Study Gittin folio 38A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ולא הם קונים מכם, ולא הם קונים זה מזה. יכול לא יקנו זה את זה? יכול לא יקנו זה את זה?! האמרת: לא הם קונים זה מזה! הכי קאמר: ולא הם קונים זה מזה לגופו.
but the non-Jews cannot acquire one of you, as they do not have the ability to acquire a Jew as a slave, and they cannot acquire each other as slaves. The Talmud begins to introduce a question: One might have thought that they should not be able to acquire each other. The Talmud immediately clarifies its question: Can it be that one might have thought that they should not be able to acquire each other; but didn’t you already say that they cannot acquire each other? Rather, this is what he said: non-Jews cannot acquire each other with regard to the slave himself.
יכול לא יקנו זה את זה למעשה ידיו? אמרת קל וחומר: גוי – ישראל, קונה; גוי – גוי, לא כל שכן?!
The Talmud now restates the question: One might have thought that they should not be able to acquire each other as slaves even for the rights to his labor. The Talmud answers: You can say an a fortiori inference: If a non-Jew can acquire a Jew for the rights to his labor, as stated explicitly in the Torah (Leviticus 25:47), all the more so is it not clear that a non-Jew can acquire a non-Jew?
ואימא: הני מילי בכספא, אבל בחזקה – לא! אמר רב פפא: עמון ומואב טהרו בסיחון.
The Talmud challenges: But I could say that this halakha, that a non-Jew can acquire a non-Jew as a slave for the rights to his labor, applies only to acquisition via money. However, via an act of possession, by taking him captive, he does not acquire him. Rav Pappa says in response: The land of Ammon and Moab became purified through the conquest of Sihon. After the conquest of Sihon, the land that had belonged to Ammon and Moab was considered the property of Sihon, and it was permitted for the Jewish people to conquer it although they had not been permitted to conquer the land of Ammon and Moab. In the same manner, a non-Jew can acquire a slave by taking possession of him as a captive.