Study Kiddushin folio 50B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
אינה מקודשת, שמחמת קידושין הראשונים שלח. וכן קטן שקידש.
she is not betrothed, because he sent the gifts on account of the first betrothal, i.e., the item whose value to the woman was less than one peruta, and not to effect betrothal. And similarly, if there was a minor who betrothed a woman, and he sent her gifts after he became an adult, the assumption is that he sent them on account of his betrothal when he was still a minor, and since betrothal performed by a minor is of no account, she is not betrothed.
גמ׳ וצריכא, דאי אשמעינן שוה פרוטה, איידי דקא נפיק ממונא מיניה – טעי, אבל פחות משוה פרוטה, אימא יודע שאין קידושין תופסין בפחות משוה פרוטה וכי קא משדר סבלונות – אדעתא דקידושין קא משדר.
Talmud: And it is necessary for all these cases to be stated in the Mishnah, despite their apparent similarity. As, had the tanna taught us only the case of one who betroths two women with an item worth one peruta, we would have said: Since enough of his money for betrothal goes out, i.e., is spent, he errs and thinks that he can betroth two women with one peruta, and the gifts he later sends are not for the sake of betrothal. But if he betrothed a woman with an item worth less than one peruta, you might say: He knows that betrothal does not take effect with an item worth less than one peruta, and when he later sends gifts he sends them with the intention of betrothal, and she should consequently become betrothed with them. The Mishnah therefore teaches us that she is not betrothed even in that case.
ואי אשמעינן הני תרתי, משום דבין פרוטה לפחות משוה פרוטה לא קים להו לאינשי. אבל קטן שקידש – הכל יודעין שאין קידושי קטן כלום, אימא: כי קא משדר סבלונות אדעתא דקידושי קא משדר, קא משמע לן.
And had he taught us only these two cases, we would have said that they were necessary because the difference in halakha between betrothal performed with an item worth one peruta and betrothal performed with an item worth less than one peruta is not established or clear to people, and as he might have thought in those cases that his initial betrothal was valid despite each woman receiving less than one peruta, the gifts he sent later were not sent for the sake of betrothal. But in the case of a minor who betroths a woman, everyone knows that the betrothal of a minor is nothing, and you might say that when he later sends gifts, he sends them for the sake of betrothal, and she is betrothed. The Mishnah therefore teaches us that the same halakha applies in this case as well.