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Kiddushin 24a

קידושין כ״ד ע״א

Learn Kiddushin 24a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

A woman redeeming מעשר שני (holy vs. ordinary property), and freeing an עבד כנעני through tooth, eye and limb-tips

Overview

The amud opens with a ברייתא about a woman redeeming מעשר שני. The תנא קמא says she must add a fifth (חומש), while רבי שמעון בן אלעזר in the name of רבי מאיר says she does not. The גמרא rejects two possible cases and settles on one where someone gave her money on condition that she redeem the מעשר with it. In that case the opinions seem to be the reverse of what רבי מאיר and the חכמים said in the earlier slave case. אביי answers that we should swap the opinions. רבא keeps them as they are: the מעשר came from her father's house, and the two sides argue whether מעשר is sacred property, which the husband never acquires, or ordinary property, which he does. The גמרא then turns to a new ברייתא: an עבד כנעני goes free if his master destroys his tooth, his eye, or the tips of limbs that do not grow back. The limb-tips are learned from tooth and eye, which are visible, permanent blemishes. The גמרא challenges this with the rule of 'two verses that come as one' and begins to show that both were needed, an answer that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֵין אִשָּׁה פּוֹדָה מַעֲשֵׂר שֵׁנִי

A woman does not redeem second tithe

בְּלֹא חוֹמֶשׁ.

without adding a fifth.

רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר מִשּׁוּם רַבִּי מֵאִיר:

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says in the name of Rabbi Meir:

אִשָּׁה פּוֹדָה מַעֲשֵׂר שֵׁנִי בְּלֹא חוֹמֶשׁ.

A woman redeems second tithe without adding a fifth.

The steps (13)

  1. StatementA ברייתא on a woman redeeming second tithe
  2. QuestionWhat exactly is the case?
  3. RejectionNot the husband's money and the husband's tithe
  4. RejectionNot her money and the husband's tithe
  5. ChallengeMoney given on condition: the opinions seem reversed
  6. Resolutionאביי: switch the opinions
  7. Resolutionרבא: keep the opinions, since the tithe came from her father's house
  8. ResolutionThe רבנן hold that מעשר is ordinary property, so she acts as the husband's agent
  9. StatementA ברייתא: a slave goes free through tooth, eye, and limb-tips
  10. QuestionWhere do we learn the limb-tips from?
  11. ResponseLimb-tips are learned from tooth and eye
  12. ChallengeAren't tooth and eye two verses that teach the same thing?
  13. ResolutionBoth were needed: tooth alone would have been misunderstood