Positive Commandment 145 (Digest)
Sanctified Objects ("Cherem")
"However, a cherem that a man shall vow to set aside for G‑d from anything he possesses, whether human or beast"—Leviticus 27:28.
Anything sanctified as cherem must be given to a priest (unless the person specified that it is "cherem to G‑d," in which case it is donated to the Temple coffers).
The
145th mitzvah is that we are
commanded regarding the law of ch'ramim,
i.e., when a person declares something he owns to be forbidden by saying, "This
is cherem," he must give that object
to a kohen, because a statement of cherem
which is unspecified goes to the kohanim. If, however, he specified
that it is for G‑d, then it goes for the Temple fund (bedek habayis).
The
source of this commandment is G‑d's statement, "Any cherem
to G‑d which a person declares from among his possessions, whether a human
being or an animal [or a hereditary field, cannot be sold or redeemed]."
[The
Torah] teaches us that a statement of cherem
which is unspecified goes to the kohanim by saying [Regarding a field that is released by the
jubilee year, "It becomes consecrated to G‑d;] like a field that has been made cherem, it becomes the property of the
kohanim."
The
details of this mitzvah are explained
in the eighth chapter of Erachin and the beginning of Nedarim.
Negative Commandment 110 (Digest)
Selling Sanctified Objects ("Cherem")
"No cherem thing...shall be sold"—Leviticus 27:28.
Any object that is sanctified as cherem [and consequently must be given to a priest] may not be sold—even to the Temple treasurer.
The
110th prohibition is that we are forbidden from selling — even to the Temple treasurer — objects
which have been declared to be cherem.
The
source of this commandment is G‑d's statement, "Any cherem...cannot
be sold."
In
the words of the Sifra, " 'It cannot
be sold' — [even to] the Temple
treasurer."
The
cherem referred to is only one which
is unspecified.
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