Study Bava Kamma folio 43A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
או גיורת – זכה!
and subsequently married a Canaanite slave who had also been emancipated, and became pregnant from him, or if she was a convert who became pregnant from a male convert, and both the husband and wife died without heirs, the assailant gains by not having to pay, since there are no heirs. In any event, it is explicitly stated in the baraita that the beneficiary of the compensation due to her, including that which she would have received during her lifetime, is not her husband but rather her heirs.
אמר רבה: בגרושה. וכן אמר רב נחמן: בגרושה.
Rabba said: This baraita relates to a divorcée; since they got divorced, the husband does not inherit from her. Likewise, Rav Naḥman said: The baraita relates to a divorcée.
אמרי: גרושה נמי תיפלוג בדמי ולדות!
The rabbis said in response: If she is a divorcée, she should also share in the compensation for the miscarried offspring. Why should her ex-husband receive the full payment?
אמר רב פפא: התורה זכתה דמי ולדות לבעל, אפילו בא עליה בזנות. מאי טעמא? אמר קרא ״כאשר ישית עליו בעל האשה״.
Rav Pappa said: The Torah awarded the payment of compensation for miscarried offspring to the husband, even if he is not actually her legal husband but rather engaged in licentious sex with her. Although he has no rights to her property, the damages for the miscarried offspring belong to him alone, as he is the father of the offspring. What is the reason? The verse states: “As the husband [ba’al] of the woman should impose upon him” (Exodus 21:22), indicating that damages are not collected by the woman, but by the man who had sex [ba’al] with her, impregnating her. Therefore, if they got divorced, the ex-husband receives the payment.