Study Kiddushin folio 62B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
גר צריך שלשה. מאי טעמא: ״משפט״ כתיב ביה כדין, מי יימר דמזדקקו ליה הני תלתא.
A convert requires the presence of 3 Jews for his conversion. What is the reason for this requirement? It is written with regard to a convert: “You should have one manner of law, for the convert as for the homeborn” (Leviticus 24:22), which indicates that a conversion is considered a judgment that requires 3 judges. And if he requires 3 judges, who says that those 3 will be available to him? Since he cannot convert at a time of his choosing, it is not considered within his power to convert.
מתקיף לה רבי אבא בר ממל: אלא מעתה, הנותן פרוטה לשפחתו, ואמר: ״הרי את מקודשת לי לאחר שאשחרריך״ – הכי נמי דהוו קידושין? הכי השתא?! התם – מעיקרא בהמה, השתא – דעת אחרת.
R' Abba bar Memel objects to this: If that is so, and anything that is in one’s power to perform is not considered lacking in its action, one who gives one peruta to his Canaanite female slave and says: You are hereby betrothed to me after I emancipate you, so too will you say that it is a betrothal because he has the power to emancipate her? The Talmud rejects this suggestion: How can these cases be compared? There, the Canaanite female slave initially had the legal status of an animal, i.e., she is not subject to betrothal at all, whereas now she has an independent mind. Once she has been emancipated she has the status of a Jew and is not considered the same person at all. Consequently, the attempted betrothal is certainly considered lacking an action.
ואלא הא דאמר רבי אושעיא: הנותן פרוטה לאשתו ואמר לה: ״הרי את מקודשת לי לאחר שאגרשיך״ – אינה מקודשת, הכי נמי לרבי יוחנן דהוו קידושין? נהי דבידו לגרשה, בידו לקדשה?
The Talmud asks: But that which R' Oshaya says: With regard to one who gives one peruta to his wife and says to her: You are hereby betrothed to me after I divorce you, she is not betrothed, so too according to the opinion of R' Yoḥanan will you say that it is a betrothal because he has the power to divorce her? The Talmud answers: Although he has the power to divorce her, does he have the power to betroth her against her will? It is not in his power to effect the betrothal, as once she has divorced him the matter is no longer exclusively dependent upon him.