Kiddushin 23 - Can a Canaanite Slave-woman be Acquired through Anal Intercourse?

A Canaanite slave may be acquired using money, a document, or a proprietary act of serving his new master, such as removing his master's shoe or lifting him.

Can we derive from here that a Canaanite slave woman can be acquired by sexual intercourse because she is lifting her master? - No, this is not comparable to regular lifting, where the lifter gets no pleasure. How about anal intercourse where she is not getting pleasure? Who is to say that she is not getting any pleasure? - Disproved! A slave woman can not be acquired in this way.

Art: The idle servant by Nicoleas Maes

Kiddushin 22 - Hebrew Servant Stays Forever Because Life is Good

A Hebrew servant who likes life with his master and with his Canaanite slave-woman mate may stay with his master "forever" if he insists on it, which practically means until the Jubilee year. In court, the master bores his ear against the door with an awl as an act of acquisition.

A Hebrew servant should be given food and wine better than his master's, and a better bed, because the Torah says, "It is good for him with you." The master also supports the servant's wife and children that the servant had before his servitude.

Art: Breakfast with a Crab by Willem Claesz. Heda

Kiddushin 21 - Hebrew Servant Wants to be Free Again

A Hebrew servant who has sold himself into servitude and wants to redeem himself early enjoys a special privilege: his redemption price is the lowest of his purchase price and the current service value for the remaining years. 

Through the sequence of Torah passages, we can deduce which transgressions caused him to become poor and sell himself. Still, now that he wants to become free again, he gets leniency. 

He can reduce his remaining years of servitude with a partial payment, but this can result in either a gain or a loss if his price fluctuates.

Art: Leaving the Mosque by Ludwig Deutch

Kiddushin 20 - Terms of Servitude

A father can sell his daughter as a Hebrew maidservant to his father (the girl's grandfather). Although the grandfather can not marry his granddaughter, he can designate her to marry his son, the girl's uncle, which the Torah allows.

A master, who strikes a Canaanite slave and deprives him of his tooth or eye, must set him free. In contrast, a Hebrew servant receives payment but not freedom in this situation.

If a servant has a wife or children when he begins his term of servitude, his master may give him a Canaanite slave-woman as a mate.

Art: The-Ill-Matched Lovers by Lucas The Younger Cranach

Kiddushin 19 - Designation of a Hebrew Maidservant as a Wife

A man who has bought a Hebrew maidservant can designate her as his wife, without the need for Kiddushin money, but with her knowledge. Can he do this for his son, who is a minor? Does the phrase "or to his son” mean that the son can be any age or must be like his father, an adult?

Answer: While a nine-year-old CAN acquire a wife in a levirate marriage if his brother dies by having marital relations with her, the designation of a maidservant as a wife is not possible until the son is an adult.

Art: The Proposal by Charles Edouard Delort

Kiddushin 18 - Master or his Son to Marry Hebrew Maidservant

A Hebrew convert is like a newborn child and does not inherit his father, except by rabbinical ordinance. He has to tell his brothers, "Take these idols, and I will take the produce," before the idols come into his possession.

A father can sell his daughter into servitude only once. Her master or master's son is expected to marry her and provide for her, with no additional Kiddushin money required.

A Hebrew servant is sold for his theft if he can not repay, but only if what he owes exceeds the value of the six years of his servitude.

Art: The Fisherman's Goodbye by Philip Lodewijk

Kiddushin 17 - Severance Gifts of Hebrew Servants

If a Hebrew servant had been ill for up to three years of his six-year term, he is not obligated to make up.

What is the worth of severance gifts that a master must give to his departing servant? Three kinds of goods: sheep and goats, grain, and wine, for the total worth of thirty selah (equal to the penalty for goring a Canaanite slave), approximately $6,000.

A Hebrew servant serves his term under the master's son but not his daughter or any other inheritor. A Hebrew maidservant is free if her master dies and does not serve anybody.

Art: Harvesters by Jules Breton 

Kiddushin 16 - How Hebrew Servant Regains His Freedom

A Hebrew servant sold by the courts can gain his freedom back in one of four ways:

• completion of six years of service;
• the onset of the Jubilee year;
• paying his purchase price back to his master minus the cash equivalent of the years already served;
• death of his master.

In addition to a Hebrew servant's ways, a Hebrew maidservant sold by her father goes free when she reaches twelve years of age and has “signs of physical maturity” (two pubic hairs).

When a Hebrew servant or maidservant goes free, they receive severance gifts.

Art: The Farewell By Eugene De Blaas

Kiddushin 15 - Hebrew Servant Can Marry a Non-Jewish Slave-Woman

There are four categories of Hebrew servants discussed in the Torah:


1. A man who steals and can not repay, who is sold by the courts to pay the one he robbed;
2. A girl under the age of twelve who is sold by her father;
3. A man who sells himself because of his poverty;
4. A Jew who sells himself to a gentile.

A servant sold by the court can be given a Canaanite slave woman to have children.

Even today, there is a way for a mamzer (illegitimate) to have kosher children from a Canaanite slave woman.

Art: Seated Man with a Youth & a Servant in an Interior by Michael Sweerts

Kiddushin 14 - Why The Death of the Husband Sets the Wife Free

A married woman acquires herself back through the death of her husband. Why?

Maybe the husband caused the prohibition, and he also removed it? No, because she is still forbidden to marry his son from the previous marriage or his father.

Or maybe a widow is forbidden to marry the High Priest, so she must be allowed to marry everyone else? No, perhaps she would still be transgressing a positive commandment.

Maybe when Jewish soldiers went to war, "And whichever man betrothed a wife and did not yet take her, let him return, lest he dies in battle and another man takes her" - is valid proof!

Art: Armand Carrel On His Deathbed by Ary Scheffer

Kiddushin 13 - Questionable Goods

A man betrothed a woman with a mat of myrtle twigs. After she accepted it, those present said to him, "But the mat is not worth a prutah!" He replied, "Let her become betrothed with the four coins wrapped inside." The woman retained the money. Is she betrothed?

Since her silence occurred after the money had been given, it is meaningless, and she is not betrothed.

If a man betrothed a woman with goods he grabbed or stole from her, this betrothal is valid, provided they had previously agreed to marry one another.

Art: The Black Hat by Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell

Kiddushin 12 - Betrothal with Correct Value

According to Beit Hillel, the minimum amount needed for Kiddushin is a small coin called a prutah. This does not mean the smallest coin in circulation. Instead, it is the value of one-half of a barleycorn of silver, estimated anew each generation.

If a man betrothed a woman by handing her a date with a value of less than a prutah, there is still a possibility that, in some places, this date is worth more than a prutah. Therefore, he should repeat the Kiddushin with a definite value or give her a Get.

Art: Wedding Presents by James Wells Champney

Kiddushin 11 - How Much Money is Needed for Kiddushin?

Beit Shammai required a minimum of a dinar for Kiddushin, a coin with silver content equivalent to 96 barley grains. What is their reason?

Self-esteem? - No, because then some would require more.

Is it because when Torah mentions Kesef (money), it means a silver coin? This withstands questioning.


Or is it because we compare a bride to a Jewish maidservant, who is redeemed by diminishing the price for years served, so she must start with a dinar? This also withstands questioning.

The law follows Beit Hillel, who requires only a minimal coin (prutah, about 5 cents).

Art: A Candlelight Scene: A Man Offering a Gold Chain and Coins to a Girl Seated on a Bed

Kiddushin 8 - Betrothal with Valuables

A man betrothed a woman by giving her a quantity of silk. He said, “Become betrothed to me with $2,000, and here is this silk as payment.” The silk was indeed worth $2,000. Does the woman, who is not an appraisal expert, rely on his words and wholeheartedly commit herself to marriage? The prevailing ruling is that she does.

If a man said to a woman, “Become betrothed to me with $100,” but instead gave her an item as collateral, she is not betrothed. She did not receive the promised money, nor was collateral given as a gift.

Art: Silks and Satins,  1900 Posters

Kiddushin 7 - Cash Flow

If a woman suggests to a man, “Give money to so-and-so and I will thereby become betrothed to you,” and the man gives the money as specified and says the formula, the woman becomes betrothed, through the principle of a guarantor. A loan guarantor, even though he does not personally receive the benefit, still binds himself to repay. So too, she commits herself in return for the money based on her say-so.

An extraordinary man who never accepts gifts (none such today) can marry a woman by giving her the pleasure of taking her gift.

Art: The Gift for the Favorite by Antonio Maria Fabres y Costa

Kiddushin 5 - Terms of Endearment

How is Kiddushin brought about through money? When a man gives a woman money or items worth money and says, "Behold, you are betrothed to me - Harei at mekudeshet li," and she agrees, she is betrothed.

Anyone who does not know the laws of divorce documents and Kiddushin should have no dealings with them, for an unwitting error in the decision could prove intractable.

A woman can not be betrothed by forgoing the repayment of a loan. The loan is given for expenses, with the obligation to repay. Thus, he is not giving her anything of value at this moment.

How about a document? A document is drafted by a man, and it states that a woman is hereby betrothed to him. The Kiddushin is effected when the man gives the document to the woman.

Why does this work? Because “And she will leave the first husband's house, and she will go and be a wife unto another man.” Since “leave” can be effected through a document, so too “be” can be effected through a document.

But if so, can divorce be effected by money? - No, because a defender cannot become an accuser. And while the documents would be different and distinct, money would be the same.

Art: A Young Lady and a Cavalier by Frans Francken (III)

Gittin 90 (Conclusion) - Reasons for Divorce

Beit Shammai say, “A man may not divorce his wife unless he found in her an act of adultery.” Proof: “Because he found in her an adulterous matter.”

But Beit Hillel says, “Even if she burned his dish.” Proof: “Adulterous or any other matter.”

Rabbi Akiva says, “Even if he found another more attractive than her.” Proof: “And it comes to pass that she does not find favor in his eyes.

Despised by God is anyone who sends away his wife without a compelling reason.

Whenever anyone divorces his first wife, even the Temple Altar sheds tears on his account.

Art: Alfred Sisley with His Wife by Renoir

Gittin 89 - Rumors of Marriage

If a woman was rumored in town to be betrothed, she is treated as though she were betrothed; that is, she may not marry anyone except the man to whom she is rumored to be betrothed unless he gives her a Get.

A rumor of marriage is recognized not as mere gossip. Still, when they say, "We heard the rumor from so-and-so, and they heard it from so-and-so," the court continues to investigate until they find two qualified witnesses who saw the betrothal feast and heard people say, "So-and-so was betrothed today."

Art: The Secret by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Gittin 88 - Divorce Procured by Force

The term "quickly" of the Master of the World means 852 years because of the phrase "you will be aged (venoshantem=852 by gematria), and you will be removed, quickly, from the Land."

Concerning a Get procured by force, the Get is valid if the coercion was applied by the Jewish court and the husband acquiesced. But if the pressure was used by a court of idolaters, the Get is invalid. However, even in a court of idolaters, they may beat the husband and tell him, "Do what the Jewish court tells you to do!" the Get is valid.

Art: Peasants Fighting by Adriaen Brouwer

Gittin 87 - Group Divorce

If two men sent two identical Get documents to their wives through an agent (the names of the husbands and their wives being identical), and the Get documents were confused by the agent, he must give both Get documents to both women.

If five men wrote a common text in the Get, namely, "I, so-and-so, am divorcing my wife, so-and-so, etc.," the Get is valid for all five couples, and it should be given to every one of the women named in it to effect her divorce.

Art: Two sisters by Theodore Chasseriau

Gittin 86 - Three Gittin are Invalid

Three types of Get documents are invalid, but if she married on their basis anyway, the child she has from the second marriage is legitimate: a Get that the husband wrote in his own handwriting but there are no witnesses signed on it; a Get that has no date recorded on it; a Get that has only one witness signed on it.

Rabbi Elazar says, “Even though there are no witnesses signed on the Get, but he gave it to her in the presence of witnesses, it is valid, for witnesses sign on the Get only for the benefit of society.”

Art: Peace with Honour - Queen Victoria (1819-1901) with Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81) following the signing of the Berlin Treaty in 1878 by THEODORE BLAKE WIRGMAN

Gittin 85 - Get with Unusual Conditions

If one gives his wife a Get and says, "You are hereby permitted to any man except to my father or your father," or “to a slave or an idolater,” the divorce is valid since her marriage to any of these men would not be binding.

But what if the husband makes a condition that she can not marry a particular minor? At present, the minor can not marry, but eventually, he will become an adult. By comparison with a minor girl who can divorce, because eventually she will marry as an adult, the Get above is declared not complete separation, thus void.

Art: Eleanor of Toledo. Portrait by Agnolo Bronzino.

Gittin 84 - Giving Wives as Gifts

If a man gives his wife a Get on condition that she marries so-and-so, she should not marry so-and-so because it looks like giving wives as gifts. If she does marry, she need not divorce. She should not marry others because this may invalidate the Get.

"On condition that you have relations with so-and-so" is valid because she can bribe him to marry her for a time. "On condition that you have relations with my father, or your father" is invalid because she can not bribe the father, so it is to vex her, and the Get is valid.

Art: An Elegant Woman at St. Malo by Vittorio Matteo Corcos 

Gittin 83 - No Strings Attached to the Get!

Rabbi Eliezer validated a Get with a condition "You are permitted to marry any man but so-and-so." Rabbi Eliezer's learning was supreme, but many Rabbis reunited to disprove his teaching after his death. However, all but one of their rebuttals had potential flaws.

The indisputable proof came from Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria. He deduced the requirement of complete severance from the term that the Torah used, "Kritut," instead of a possible shorter word, "Karet." According to Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaria, this teaches that temporary conditions in the Get are valid but not permanent ones.

Art: Portrait of an Old Man by Rembrandt

Gittin 82 - Get is Complete Severance

To be effective, a Get must completely sever the marital relationship between the husband and the wife.

If one divorces his wife and says to her, "You are hereby permitted to any man but so-and-so," she is not divorced. What should he do? He should take the Get from her, give it to her again, and say, "You are hereby permitted to any man."

But if he wrote this restriction into the Get itself, although he later erased it, the Get is invalid since it never was a "document of severance."

Art: A Seated Woman in an Interior Gazing out of the Window by Thomas Wyck

Gittin 81 - Change of Mind about the Get

If one wrote a Get for his wife and then changed his mind before delivering the Get, Beit Shammai says she is somewhat like a divorcee and can not marry a Kohen later.

However, Beit Hillel says that even if he gave her a Get conditionally and the condition was never met, she can still marry a Kohen if her husband dies.

Art: A Jewish Wedding by Joseph Israels