Kiddushin, Daf Samekh Tet, Part 2

 

Introduction

R. Eliezer rules that the child of a slave and a mamzer is a slave mamzer. When freed, the child remains a mamzer. Our sugya explains his reasoning.

 

רבי אליעזר אומר הרי זה עבד ממזר

אמר ר’ אלעזר מאי טעמיה דרבי אליעזר דאמר קרא (דברים כג, ג) לו הלך אחר פסולו

 

R. Eliezer said: Behold, he is a slave mamzer.

R. Elazar said: What is R. Eliezer’s reason? Because the verse said, Even to the tenth generation none of his shall enter the assembly of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:3) [this teaches,] follow his disqualification.

 

R. Elazar explains that R. Eliezer reads the word of his as implying that we follow the mamzer s lineage forever. There is no way to get rid of that genealogical flaw.

 

ורבנן ההוא בישראל שנשא ממזרת סלקא דעתך אמינא (במדבר ד, ב) למשפחותם לבית אבותם כתיב אתא לו אפקיה

 

And the Rabbis? That refers to an Israelite who marries a mamzeret. Lest I say, by their families, by their father’s house (Numbers 4:2): [therefore] of his comes and excludes him.

 

The rabbis read the word of his as referring to a case where an Israelite marries a mamzeret. We might have thought that in such a case the lineage follows the father s house and the child is not a mamzer. They read the word of his as excluding such a person from entering the community of Israelites. He does not follow his father s lineage.

 

ורבי אליעזר לאו אע"ג דכתב למשפחותם לבית אבותם אתא לו אפקיה הכא נמי אף ע"ג דכתיב (שמות כא, ד) האשה וילדיה תהיה לאדוניה אתא לו אפקיה

 

And R. Eliezer? Surely, though it is written by their families, by their father’s house, yet of his comes and excludes him; so here too, though it is written , the wife and her children shall be her master’s, yet of his comes and excludes him.

 

R. Eliezer responds that once we ve made one exception and said that although we usually follow the father, if the mother is a mamzeret the child is also a mamzeret, so too we can make an exception about the verse concerning who is a slave. Although the child of a female slave is a slave, this does not mean that he is not also a mamzer.

 

ורבנן כל ולד במעי שפחה כנענית כולד במעי בהמה דמי

And the Rabbis? Every child in the womb of a Canaanite slave woman is like the child in the womb of an animal.

 

The other rabbis do not think that non-Jewish slaves can be traced after their father, just like it is impossible to determine the father of an animal. So the child of a female slave is a slave, with no genealogical connection to the father. The child is not a mamzer slave and when freed, will not be a mamzer.

 

הדרן עלך האומר

 

May we return to you, chapter the one who says

 

That s it folks the end of the third chapter of Kiddushin. Get ready for chapter four. It s a bit of a wild one!