Arachin, Chapter 6, Mishnah 5. Throughout this chapter we have been following what happens when a person owes money to hekdesh and collection begins: which of his belongings are exposed to the claim and which must be left untouched. Our mishnah rounds out the picture from two directions. First it identifies clothing found in his house that was never his at all, and then it asks how hekdesh conducts the sale of property that has already come into its hands.
Two cases, one rule
The mishnah opens by placing two people under one ruling: "echad hamakdish et nechasav", a person who declares his whole estate consecrated, "ve'echad hama'arich et atzmo", and a person who binds himself with a vow of erech. It makes no difference whether the debt arose from dedicating everything he owns or from committing himself to the fixed sum the Torah assigns to a man of his age. When the hour of collection arrives, the identical restriction applies to both.
"Ein lo bichsut ishto", he holds nothing in what his wife wears, "velo bichsut banav", and nothing in what is worn by his sons and daughters. This is no concession offered to soften his loss; it is a simple statement of who owns what. Once he placed those garments in his wife's hands they became her property, and once he handed garments to a child they became that child's property. Even a garment still untouched, never once put on, has already left his estate. So a declaration consecrating all that he owns does not reach these items at all, and when security is taken for the erech, as the earlier mishnayot permitted, these clothes stand outside the reach of the claim. What a man does not own he cannot pledge.
Dyed garments and new sandals
Two further examples in the mishnah show how quickly the transfer takes hold: "velo betzeva shetzeva'an lishmam", dye applied to cloth with them in mind, "velo besandalim chadashim", and new sandals, "shelakachan lishmam", bought on their behalf. Cloth dyed with the intention that his wife or one of the children will wear it belongs to that person from the moment of dyeing. Shoes purchased with a particular member of the household in mind are that person's shoes immediately. Items of this sort lie beyond his power to consecrate, and the officer collecting on behalf of hekdesh may not take them as a pledge for the erech he owes.
Selling to the best advantage
From here the mishnah turns to a separate rule about sales. "Af al pi she'amru", even though the sages taught, "avadim nimkarim bichsutan hashevach": whenever property is sold on someone else's behalf, say an estate that must be turned into cash to feed orphans or to repay a loan their father left behind, we arrange matters so as to draw the highest bid. A slave is therefore dressed in decent clothing before he is shown to a purchaser, since a man appearing in rags invites a miserable offer.
The mishnah attaches figures to the point: "she'im tilkach lo kesut", if clothing is bought for him, "bishloshim dinar", at a cost of thirty dinar, "mashbi'ach hu maneh", his price climbs by a maneh, a full hundred. The expense repays itself many times over, so making it is entirely worthwhile.
This is permitted only as presentation, never as deception. One may not dye an elderly slave's hair black so that he appears young; that is misleading the buyer. What is allowed is showing the merchandise in a favorable light, the way a seller today packages his goods attractively. Presenting well is legitimate; lying is not.
Two more illustrations follow. "Vechein para", and likewise a cow: "im mantinin otah le'itlis", if it is held back until the fair, "mashbachat hi", its value climbs, because that is the day when crowds assemble with the intention of buying. "Vechein margalit", and likewise a pearl: "im ma'alin otah lakrach", if it is carried up to the large city where traders operate and money changes hands freely, "mashbachat hi", it will command a better price. Every bit of this trouble is undertaken for the yetomim, whether to cover their daily needs or to discharge what their father owed, and always at the highest figure obtainable.
Hekdesh: its place and its hour
The mishnah closes with the contrast: "ein lahekdesh ela mekomo vesha'ato", hekdesh has only its place and its time. When something is donated to the Beit Hamikdash, the treasurer does not hold it back for market day and does not transport it to a wealthier city to fetch a higher price. It is sold on the spot and without delay. An item given to hekdesh was given in order to raise funds for the needs of the Beit Hamikdash, so it is converted into money immediately, and those funds go to maintaining the Beit Hamikdash.