Commentary for Kiddushin 40:13
בעא מיניה רב הונא בר חיננא מרב ששת המוכר בית בבתי ערי חומה נגאל לחצאין או אינו נגאל לחצאין גאולתו גאולתו משדה אחוזה גמר מה שדה אחוזה אינה נגאלת לחצאין אף האי נמי אינו נגאל לחצאין
then he appreciated and stood at two hundred: if you say that he can be half redeemed, he pays him [an additional] hundred<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since he owes him his servitude for only half the time.');"><sup>19</sup></span> and goes out [free]; but if you say, he cannot be half redeemed, he must pay him a hundred and fifty, and [then] go out.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since he owes him his service for the whole period, the fifty paid being in the nature of a deposit.');"><sup>20</sup></span>
Daf Shevui to Kiddushin
The word “his redemption” is used both in the case of the walled city and in the case of redeeming an ancestral field. When it came to the ancestral field, there was a midrash that taught that in order to be redeemed, the whole field must be redeemed. It cannot be half-redeemed. So do we apply this law to the walled city as well? Or do we say that the Torah specified in the case of the ancestral field that it cannot be half-redeemed, but it did not specify this in the case of the walled city, therefore it can be half-redeemed.
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