Gemara Clarity

Kiddushin 16b

קידושין ט״ז ע״ב

Learn Kiddushin 16b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kiddushin 16b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether an אמה העבריה goes free at her father's death (ריש לקיש is refuted), and who receives the הענקה, the parting gift for a freed Hebrew slave.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an answer: signs of maturity (סימנים) have a minimum age, and a ברייתא shows that hairs grown too early count only as a mole. Next the גמרא tests ריש לקיש's rule that an אמה העבריה goes free when her father dies. רב ששת challenges it from רבי שמעון's list of four ways of going free. The גמרא answers that the master's death is not on that list either, so the list holds only things with a set time. רב עמרם then brings a different ברייתא about the parting gift (הענקה). That list does include the master's death but leaves out the father's death, so ריש לקיש is refuted. His קל וחומר fails because signs change the girl's body and her father's death does not. Two ברייתות about who keeps the maidservant's gift are explained without helping ריש לקיש. Then the גמרא quotes the full ברייתא about the gift and its sources in the פסוקים. It closes by asking why a runaway gets no gift, since he must finish his six years anyway. The answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

לְמַטָּה.

Below.

דְּתַנְיָא: בֶּן תֵּשַׁע שָׁנִים

As it is taught: a nine-year-old

שֶׁהֵבִיא שְׁתֵּי שְׂעָרוֹת – שׁוּמָא,

who grew two hairs – it is a mole,

מִבֶּן תֵּשַׁע שָׁנִים וְיוֹם אֶחָד

from nine years and one day

The steps (34)

  1. ResponseSigns of maturity have a lower limit
  2. ProofProof: hairs before a certain age are just a mole
  3. Challengeרב ששת quotes רבי שמעון's list of four
  4. ChallengeWhy isn't the father's death on the list?
  5. RejectionYou can't say the תנא left things out
  6. RejectionYou can't say he lists only things with a set time
  7. RejectionThe fixed-time defense fails again: the master's death has no fixed time
  8. ResolutionThe master's death is not in the list either
  9. QuestionThen what are the four?
  10. ResponseThe four: years, יובל, יובל after רציעה, and signs
  11. ProofProof from the end of the ברייתא
  12. Challengeרב עמרם's challenge: the הענקה list leaves out the father's death
  13. RejectionThe list is not incomplete, because it says 'these'
  14. RejectionRejecting the idea that the list includes only ways with a fixed time
  15. RejectionEven with רב ספרא's view, the master's death is still listed
  16. Conclusionריש לקיש is refuted
  17. ChallengeBut ריש לקיש based his view on a קל וחומר
  18. ResolutionThe קל וחומר can be broken: signs change her body
  19. StatementTwo ברייתות disagree about who gets the maidservant's parting gift
  20. ProofSuggested resolution: one ברייתא is about signs, the other about the father's death
  21. RejectionBoth ברייתות speak about a girl freed by signs
  22. ChallengeWhy the maidservant's ruling makes sense
  23. ChallengeA Hebrew slave's gift is obviously his
  24. Resolutionרב יוסף: a small point made big
  25. Resolutionאביי for רב ששת: the ברייתא follows תוטאי
  26. StatementThe full list of who gets a severance gift
  27. Statementרבי מאיר: the one who buys himself out does get a gift
  28. Statementרבי שמעון counts four ways of going free
  29. QuestionWhat is the source for these rules?
  30. ResponseThe extra 'send him' includes the other ways of going free
  31. Response'From you' leaves out the runaway and the one who buys himself out
  32. Statementרבי מאיר: paying out is still 'sent from you'
  33. ChallengeBut the runaway has to finish his years anyway
  34. ProofProof that a runaway must finish his six years