Yevamos 46a

יבמות מ״ו ע״א

Yevamot 46a

Learn Yevamos 46a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Slaves' immersion for freedom, owning the body versus the work, the rulings in גבלא, and what makes a גר

Overview

The amud opens by explaining why a slave that a ישראל bought from a גוי can free himself by immersing for freedom. The גוי owned only the slave's work, not his body, so that is all the ישראל bought, and רבא's rule says שחרור cancels such a claim. רב חסדא challenges this from the story of בלוריא הגיורת, and רבא answers that after the owner converts, only an immersion done explicitly for freedom works. רב אַוְיָא says a גוי who sells himself is acquired body and all, learning it from 'מהם תקנו', but רב אחא's challenge to him is left as a קשיא. שמואל rules that the owner must hold the slave firmly in the water, and the story of רב אשי's slave shows how this was done. רבא answers רב פפא that people enslaved for an unpaid head-tax are real slaves, based on רב ששת's teaching about the king. In the story of גבלא, רבי יוחנן orders announcements about ממזרים, יין נסך and בישולי גוים, and the גמרא explains each one. Finally a ברייתא records three views on what makes a גר: מילה alone, טבילה alone, or both. The גמרא asks why each תנא uses only one source, rejects the answer 'אין דנין אפשר משאי אפשר', and begins a new answer that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (30)

1. ResolutionA gentile owner never owned the slave's body
2. ProofThis fits רבא's rule that certain things erase a lien
3. Challengeרב חסדא's challenge from the story of בלוריא
4. Resolutionרבא: plain immersion versus immersion for freedom
5. StatementA gentile who sells himself is fully acquired
6. ProofThe verse: you acquire from them
7. QuestionWhat kind of acquisition does the verse rule out?
8. ResponseThe verse is about owning the body
9. ChallengeMaybe the body is owned only after money and immersion
10. ConclusionThe challenge stands
11. Statementשמואל: Hold the slave firmly in the water
12. ProofThe story of מנימין, רב אשי's slave
13. StatementWhy they loosened and tightened the bridle, and the bucket of clay
14. Questionרב פפא's question: people whose head-tax was paid for them
15. Responseרבא answers: the king's decree truly makes them slaves
16. Statementרבי חייא בר אבא sees problems in גבלא and stays silent
17. Statementרבי יוחנן orders a public announcement
18. Statementרבי יוחנן's rule: no convert without immersion
19. Statementרבי יוחנן's rule: a גוי's child from a Jewish woman is a ממזר
20. StatementWhy the wine of גבלא is forbidden
21. StatementWhy the lupines of גבלא are forbidden
22. ChallengeBut lupines should be forbidden for everyone
23. Resolutionרבי יוחנן follows the other version of רב's rule
24. Statementרבי אליעזר: מילה alone makes a convert
25. Statementרבי יהושע: טבילה alone makes a convert
26. StatementThe חכמים: a convert needs both מילה and טבילה
27. ChallengeWhy doesn't each תנא learn from both the forefathers and the foremothers?
28. ResolutionA suggested answer: you can't learn the possible from the impossible
29. Rejectionרבי אליעזר learns the later פסח from the פסח in Egypt
30. Proofרבי אליעזר tells רבי עקיבא that an impossible case is still a great proof