Study Kiddushin folio 22B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אילו נאמר ״אזנו בדלת״, הייתי אומר: ידקור כנגד אזנו בדלת. דלת – אין, אזנו – לא. ואזן לא? והכתיב: ״ורצע אדניו את אזנו במרצע״!
Had the verse stated: His ear to the door, I would say: He should pierce, opposite his ear, into the door alone. In other words, with regard to the door, yes, it should be pierced, but his ear itself, no, it should not be pierced. The Talmud asks: But how could it even be suggested that his ear should not be pierced? But isn’t it written: “And his master should pierce his ear with an awl” (Exodus 21:6)?
אלא: הייתי אומר ירצענה לאזן מאבראי ויניחנה על הדלת, וידקור כנגד אזנו בדלת, תלמוד לומר: ״באזנו ובדלת״ – הא כיצד? דוקר והולך עד שמגיע אצל דלת.
Rather, I would say that the master should pierce his ear outside, i.e., not at the door, and he should place it afterward on the door, and then he should pierce opposite his ear on the door. Therefore, the verse states: “And you should take the awl and place it through his ear and into the door” (Deuteronomy 15:17). How so? He bores through his ear until he reaches the door.
״דלת״ – שומע אני: בין עקורה בין שאינה עקורה, תלמוד לומר: ״מזוזה״ – מה מזוזה מעומד – אף דלת נמי מעומד.
The baraita adds: Since the verse states “door,” I would derive that this applies to any door, regardless of whether it is detached from its doorpost or whether it is not detached. Therefore, the verse states: “Then his master should bring him to the court, and should bring him to the door, or to the doorpost” (Exodus 21:6): Just as a doorpost is upright and attached, so too, a door must be upright and attached to the doorpost.
רבן יוחנן בן זכאי היה דורש את המקרא הזה כמין חומר: מה נשתנה אזן מכל אברים שבגוף? אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: אזן ששמעה קולי על הר סיני בשעה שאמרתי: ״כי לי בני ישראל עבדים״ – ולא עבדים לעבדים, והלך זה וקנה אדון לעצמו – ירצע.
Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai would expound this verse as a type of decorative wreath [ḥomer], i.e., as an allegory: Why is the ear different from all the other limbs in the body, as the ear alone is pierced? God said: This ear heard My voice on Mount Sinai when I said: “For to Me the children of Israel are slaves” (Leviticus 25:55), which indicates: And they should not be slaves to slaves. And yet this man went and willingly acquired a master for himself. Therefore, let this ear be pierced.