Kiddushin 7a

קידושין ז׳ ע״א

Learn Kiddushin 7a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

קידושין through third parties (ערב and עבד כנעני), a woman who gives the money herself, and betrothing 'half' a person

Overview

This עמוד starts by finishing three cases of קידושין where the money does not pass directly from the man to the woman. In the first case, the woman tells the man to pay someone else. She is betrothed, as we learn from an ערב (guarantor), who binds himself without getting anything. In the second case, someone else pays so she is betrothed to a different man. That man is the husband even though he paid nothing, as we learn from an עבד כנעני who goes free with someone else's money. In the third case, the woman has the man pay a third person and is betrothed to that third person. Here both sources are needed, and the גמרא shows that each one covers the weak spot of the other. רבא then asks about a woman who gives the man money herself. מר זוטרא answers that with an אדם חשוב she is betrothed, because the pleasure of his accepting her gift is what she receives. The גמרא explains why the guarantor and slave rules had to be stated both for קידושין and for money matters. Finally, רבא rules that 'be betrothed to half of me' works but 'half of you is betrothed to me' does not. The גמרא compares this to רבי יוחנן's case of an animal owned by two partners, and says three lessons come from it, which are listed on the next עמוד.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. StatementShe is betrothed even though the money goes to someone else
2. StatementBetrothed to a man who paid nothing himself
3. StatementWhen both the guarantor and the slave are needed
4. ChallengeThe guarantor case is not a perfect match
5. ResolutionThe Canaanite slave fills the gap
6. ChallengeThe slave case is not a perfect match either
7. ResolutionThe guarantor fills the gap
8. Questionרבא asks about a woman who gives the money herself
9. ResponseMar Zutra: she is betrothed
10. Challengeרב אשי: that reverses the rule of land and movables
11. ResolutionNot אגב, but the honor of an important man
12. Statementרבא: the same methods work for money matters
13. ResponseWhy the rule could not be stated only for betrothal
14. ConclusionWhy the rule could not be stated only for money, so both were needed
15. StatementBetrothing 'half of me' versus 'half of you'
16. Challengeאביי asks: if not half a woman, then not half a man either
17. Resolutionרבא answers: a man can marry two, a woman cannot
18. ChallengeLet the betrothal spread through all of her
19. ChallengeEven the opinion that disagrees would agree here
20. RejectionAn animal is not like a woman with her own mind
21. ProofThe better comparison: an animal owned by two partners
22. ProofThe Partly Consecrated Animal Can Make a Substitute
23. ConclusionThree Lessons From רבי יוחנן's Ruling