Kiddushin, Daf Nun Bet, Part 3

 

Introduction

Today s sugya contains a couple of stories about men who try to betroth with stolen goods.

 

ההיא איתתא דהוה קא משיא כרעא במשיכלא דמיא

אתא ההוא גברא חטף זוזי מחבריה ושדא לה אמר לה מיקדשת לי

אתא ההוא גברא לקמיה דרבא אמר לית דחש להא דר’ שמעון דאמר סתם גזילה יאוש בעלים הוי

 

There was a woman who was washing her feet in a bowl of water.

A man came, snatched a zuz from his neighbor, threw it to her and exclaimed: You are betrothed to me! That man went before Rava, who said to him; There is no one who pays attention to that which R. Shimon said: Robbery in general involves the owner’s despair.

 

We ve already learned that one cannot betroth with a stolen object as long as the owner s have not despaired of recovery. Such despair would mean that the thief now owns the object. But Rava rules that unless we know that the owner despaired of recovery, we do not assume that he despaired. Title to the object is still his and therefore, the thief cannot use it for betrothal. Only R. Shimon would disagree but no one holds according to him.

 

ההוא אריסא דקדיש במוזא דשמכי אתא לקמיה דרבא אמר ליה מאן אחלך והני מילי במוזא אבל כישא מצי אמר ליה אנא שקלי כישא שקיל את כישא כישא כי כישא

A certain sharecropper betrothed [a woman] with a handful of onions.

When he came before Rava he said to him, Who relinquished [these onions to you]?

Now, that applies only to a handful; but a bundle, he [the sharecropper] can say to him [the landowner], As I have taken a bundle, you take a bundle: one bundle is the same as another.

 

The onions do not belong to the sharecropper they are jointly owned by him and the owner of the field until they split them up. Therefore, the sharecropper cannot betroth a woman with a handful of onions.

However, if the sharecropper takes a standard amount, what is called here a bundle (maybe akin to a bushel today), then we can say that these onions are fully his. The owner will take a bundle in its place. In other words, the problem is not that the sharecropper took onions. The issue is taking onions but then not dividing the rest evenly. This would be considered robbery.

It is interesting to note how far we ve come they used to betroth with onions, now with diamond rings. Gotta admit, onions taste far better than diamonds!