Kiddushin, Daf Tet Zayin, Part 5

 

Introduction

Today s section deals with the gift granted a slave upon freedom. Who receives this gift? The slave or the father (in the case of a female slave)?

 

תני חדא ענק עבד עברי לעצמו וענק אמה העבריה לעצמה ותניא אידך ענק אמה העבריה ומציאתה לאביה ואין לרבה אלא שכר בטלה בלבד

 

One [baraita] taught: The gift granted a Hebrew male slave belongs to himself, and that of a Hebrew female slave to herself.

While another [baraita] taught: the gift granted a Hebrew female slave, and her findings, belong to her father, and the master can claim only for loss of time.

 

Who gets the gift granted a female slave when she goes free? According to the first baraita, she receives it herself. Whereas according to the second baraita, her father receives it. Indeed, the second baraita teaches that her father also has claim to anything she finds during her term of servitude, including things she finds. All the master would get is the loss of the amount of time it takes her to carry these findings to her father s house. Note, that we are referring to a minor girl, and objects found by minors always belong to their parents.

 

מאי לאו הא דנפקא בסימנים והא דנפקא לה במיתת אב

 

Now is it not that one [baraita] refers to a case where she went free by signs, while the other means that she went free by her father’s death?

 

The Talmud tries to resolve the two baraitot and at the same time revive Resh Lakish s rule that she goes free at her father s death. The first baraita, according to which she receives the gift, refers to a case where she went free by her father s death. Her father cannot receive it because he is no longer alive. The second baraita, where her father receives the gift, refers to a case where she went free by signs. This explanation would accord with Resh Lakish.

לא אידי ואידי דנפקא לה בסימנין ולא קשיא הא דאיתיה לאב הא דליתיה לאב

 

No: both refer to a case where she went free by signs, yet there is no difficulty. In the one case she has a father, in the other she does not have a father.

 

There is another way to harmonize the baraitot if she has a father, he receives the gift. If her father has died, and then she goes free by signs, then she receives the gift. But her father s death does not cause her to go free.

 

בשלמא ענק אמה העבריה לעצמה למעוטי אחין דתניא (ויקרא כה, מו) והתנחלתם אותם לבניכם אחריכם אותם לבניכם ולא בנותיכם לבניכם מכאן שאין אדם מוריש זכות בתו לבנו

 

It makes sense that the gift granted a female slave belongs to herself, comes to exclude her brothers. For it was taught: And you shall bequeath them as an inheritance for your sons after you (Leviticus 25:46) them for your sons, but not your daughters for your sons. Hence we learn that one cannot transmit his rights in his daughters to his sons.

 

The baraita teaches that the father s rights in his daughter are not bequeathed to his sons. Thus a father s right claim on his daughter s gift on going free go to her if the father dies. They do not go to his sons.

 

אלא ענק ע"ע לעצמו פשיטא אלא למאן

אמר רב יוסף יו"ד קרת קא חזינא הכא

אביי אמר הכי אמר רב ששת הא מני תוטאי הוא דתניא תוטאי אומר לו ולא לבעל חובו

 

But as for the gift granted a Hebrew male slave belongs to himself that is obvious! To whom else could it belong?

R. Joseph said: I see here a yod [turned into a] town.

Abaye said: Thus did R. Sheshet say: Whose baraita is this? Totai. For it was taught: Totai said: [You shall grant] him him, but not his creditor.

 

The problem with the baraita is that it is obvious that the gift goes to the male slave. This slave is an adult (there is no way according to halakhah for a male child to become a slave). So who else would get it?

R. Joseph admits, this is a difficulty. It is like the letter yod, which is really small, that is made into a town. In other words, the tanna could have abbreviated his teaching. He made it longer for no reason.

Abaye says that R. Sheshet explained that the baraita follow a tanna named Totai. Totai ruled that the gift cannot be given to one of the slave s creditors. This is why the tanna had to teach that the gift goes to the slave himself. It is not so obvious.