mother of Yirmatya is cited to teach a different law. That is that if the individual that made the neder was an important or wealthy individual, then the material that must be supplied should be appropriate to his stature.

It would seem that what the person must provide is based on a sliding scale and proportional to his wealth. The Rambam however in his commentary to the Mishnah explains that if the person is very wealthy and well known, then his intent is to provide the best possible donation. That would be gold, as in the case the mother of Yirmatya. For everyone else, then the even the cheapest material would satisfy. According to this understanding, the assessment is binary.

The Rambam (Arachin 2:7) similarly rules that it is only if the person is very wealthy, "and intended to give a large gift", that he is obligated to provide his weight in gold. The Kesef Mishnah comments that the vav -- the "and" -- is a copy mistake. In other words, if the person is very wealthy it is clear that his intent is to give a large gift. The Griz (Arachin 19a) understands the Rambam similarly, yet explains that the menaing is not that he intended to give gold, but rather that he wanted to provide a optimal gift. Now considering that we have a principle in nedarim that stam nedarim le'hachmir -- when an ambiguous neder is made, it is interpreted stringently (unless the person explained his intent) -- he therefore must bring gold.

The Kesef Mishnah however provides an additional explanation, that follows the text of the Rambam without any modifications. He explains that the Rambam is adding an additional requirement. Not only if the person is wealthy, but also if we know he is very generous, only then must he bring his weight in gold. See the Aruch HaShulchan (Arachin 35:16).

The explanation of the Griz however leads to another question. The Lechem Mishneh asks that if, stam nedarim le'hachmir, why can everyone else satisfy their obligation with the cheapest of materials? The Lechem Mishneh suggests that perhaps our Mishnah is where one expressed that that was his original intent.

The Maaseh Choshev however finds this difficult. If the Mishnah is dealing with a case where the person stated that at the time when he made the neder, he had in mind a material of little value, then why must the very wealthy person nevertheless provide gold?

The Maasech Choshev explains therefore that the case is where the person said had nothing specific in mind -- stam. Much like the Griz, he understands that the straightforward meaning for everyone else is that that they can provide whatever they like. The Griz continues that it is only with a very wealthy person, where the meaning is that they want to be bring an optimal gift, that the ambiguity is introduced.

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