Kiddushin, Daf Nun Vav, Part 4

Introduction

The Talmud now begins to explain how we know that it is prohibited to derive benefit from the various items listed in the mishnah.

גמ׳ בערלה מנלן דתניא (ויקרא יט, כג) ערלים לא יאכל אין לי אלא איסור אכילה הנאה מנין שלא יהנה ממנו ולא יצבע בו ולא ידליק בו את הנר ת"ל (ויקרא יט, כג) וערלתם (את) ערלתו לרבות את כולם

GEMARA. With orlah: How do we know this? Because it was taught: They shall be forbidden (arelim) to you: it shall not be eaten (Leviticus 19:23). I know only the prohibition of eating; from where do we know [that all] benefit [is forbidden], that one must derive no benefit from it, and not dye with it, nor light a lamp with it? Scripture says: Then you shall count the fruit of it as forbidden (orlato) (ibid.) this comes to include everything.

The Torah explicitly prohibits one from eating orlah. But there are some extraneous words at the beginning of the verse. These are read as adding on that even deriving benefit is prohibited.

בכלאי הכרם מנלן אמר חזקיה אמר קרא (דברים כב, ט) פן תקדש פן תוקד אש

רב אשי אמר פן יהיה קדש

[With] kil ayim of the vineyard. How do we know this?

Hizkiyah said: The verse says, [You shall not sow your vineyard with diverse kinds; lest the growth of the seed that you have sown] be forbidden [pen tikdash], [together with the yield of the vineyard] (Deuteronomy 22:9): lest it be burned (tukad esh).

R. Ashi said: Lest it be as sanctified (kadesh).

The verse uses the strange phrase pen tikdash to describe the status of diverse seeds sown in a vineyard. Hizkiyah employs a pun on these words to read them as if they say lest it be burned which indicates that if such seeds do grow into plants, the plants must be burned.

R. Ashi reads the word as related to kadesh which means sanctified. The plants are prohibited for people to use like sanctified things.

אי מה קדש תופס את דמיו ויוצא לחולין אף כלאי הכרם תופס את דמיו ויוצא לחולין אלא מחוורתא כדחזקיה

If so, just as a sanctified things transfer [their holiness] to money [used to purchase them] and then become non-sacred, so should kilayim of the vineyard transfer [their holiness] to money [used to purchase them] and then become non-sacred?

Rather, it is clear that it must be explained as Hizkiyah.

The problem with R. Ashi s interpretation is that when one sells sanctified things the money becomes holy and the original item loses its holiness. Essentially, one can redeem them in this way. But kilayim, mixed seeds that grow in a vineyard cannot be redeemed.

The Talmud therefore rejects R. Ashi s derivation.