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Kiddushin 22a

קידושין כ״ב ע״א

Learn Kiddushin 22a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The end of the יפת תואר דרשות, then the conditions for piercing an עבד עברי and the master's duties to him and his family

Overview

This amud finishes the Torah's rules about the יפת תואר, the captive woman taken in war. The Torah permits her only as a lesser evil, and each word of the פסוק adds a limit: one woman only, only for himself, marriage can take effect, and nothing until he brings her home. Then a ברייתא teaches that an עבד עברי who wants to stay must say 'I love my master' twice. רבא explains that both statements are tied to his last פרוטה of work. A second ברייתא requires that servant and master match: both have a wife and children, they love each other, and neither one alone is sick. רב ביבי בר אביי asks about the case where both are sick, and the question ends in תיקו. The גמרא then learns from 'כי טוב לו עמך' that the servant must eat, drink and sleep as well as his master, so buying a עבד עברי is like buying a master. Finally, רבי שמעון teaches that the master must also feed the servant's wife and children, and the גמרא shows why both cases are needed. The amud ends as a new ברייתא begins.

Opening lines

תְּמוּתוֹת שְׁחוּטוֹת,

dying animals that were slaughtered,

וְאַל יֹאכְלוּ בְּשַׂר

and let them not eat the meat of

תְּמוּתוֹת נְבֵילוֹת.

dying animals that become carcasses.

״וְחָשַׁקְתָּ״ –

"And you desire"

The steps (22)

  1. StatementBetter slaughtered dying animals than carcasses
  2. StatementEven if she is not pretty, and only one woman
  3. StatementMarriage takes effect, but not one for a father or son
  4. StatementNot on the battlefield
  5. StatementThe slave must say it twice
  6. StatementSaying it only early is not enough
  7. StatementSaying it only at the end is not enough
  8. ChallengeWhy not learn this from "I love my wife and children"?
  9. ChallengeIsn't he still a slave at the end of six years?
  10. Resolutionרבא: both times refer to the last פרוטה of work
  11. StatementBoth servant and master must have a wife and children
  12. StatementThe love must go both ways
  13. StatementBoth must be in the same state of health
  14. QuestionWhat if both the servant and the master are sick?
  15. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
  16. StatementThe servant must live as well as the master
  17. ConclusionBuying a servant is like buying a master
  18. StatementThe master must feed the servant's children
  19. StatementThe master must also feed the servant's wife
  20. ResolutionWhy the ברייתא needs to teach both wife and children
  21. ResolutionWhy the children also had to be taught
  22. StatementOpening a new teaching of the חכמים