359. All Transactions are Final: The prohibition against redeeming cherim

Unlike a field that one has consecrated, a field that one has placed under a vow of cherim cannot be redeemed. The reason is as we have discussed: once someone declares an object cherim, it’s no longer his. He has no claim on it so the idea of redeeming it doesn’t even apply.

This mitzvah only applies to cherim that goes to kohanim. Such objects become their personal property, even to the point that a field received as cherim reverts to the kohein’s family in the Jubilee. However, if a person specified in his vow that something is cherim to God, it may be redeemed and the money given for the upkeep of the Temple.

This mitzvah is discussed in tractate Arachin on pages 28b-29a. It is codified in the Mishneh Torah in the sixth chapter of Hilchos Arachin and is #111 of the 365 negative mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos.