they are not measured together with the rest of the field. If the crevices or rocks were less than ten handbreadths, they are measured together with the rest of the field.

The Gemara asks: But why are the crevices that are deeper and the rocks that are higher than ten handbreadths not measured with the rest of the field? Let them at least be consecrated separately and require their own redemption. And if you would say that since they are not the size of a beit kor, they cannot be consecrated, there is a difficulty.

But isn’t it taught in a baraita concerning the verse: “And if he that sanctified the field will redeem it” (Leviticus 27:19): Why must the verse state the word “field”? Since the previous verses are all discussing a field, it would have sufficed for this verse to refer to the field with the pronoun: It. Rather, as it is stated in an earlier verse: “Then your valuation shall be according to the seed required for it; a ḥomer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver” (Leviticus 27:16), I have derived only the halakha in the case of one who consecrated in this manner, i.e., an area fit to sow a ḥomer of barley seed.

The baraita continues: From where do I learn that this halakha is also meant to include the case of one who consecrated a smaller area, e.g., an area fit to sow a letekh, i.e., a half-kor, a half-letekh, a se’a, a tarkav, and a half-tarkav? From where is it derived that these smaller plots of land can also be consecrated and redeemed in accordance with the fixed values stated in the Torah? The verse states: “A field,” teaching that this halakha applies in any case of a field, even to smaller plots.

Rav Ukva bar Ḥama said: Here, in the mishna in Arakhin, we are dealing with crevices filled with water. Being that they are not fit for sowing, they cannot be consecrated, as the verse states: “Then your valuation shall be according to the seed required for it” (Leviticus 27:16). The Gemara comments: The language of the mishna is also precise according to this interpretation, as it teaches the halakha about crevices that are similar to rocks, which are certainly not fit for sowing. The Gemara affirms: Learn from this that this explanation is correct.

The Gemara raises a difficulty: If this is so, that the crevices and rocks of the mishna are excluded from being consecrated because they are unfit for sowing, then even if they are less than ten handbreadths in depth or height, they also should not be consecrated. The Gemara answers: If the crevices or rocks are less than ten handbreadths deep or high, these crevices are called the cracks of the earth, and these rocks are called the spines [shidrei] of the earth. In other words, since they are considered standard features of the field and do not constitute separate areas, they are consecrated together with the rest of the field.

The Gemara asks: The halakha stated above was taught with regard to consecrated property. Here, in the case of a sale of land, with regard to which the mishna teaches that crevices ten handbreadths deep are not measured along with the land, what is the halakha? Does that halakha apply only when the crevices are filled with water? Rav Pappa said: Even if they are not filled with water they are not considered part of the field. What is the reason that in the case of a sale crevices are not considered part of the field even if they are not filled with water? Because a person buying a field does not want to give his money for the purchase of one plot when it appears to him like two or three different plots due to differences in the height of the terrain. Therefore, those crevices that are ten handbreadths deep are not measured along with the rest of the field, regardless of whether or not they are filled with water.

Ravina objects to this: But the mishna teaches the halakha about crevices in a manner indicating that they are similar to the rocks discussed in the mishna. Just as rocks are not fit for sowing, so too, these crevices are such that they are not fit for sowing. But if they are not filled with water, and are therefore fit for sowing, then even if they are lower than the rest of the field, they should be included in the sale. The Gemara replies: When the mishna teaches the halakha about crevices in a manner indicating that they are similar to the rocks discussed in the mishna, it teaches about crevices that are less than that, i.e., less than ten handbreadths deep. In such a case, even if they are not fit for sowing, they are measured along with the rest of the field.

§ The mishna teaches that if the crevices or rocks in the field measured less than ten handbreadths, they are measured together with the rest of the field. Rabbi Yitzḥak says: The rocks or crevices that measure less than ten handbreadths that the Sages said are measured together with the rest of the field must not measure more than an area required for sowing four kav of seed within an area required for sowing a kor. Rav Ukva bar Ḥama says: This applies specifically where the rocks are scattered throughout an area required for sowing five kav. Rav Ḥiyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This applies specifically where the rocks are scattered throughout the greater part of the field.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba raises a dilemma with regard to the halakha taught in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: If the majority of the rocks are scattered throughout the smaller part of the field, and the minority of the rocks are scattered throughout the greater part of the field, what is the halakha? The Gemara answers: The dilemma shall stand unresolved, as no answer was found.

Rabbi Yirmeya raises another dilemma: