Commento su Numeri 36:4

ואם יהיה היבל may mean AND IF THERE WILL BE THE JUBILEE — From this R. Judah said: The observance of the Jubilee will cease at some time or other (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Section 13 1 on Leviticus 2:14).

ואם יהיה היובל...יגרע נחלתן, even in the event that we will not now conquer the whole land, as predicted in Exodus 23,30 that the land would be conquered in stages, progressively, so that each tribe would have to conquer the area it laid claim to, a person who had sold his share or potential share could not claim exemption form the war of conquest seeing that the land he had sold would be restored to him in the Jubilee year. In any event it would remain part of his tribe’s ancestral heritage. However, the share given to the daughters of Tzelofchod which would not be restored to their tribe in the Jubilee year, would furnish an excuse to members of their tribe not to bother to fight for that piece of land, and they would allow the present owners to remain there. At any rate, the argument of the family of Machir of Menashe was that the most recent legislation could result in the whole principle of sharing out the land by lottery being partially aborted.

ואם יהיה היובל לבני ישראל, “and when the Jubilee year will arrive for the Children of Israel, etc.” These people argued that if the daughters of Tzelofchod were to marry someone outside their tribe, the heritage they had been given would then pass over to their husbands and as a result would never revert to their tribe even in the Jubilee year. The result would be an increase of ancestral land of some other tribe at the expense of the tribe of Menashe. The legal reason was that inherited property is not subject to the Yovel legislation.

R’ Yehudah said. Rashi wishes to answer the question: Why is it written ואם ["and if"], since it should have said וכי יהיה ["and when [the yoveil] occurs"]. For ואם implies that there is doubt as to whether there would be a yoveil. When Rashi writes afterwards “so even if yoveil occurs” he does not mean to explain ואם as meaning אפילו ["even when"], for if so he would be contradicting what he said above, that the word ואם implies doubt. Rather, the word “even” is part of Rashi’s usage of language, and it is not meant to be an explanation of the word אם.

V. 4. ואם יהיה היובל וגו׳, und diese Zuweisung würde einer direkten durchs Los bestimmten Zuerteilung ganz gleichkommen, sie wird keine vorübergehende, wie etwa durch Verkauf entstehende, sondern eine durchaus bleibende Entziehung und Entfremdung des eigentlich dem Stamme Menasche zufallenden Gutes bewirken, da ירושה auch im Jobel nicht zurückkehrt. (Die Familienhäupter der Giladiten sprechen [V. 31] von einer Verkürzung des Erbteils ihrer Väter, מנחלת אבתינו und nicht מנחלתנו. Es erscheint dies im Geiste der dem Verteilungsmodus zu Grunde liegenden Tatsache gesprochen zu sein, dass den באי הארץ das Land nur als Erbe der וצאי מצרים zuerteilt wurde, — siehe Kap. 26, 55.)

ואם יהיה היבל may mean, too: AND WHEN THERE WILL BE THE JUBILEE [THEN WILL THEIR INHERITANCE BE ADDED TO THE INHERITANCE OF THE TRIBE TO WHICH THEY SHALL BELONG] — meaning: This is no sale of land so that it returns to the original owner at the Jubilee, for a heritage never returns. Therefore even when the Jubilee will be, the inheritance will not return to its tribe, and it will follow that it will be added על נחלת המטה אשר תהיינה להם TO THE INHERITANCE OF THE TRIBE TO WHICH THEY SHALL BELONG.

To discontinue. Meaning that the Temple will be destroyed and shmittah and yoveil will be discontinued.