Kiddushin 6B

– לא אמר ולא כלום. אמר לה לשפחתו: ״הרי את מותרת לכל אדם״⁠ – לא אמר ולא כלום.

he has said nothing, as this statement is not a valid expression of divorce. Similarly, if a master said to his female Canaanite slave upon emancipating her: You are hereby permitted to any man, he has not said anything.

אמר לה לאשתו: ״הרי את לעצמך״ מהו? מי אמרינן למלאכה קאמר לה, או דילמא לגמרי קאמר לה?

The Talmud addresses a less straightforward case: If a man said to his wife: You are hereby for yourself, what is the halakha? Do we say that he said this to her only with regard to work? In other words, he might have meant that she may keep her earnings. Or perhaps he said to her that she is on her own entirely, i.e., she is divorced.

אמר ליה רבינא לרב אשי: תא שמע, דתניא: גופו של גט שחרור: ״הרי אתה בן חורין״, ״הרי אתה לעצמך״. השתא ומה עבד כנעני דקני ליה גופיה, כי אמר ליה ״הרי אתה לעצמך״⁠ – לגמרי קאמר ליה, אשה דלא קני ליה גופה, לא כל שכן?

Ravina said to Rav Ashi: Come and hear a proof, as it is taught in a baraita: The essence of a bill of manumission is the expression: You are hereby a freeman, or: You are hereby for yourself. Now consider, if in the case of a Canaanite slave, whose body belongs to the master, even so, when the master says to him: You are hereby for yourself, this is considered as though he said to him that he is entirely on his own and is freed, then all the more so is it not clear that a wife, whose body is not owned by her husband, is divorced by means of this expression?

אמר ליה רבינא לרב אשי: אמר לעבדו ״אין לי עסק בך״ מאי? מי אמרינן ״אין לי עסק בך״⁠ – לגמרי קאמר ליה, או דילמא למלאכה קאמר ליה?

With regard to the same issue, Ravina said to Rav Ashi: If one said to his Canaanite slave: I have no business with you, what is the halakha? Do we say that when he said to him: I have no business with you, he meant entirely, and therefore the slave is freed? Or did he perhaps say this to him with regard to labor? In other words, it is possible that the master is relieving the slave of his obligation to perform labor without actually emancipating him from slavery.