3,807. The Funds to Redeem a Field

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 11:17

Let’s say that someone sells a field that’s ancestral property. He owns other fields and he sells some of these to redeem the ancestral field. In such a case, the field is not redeemed. This is because Leviticus 25:26 says, “He finds the means to redeem it.” We see that he must acquire something that he didn’t have at the time of the sale. Similarly, if he borrows money to redeem the field, it is not redeemed. This is because the same verse says, “If he acquires,” from which we see that he must own the means on redemption, not borrow them.

Hilchos Shemittah v’Yoveil 11:18

If the owner acquires partial means and wants to redeem half of the field that he sold, we don’t honor the request. This is because the verse specifies that he has “the means to redeem it” – the field can only be redeemed in its entirety. If a relative wants to redeem it, he may do so as per Leviticus 25:49: “His uncle or his cousin may redeem it.”