Study Kiddushin folio 63A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
״לא תסגיר עבד אל אדניו״, רבי אומר: בלוקח עבד על מנת לשחררו הכתוב מדבר. היכי דמי? אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק: כגון דכתב ליה: ״לכשאקחך, הרי עצמך קנוי לך מעכשיו״.
With regard to the verse: “You should not deliver a slave to his master” (Deuteronomy 23:16), R' Yehuda HaNasi says: The verse is speaking of one who acquires a slave, not to enslave him but in order to emancipate him. The court may not deliver the slave to this master, as this master has no right to enslave him. The Talmud asks: What are the circumstances of this case? Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says: For example: if the new master wrote to the slave in his bill of manumission: When I will purchase you, you are hereby acquired to yourself from now. In that case the slave acquires himself from that moment, despite the fact that the buyer does not own him. This shows that R' Yehuda HaNasi maintains that a person can transfer an item that has not yet entered the world, as one can emancipate his slave before acquiring him.
רבי מאיר, דתניא: האומר לאשה: ״הרי את מקודשת לי לאחר שאתגייר״, ״לאחר שתתגיירי״, ״לאחר שאשתחרר״, ״לאחר שתשתחררי״, ״לאחר שימות בעליך״, ״לאחר שתמות אחותיך״, ״לאחר שיחלוץ לך יבמיך״ – אינה מקודשת. רבי מאיר אומר: מקודשת. רבי יוחנן הסנדלר אומר: אינה מקודשת.
R' Meir also holds that one can transfer an entity that has not yet come into the world, as it is taught in a baraita: With regard to one who says to a woman: You are hereby betrothed to me after I convert, or: After you convert, or: After I am emancipated, or: After you are emancipated, or: After your husband dies, or: After your sister dies, or: After your yavam performs ḥalitza for you, she is not betrothed. R' Meir disagrees and says: She is betrothed. R' Yoḥanan HaSandlar says: She is not betrothed.
רבי יהודה הנשיא אומר: מקודשת. ומה טעם אמרו ״אינה מקודשת״ – משום איבה.
R' Yehuda HaNasi says that in some of these cases, by Torah law she is betrothed. And for what reason did the rabbis say she is not betrothed? Due to enmity. Giving betrothal to a married woman that will take effect after her husband dies can engender enmity between the woman and her husband. Giving betrothal to one sister that depends on the death of the other can engender enmity between the sisters. Nevertheless, R' Meir and R' Yehuda HaNasi maintain that one can betroth a woman who is currently forbidden to him.