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Kiddushin 82a

קידושין פ״ב ע״א

Learn Kiddushin 82a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Who may teach children, trades that involve women, and how to choose a trade for one's son, with תורה above all.

Overview

The amud opens with the last words of the previous discussion, הכל לשם שמים. A new משנה then says a רווק and a woman should not teach young children. The גמרא explains that the worry is the children's parents who visit the school, not the children themselves, because ישראל are not suspected of משכב זכר. It also shows that רבי אלעזר's rule includes a married man whose wife does not live with him. A second משנה warns against trades that involve constant dealings with women. It then gives several views on choosing a trade: רבי מאיר says to pick a clean, easy trade and pray, since a living depends on merit. רבי שמעון בן אלעזר and אבא גוריא add their own views, and רבי נהוראי says to teach only תורה, proving his point from פסוקים and from אברהם אבינו. The גמרא lists trades done with women, explains why their workers are not appointed מלך or כהן גדול, and lists ten bad traits of the bloodletter. It ends with בר קפרא's advice to teach a clean, easy trade and asks which trade that is. רב יהודה's answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

הַכֹּל לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם.

Everything is for the sake of Heaven.

מַתְנִי׳

MISHNAH:

לֹא יְלַמֵּד אָדָם רַוּוֹק סוֹפְרִים.

An unmarried man should not teach children.

וְלֹא תְּלַמֵּד אִשָּׁה סוֹפְרִים.

And a woman should not teach children.

The steps (22)

  1. ConclusionClosing line: everything is for the sake of Heaven
  2. StatementThe משנה: who may not teach children, and related precautions
  3. QuestionWhy may a bachelor not teach? A first suggestion
  4. ChallengeChallenge: ישראל are not suspected of such sins
  5. ResolutionThe real reason: the children's parents
  6. QuestionWhat did רבי אלעזר mean by 'no wife'?
  7. ResponseAnswer: even a married man whose wife lives elsewhere
  8. StatementThe חכמים answer רבי יהודה about a bachelor herding
  9. StatementNew משנה: work that involves women
  10. Statementרבי מאיר: teach a clean, easy trade and pray
  11. Statementרבי שמעון בן אלעזר: animals eat without work
  12. Statementאבא גוריא: trades to avoid
  13. Statementרבי יהודה rates the people in different professions
  14. StatementTeach your son only Torah
  15. ProofVerses for youth and old age
  16. Proofאברהם kept the Torah and was blessed in old age
  17. StatementTrades with women, and who cannot be appointed king or Kohen Gadol
  18. QuestionWhy not appoint them?
  19. ResponseNot disqualified, just a lowly trade
  20. StatementTen bad traits of the bloodletter
  21. StatementA father should teach his son a clean, easy trade
  22. QuestionWhich trade is clean and easy?