레위기 25:23의 주석

‎‎לא תמכר‎‎ והארץ THE LAND SHALL NOT BE SOLD [ABSOLUTELY] — This is intended to charge with the transgression of a negative command (לאו) the neglect of returning the fields to their owners in the Jubilee — it commands that the purchaser must not detain it (Sifra, Behar, Chapter 5 8).

AND THE LAND SHALL NOT BE SOLD IN PERPETUITY. “This is to declare a negative commandment affecting [one who refuses] to return fields to their [original] owners in the Jubilee, so that the purchaser should not retain it.” This is Rashi’s language. But if so, why does He warn about “selling” [saying, the Land shall not be ‘sold’ in perpetuity], when it should rather have said: “Thou shalt not buy in perpetuity”? Perhaps [the meaning of the verse is as if] it said, “and the Land shall not be sold to you in perpetuity” [and thus the prohibition refers to the buyer]. Similarly, they shall not be sold as bondmen¹⁸³Further, Verse 42. is an admonition to the purchaser, that he must send forth to freedom [a Hebrew servant] in the Jubilee year, according to the plain meaning of the verse.
It is, [however], possible that the Land shall not be sold in perpetuity is a negative commandment referring to the seller, that he is not to sell it permanently by saying: “I am selling it to you forever, even for after the Jubilee.” For although the Jubilee [in fact] takes it out of his possession [despite his intention of buying it permanently], Scripture nonetheless admonishes the seller or both of them that they should not [attempt to] make their transaction in perpetuity, and if they did so stipulate, they transgress this negative commandment, and [additionally] it will be of no avail to them, for the land will return in the Jubilee. And so did Rabbi Moshe [ben Maimon] explain it.¹⁸⁴Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Shmitah V’yoveil 11:1. And the reason for this prohibition [of stipulating a permanent sale, although such a stipulation is completely ineffective], is because it is well-known in human thought that if people take into account from the beginning of the transaction the number of years until the Jubilee, it will [in the end] be easier for them [i.e., for the purchasers, to return it in the Jubilee], but if one [intends to] buy it in perpetuity, one will find it very difficult to return. This prohibition, then, is similar to what the Sages have said:¹⁸⁵Temurah 4 b. “That which the Merciful One said one may not do, if one does do, has no legal effect, but the transgressor is liable to the punishment of whipping because he violated the Royal decree.”
The correct opinion appears to me to be that this is not a negative commandment [for the transgression of which] one is liable to whipping. Rather, [the verse merely states] a reason [for the Jubilee], saying: “Observe between you [the law of] the Jubilee, and be not resentful about it, for the Land is Mine, and I do not want that it should be sold in perpetuity as [in the case of] other transactions.” This is the meaning [of the Rabbis’ interpretation] in the Torath Kohanim:¹⁸⁶Torath Kohanim, Behar 4:8. “And the Land shall not be sold ‘litzmithuth’ — permanently. For the Land is Mine — [therefore] be not resentful about it. For ye are strangers and settlers — do not consider yourselves the main [proprietors]. Ye are with Me — it is enough for the servant to be as his Master. When it is Mine it is yours.”¹⁸⁷This is a euphemism, the intent of which is as follows: “When you [Israel] are there upon the Land, G-d considers it as His, since the laws of the Jubilee then apply, but this is not so when Israel is exiled.” See my Hebrew commentary p. 179.
By way of the Truth, [the mystic teachings of the Cabala], the meaning of the expression for the Land is Mine [literally: “for ‘unto Me’ is the Land”] is like and they take ‘unto Me’ an offering.¹⁸⁸Exodus 25:2. It is this which the Rabbis have alluded to here [by saying in the Torath Kohanim]:¹⁸⁶Torath Kohanim, Behar 4:8. “It is enough for the servant to be as his Master,” for the Jubilee will be applying [even]¹⁸⁹Abusaula. See further in Vol. II, p. 341, Note 23. in the world. The person learned [in the mysteries of the Cabala] will understand.

והארץ לא תמכר לצמיתות. The legislation applies to land intended for cultivation..

והארץ לא תמכר לצמיתות, “and the land (family inheritance) must never be sold in perpetuity.“ Rashi understands the verse as a negative commandment, in addition to the positive commandment for the purchaser to restore the land to the party from whom he had bought it. (Verse13). Failure to restore it is not only violation of a positive commandment, but transgression of a negative commandment also. Nachmanides feels that if this were so the Torah should have made the purchaser the culprit, i.e. forbidding him to write a contract by the terms of which he acquired the land in perpetuity, and should not have worded the instruction as a restriction imposed on the seller. This would be parallel to selling a servant in perpetuity, ignoring the law that servants go free in the sh’mittah year. It is possible that the verse may be understood as a warning to the seller not to try and bypass the legislation of the Torah, and to secure a better price for himself by promising the buyer that he may retain the land in question in perpetuity, his foregoing the right given him by the Torah to reclaim his ancestral property in the Jubilee year. This warning may be addressed by the Torah to both the seller and the buyer to advise them that by making individual arrangements bypassing Torah law, they both make themselves guilty of a serious violation of the Torah. This is the interpretation of our verse by Maimonides. This would be considered violation of a negative commandment, although such a contract would be invalid to start with, no one being able to legally override laws of the Torah. The reason for the legislation as it is written is that if, at the time of the sale, the number of years during which the sale will be effective is part of the document, it is much easier, psychologically, that when the next Jubilee occurs, either during the lifetime of the purchaser or his heir, to effect the transfer of that property back to its original owner. I believe that the kind of negative commandment that we are dealing with here is not the type that carries the penalty of 39 lashes, as do most other negative commandments. Rather, it is in the nature of an explanation by the Torah of its motivation, designed to facilitate the smooth observance of the unusual law, which basically is a reminder that all land in the land of Israel ultimately is the Lord’s and we only administer it on His behalf.

והארץ לא תמכר לצמיתות, “and the land shall not be sold in perpetuity.” this teaches that if the purchaser of the field fails to hand it back to the seller or his heirs at the appropriate time, it will automatically revert to ownership of the original owner in the Yovel year. The expression צמיתות means something absolute, final. This is why Onkelos translates it as לחלוטין.

The buyer should not hold it. In other words, the buyer should not hold it and refuse to return it, resulting in it being sold forever.

לא תמכר לצמיתות, “do not sell with a clause to override the yovel year, i.e. for always. The expression צמיתות, means something absolute, complete separation. Compare Psalms 94,23: 'יצמיתם ה, “the Lord will destroy them utterly, (beyond chance of recovery)

לצמתת means for severance; the meaning is: it shall not be sold as a sale that severs in perpetuity.

כי לי הארץ, a reference that the region known as גליל, the earth is G’d’s. [specifically excluding the east bank of the Jordan, based on the letter ה in front of the word הארץ. Compare Torat Kohanim there. Ed.] כי גרים ותושבים אתם עמדי, in this very same גליל, which is not part of “He has given earth to man” (Psalms 115,16).

For it is not yours. Rashi does not cite the reason written in the verse, that it “is Mine,” because for the reason the buyer should not hold it in his hand and refuse to return it to the owners is not because “the land is Mine.” Rather, the verse should have said: Do not begrudge returning it because the land is theirs, or because the land is not yours. Therefore Rashi writes, “For it is not yours.”

לצמיתות, the vowel under the prefix ל time is a chirik, not a patach as in verse 30, to show that the vowel in this verse refers to the purchaser, whereas here it refers to the seller.

כי לי הארץ FOR THE LAND IS MINE — Your eye shall not be evil towards it (you shall not begrudge this) for it is not yours.