2,979. The Fields of Kohanim and Leviim

Hilchos Arachin Vacharamin 4:20

If the one who consecrated a field redeemed it before yoveil, it goes back to its hereditary owner in yoveil. The valuation that was paid goes to Temple upkeep, as has already been discussed. Similarly, if the son of the one who consecrated the field redeems it, it goes back to his father in yoveil. However, let’s say that the owner’s daughter, another relative or someone unrelated to him redeems the field. If the one who consecrated it redeems it from them, then it returns to the owner; if he didn’t redeem it from them so that it’s in the possession of the daughter, the relative or the unrelated person when yoveil arrives, it is confiscated and reverts to the Temple treasury. In such a case, it never goes back to its ancestral owners; rather, it becomes the hereditary property of the kohanim as per Leviticus 27:21: “When the field goes out in yoveil… it shall be for the kohein as his possession.” The kohanim don’t have to pay its worth because it was already redeemed from the Temple treasury, which received the field’s valuation from someone else. Accordingly, it reverts to the kohanim as if they were the field’s owners.

Hilchos Arachin Vacharamin 4:21

The preceding halacha applies to Yisroel (an Israelite). However, if the one who consecrated the field was a kohein or a Levi, then he may redeem it at any time. Even if yoveil passed without the field being redeemed from the Temple treasury, he can still redeem it after yoveil as per Leviticus 25:32: “The Leviim shall have eternal (rights of) redemption.”