Study Gittin folio 40A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
יצא לחירות. אמר לו רבי יוחנן: כל כך יש בידך?! ואני שונה: הכותב שטר אירוסין לשפחתו, רבי מאיר אומר: מקודשת, וחכמים אומרים: אינה מקודשת!
he is emancipated. R' Yoḥanan said to R' Zeira: You possess such an extreme halakha, but I teach this halakha: With regard to one who writes a document of betrothal for his female slave, stating: You are hereby betrothed to me, R' Meir says: She is betrothed, and the Rabbis say: She is not betrothed, as even this, when he betroths her directly, does not serve as proof that he emancipates her.
כדאמר רבה בר רב שילא – כשרבו הניח לו תפילין; הכא נמי – כשרבו השיאו אשה.
The Talmud answers: Just as that which Rabba bar Rav Sheila says in a different context, that R' Yehoshua ben Levi is referring to a case where a slave’s master placed tefillin on him, here too, the context of R' Zeira’s statement is not that of a slave who married a woman in his master’s presence but a case where the slave’s master himself provided a wife for him, as this is certainly proof that he had emancipated him.
ומי איכא מידי דלעבדיה – לא מעבד ליה איסורא, ואיהו – עבד איסורא?!
The Talmud questions this answer: Is there anything like this, where for his slave he would not violate a prohibition, and by providing a wife for his slave he indicates that he must have emancipated the slave, but he himself might violate the prohibition, as he is suspected of marrying his female slave without having freed her?
אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק: הכא במאי עסקינן – דאמר לה: ״צאי בו והתקדשי בו״; רבי מאיר סבר: יש בלשון הזה לשון שחרור, ורבנן סברי: אין בלשון הזה לשון שחרור.
Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: With what are we dealing here? This is a case where he said to the female slave when he gave her the document of betrothal: Become emancipated with this and become betrothed to me with this. R' Meir holds that this formulation written in the document of betrothal: You are hereby betrothed to me, contains a formulation of emancipation and therefore serves both as a bill of manumission and a document of betrothal. And the Rabbis hold: This formulation is not a formulation of emancipation. That is why the Rabbis hold she is not betrothed in this case. However, according to everyone, a master is not suspected of marrying his female slave without first freeing her.