Study Kiddushin folio 69A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
האומר לשפחתו: ״הרי את בת חורין, וולדך עבד״ – הולד כמותה, דברי רבי יוסי הגלילי. וחכמים אומרים: דבריו קיימים, משום שנאמר: ״האשה וילדיה תהיה לאדניה״.
With regard to one who says to his pregnant Canaanite female slave: You are hereby a free woman but your offspring should remain a slave, the offspring is emancipated like her. This is the statement of R' Yosei HaGelili. And the Rabbis say: The master’s statement is upheld, because it is stated: “The wife and her children should be her master’s” (Exodus 21:4).
מאי תלמודא? אמר רבא: אדרבי יוסי הגלילי.
The Talmud expresses surprise at this ruling: What is the biblical derivation here? How do the Rabbis learn from here that the child of an emancipated female slave remains a slave in this case? Rava said: The proof from the verse beginning with: “The wife and her children,” is not the source of the opinion of the Rabbis. Rather, this is referring to the statement of R' Yosei HaGelili, who claims that the children follow their mother, as indicated by this verse. Consequently, if she is emancipated, her offspring do not retain the status of slaves.
מתני׳ רבי טרפון אומר: יכולין ממזרין ליטהר. כיצד? ממזר שנשא שפחה, הולד – עבד, שיחררו – נמצא הבן בן חורין. רבי אליעזר אומר: הרי זה עבד ממזר.
Mishnah: R' Tarfon says: Mamzerim can be purified, so that their offspring will not be mamzerim. How so? With regard to a mamzer who married a Canaanite female slave, their offspring is a slave. If his master subsequently emancipates him, that son is found to be a freeman, rather than a mamzer. R' Eliezer says: This method is not effective, as this son is a mamzer slave.
גמ׳ איבעיא להו: רבי טרפון לכתחילה קאמר, או דיעבד קאמר? תא שמע: אמרו לו לרבי טרפון: טיהרת את הזכרים, ולא טיהרת את הנקיבות.
Talmud: A dilemma was raised before the rabbis: Did R' Tarfon state his halakha ab initio, i.e., a mamzer is permitted to marry a female slave, or did he state it only after the fact, but he does not permit a mamzer to marry a female slave ab initio? The Talmud answers: Come and hear proof from a baraita: The other rabbis said to R' Tarfon: You have thereby purified the male offspring of a mamzer, but you have not purified the female children of mamzerim, as your solution does not apply to them.