Gemara Clarity

Gittin 39b

גיטין ל״ט ע״ב

Learn Gittin 39b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Gittin 39b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Conflicting reports on אבא שאול and on רבי שמעון: whether a slave can be freed with money or only with a שטר

Overview

רבי זירא tests two opposite reports about whether the הלכה follows אבא שאול. רבי יעקב בר אידי reports in the name of רבי יהושע בן לוי that it does. רבי חייא בר אבא reports in the name of רבי יוחנן that it does not. For each report, רבי זירא asks whether it was heard directly or worked out from רבי's ruling that a slave goes free only with a שטר. רבי יוחנן explained that ruling with a גזירה שוה comparing a slave to a wife. רבי זירא shows that this comparison can be stretched in either direction, and both reporters answer that they heard their ruling directly. The גמרא then asks how רבי can say 'only a שטר' when another ברייתא has him letting a slave buy himself free. It answers that money or a שטר usually works, but here the master's money hold is already gone. This general rule rejects רבי שמעון in the name of רבי עקיבא, who learns from a פסוק that only a שטר fully frees a slave. Reports differ on whether the הלכה follows רבי שמעון. A story about רב נחמן and a master's hat turns out to rest on a different reason (כליו של מקנה), and the גמרא rules that the הלכה does not follow רבי שמעון. The amud ends by opening a new case: an עבד who marries a free woman in front of his master, with the ruling on the next amud.

Opening lines

בְּפֵירוּשׁ שְׁמִיעַ לָךְ,

Did you hear it explicitly,

אוֹ מִכְּלָלָא שְׁמִיעַ לָךְ?

or did you hear it by inference?

מַאי כְּלָלָא?

What inference?

דְּאָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי,

As Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said,

The steps (29)

  1. QuestionDid you hear it directly or work it out?
  2. QuestionWhat inference could there be?
  3. Responseרבי rules that a renounced slave needs a document
  4. Statementרבי יוחנן explains: a slave is compared to a wife
  5. ResponseThe inference: like a wife, a slave is freed from איסור but not ממון
  6. QuestionSo what if it was an inference?
  7. ChallengeThe comparison can point the other way
  8. ResponseI heard it explicitly
  9. StatementA second report: the הלכה is not like אבא שאול
  10. QuestionDid you hear it directly or work it out?
  11. ResponseThe possible source: רבי's ruling about giving up on a slave
  12. Responseרבי יוחנן's reason: a slave is compared to a wife
  13. ResponseThe inference: adult or minor, both go free
  14. QuestionSo what if it was an inference?
  15. ChallengeThe comparison can cut the other way
  16. ResponseI heard it directly
  17. StatementQuoting רבי: only a document can free him
  18. ChallengeAnother source says רבי lets a slave buy himself free
  19. ResolutionMoney or document in general, but here the money hold is gone
  20. Statementרבי עקיבא's view: only a document fully frees
  21. StatementTwo opposite reports on following רבי שמעון
  22. QuestionAsking which ruling is correct
  23. ResponseHis own view, and a report from מחוזא
  24. QuestionAsking for the real story behind רב נחמן's ruling
  25. ResponseThe story of the master's hat
  26. ConclusionThe real reason for רב נחמן's ruling
  27. StatementA long chain reports that the הלכה follows רבי שמעון
  28. ConclusionThe גמרא rules that the הלכה does not follow רבי שמעון
  29. StatementA new ruling begins: an עבד who marries a free woman in front of his master