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Kiddushin 51b

קידושין נ״א ע״ב

Learn Kiddushin 51b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Do קידושין שאין מסורין לביאה (a betrothal where it is unclear who the wife is) take effect? אביי says yes and רבא says no. The גמרא tests רבא's view against several משניות.

Overview

אביי and רבא disagree about קידושין שאין מסורין לביאה, a betrothal that cannot lead to permitted relations because nobody knows which woman is the wife. אביי says it counts, and רבא says it does not. First the גמרא tries to settle this from the משנה about a woman and her relative and the five women with the basket of figs. Each אמורא reads that משנה his own way, so it proves nothing. Next the גמרא challenges רבא from the משנה of a father who betroths 'my daughter' without saying which one. רבא answers that there was only one grown daughter and one minor daughter, and the גמרא explains why the father surely meant the minor. Then come the משנה of two groups of daughters and two cases of sisters whose husbands don't know which one they betrothed. Each time the גמרא answers that the woman was known at first and only later forgotten, pointing to the wording 'he does not know.' When asked what such a משנה would then teach, the גמרא shows its new point: רבי מאיר's view against רבי יוסי, or the later rules about יבום and חליצה. The last of these rules continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֶלָּא לָאו דַּאֲמַר לְהוּ: ״אַחַת מִכֶּם״

Rather, is it not that he said to them: "One of you"

וְקָתָנֵי: אֵין אֲחָיוֹת מְקוּדָּשׁוֹת?

and it teaches: the sisters are not betrothed?

לְרָבָא קַשְׁיָא רֵישָׁא,

For Rava, the first clause is difficult,

לְאַבָּיֵי קַשְׁיָא סֵיפָא.

for Abaye, the last clause is difficult.

The steps (30)

  1. ProofReading the five-women story as 'one of you' to support רבא
  2. ChallengeEach part of the משנה troubles a different side
  3. ResolutionEach side reads the משנה his own way
  4. Resolutionאביי keeps the first clause as it reads
  5. Resolutionאביי rereads the story as 'the one fit for relations'
  6. Resolutionרבא rereads the first clause and the story
  7. ChallengeA משנה that seems to refute רבא
  8. Resolutionרבא: only one grown and one minor daughter
  9. ChallengeBut the משנה says 'grown daughters' in the plural
  10. Resolution'Grown daughters' means grown daughters in general
  11. ChallengeIf so, what is the משנה teaching?
  12. ResolutionThe grown daughter made her father her agent
  13. ChallengeMaybe the father benefits from the grown daughter too
  14. ResolutionA person does not drop his own מצוה for someone else's
  15. ChallengeThe case of two groups of daughters
  16. ResolutionHe knew which daughter at first, then forgot
  17. ProofThe words 'I do not know' support this reading
  18. ChallengeThen what is the משנה teaching?
  19. Resolutionרבי מאיר disagrees with רבי יוסי about putting oneself in doubt
  20. ChallengeA man betrothed one of two sisters and does not know which
  21. ResolutionHe knew which sister at first and forgot later
  22. ProofThe wording 'he does not know' supports the answer
  23. ChallengeThen what is new in this משנה?
  24. ResolutionThe point is the later clause about יבום and חליצה
  25. ResolutionOnly חליצה first, then יבום
  26. ChallengeTwo men betrothed two sisters and neither knows which
  27. ResolutionSame answer: they were known first and mixed up later
  28. ProofThe wording proves it, and the גמרא accepts it
  29. ChallengeIf each man knew at first, what is new here?
  30. ResolutionThe real lesson is in the later clause about the brothers