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Kiddushin 5a

קידושין ה׳ ע״א

Learn Kiddushin 5a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Kiddushin 5a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The sources for קידושין by שטר, why money cannot divorce, why all three methods of קידושין are needed, and רב הונא's claim that חופה acquires

Overview

The ברייתא asks how we know a woman can be betrothed with a שטר. A קל וחומר from כסף fails, so it learns this from the היקש of 'וְיָצְאָה... וְהָיְתָה', which links betrothal to divorce. The גמרא asks why the link does not also let money divorce. אביי says the thing that joins a couple should not separate them, and explains why documents differ from coins. רבא instead learns from 'וְכָתַב לָהּ' that only writing divorces. רבי יוסי הגלילי learns it from 'סֵפֶר כְּרִיתֻת'. The רבנן use כריתות to teach that a גט must fully cut the bond, so a condition that lasts forever ruins it. The גמרא then shows that none of the three ways of making קידושין (כסף, שטר, ביאה) can be learned from the other two. Finally רב הונא argues by קל וחומר that חופה also makes קידושין. After עולא knocks down the תרומה version, the גמרא begins rewording the proof, and this continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וּמִנַּיִן שֶׁאַף בִּשְׁטָר?

And from where do we know that it can also be done with a document?

וְדִין הוּא:

And it is a logical argument:

וּמָה כֶּסֶף, שֶׁאֵין מוֹצִיא – מַכְנִיס,

If money, which does not take out, still brings in,

שְׁטָר, שֶׁמּוֹצִיא – אֵינוֹ דִּין שֶׁמַּכְנִיס?

then a document, which does take out, is it not logical that it brings in?

The steps (34)

  1. QuestionWhere do we learn that a document can effect betrothal?
  2. ResponseA logical argument from money to document
  3. RejectionMoney has a special power that a document lacks
  4. ResponseA פסוק links betrothal to divorce
  5. ChallengeWhy not compare the other way too?
  6. Resolutionאביי: what joins a couple should not separate them
  7. ChallengeThe same logic should block a document from betrothing
  8. ResolutionTwo documents have different wording
  9. ChallengeBut two coins are also separate coins
  10. ResolutionA coin is a coin
  11. Statementרבא: 'And he writes her' means divorce only by writing
  12. ChallengeMaybe the פסוק excludes betrothal by writing
  13. ResolutionThe link of 'leaving' and 'becoming' already teaches betrothal by document
  14. ChallengeWhy read it this way and not the reverse?
  15. ResolutionA פסוק about divorce excludes a way of divorcing
  16. QuestionWhat is רבי יוסי הגלילי's source?
  17. Response'A scroll of severance': only a scroll cuts the marriage
  18. QuestionWhat do the רבנן do with the word כריתות?
  19. ResponseThe divorce must fully cut him off from her
  20. ProofA ברייתא: forever conditions versus thirty-day conditions
  21. QuestionWhere does רבי יוסי הגלילי learn the 'full cut' rule?
  22. ResponseHe learns it from the longer form of the word
  23. QuestionAnd what do the רבנן do with the longer form?
  24. ResponseThe רבנן do not read anything into the longer form
  25. ChallengeWhy not learn one method from the other two together?
  26. ResolutionTesting the options: could document be learned from the other two?
  27. RejectionMoney and intercourse give her much more benefit
  28. RejectionIntercourse cannot be learned from money and a document
  29. RejectionMoney cannot be learned from intercourse and a document
  30. ChallengeBut money also works against a girl's will with a Hebrew maidservant
  31. ResolutionIn marriage, money never works against her will
  32. Statementרב הונא: the wedding canopy also makes קידושין
  33. ChallengeBy Torah law, money already lets her eat תרומה
  34. ResolutionRebuilding the argument: money does not finish the acquisition