## Tractate Avadim Chapter 1 ###### Tractate Avadim 1:1 [Tractate Avadim 1:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:1) עבד עברי והנרצע נוהגים ביובל. שדה אחוזה וחרמים נוהגים ביובל אמר רבי ישמעאל לכך נאמר (ויקרא כ״ז:כ״א) כשדה החרם לכהן תהיה אחוזתו מה אחוזה ביובל אף חרמים ביובל: שוה היובל לר״ה לתקיעה ולברכות אלא שהשופר של יובל דוחה את השבת. מאימתי פסקו היובלות משעלה פול מלך אשור ותגלת פלנאסר מלך אשור והגלה לראובני ולגדי ולחצי שבט המנשי: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** [The regulations regarding] a Hebrew slave¹ to make restitution for a theft or through selling himself for a livelihood. and a slave whose ear is bored [*nirẓa‘*]² are in force only when the Jubilee [is in force].³ [The regulations regarding] a field of possession⁴ XXVII, 16-21. A ‘field of possession’ is one that has been inherited as distinct from a ‘field of purchase’. and a field which had been devoted [to the Temple]⁵ 28f. are in force only when the Jubilee [is in force]. R. Ishmael said: For that reason it is stated, *As a field devoted; the possession thereof shall be the priest’s*⁶ 21.—as possession [depends] on the Jubilee, so a field which had been devoted [depends] on the Jubilee.⁷ 16. The Jubilee is on the same footing as the New Year in regard to the blowing [of the *shofar*],⁸ XXV, 9. and the benedictions,⁹ as on the New Year; R.H. 26b (Sonc. ed., p. 120, n. 2).] except that [the blowing of] the *shofar* on the Jubilee overrides the Sabbath.¹) [The *shofar* is not blown on the day of the New Year which falls on the Sabbath.] When did the Jubilees cease [to be observed]? From the time when Pul and Tiglath-pileser, kings of Assyria, came up and carried the Reubenites, the Gaddites and half the tribe of Manasseh into captivity.¹⁰ footnotes: ¹ An Israelite, according to the Rabbis, could become a slave either through being sold by the Beth Din ² Because he refused to go free after six years’ service (Ex. 21, 5f.; Deut. 15, 16f.). ³ This apparently means, so long as the years from one Jubilee to the next are being officially counted, as laid down in Lev. 25, 8. ⁴ Cf. ibid. ⁵ Cf. ibid. ⁶ ibid. ⁷ A field of possession which had been dedicated by the owner, then sold by the priests and not redeemed before the Jubilee. Such a field at the Jubilee became the property of the priest. Cf. Rashi on ibid. ⁸ Cf. ibid. ⁹ [Nine blessings have to be said over the shofar ¹ (9a ¹⁰ Cf. 2 Kings 15, 19, 29. ###### Tractate Avadim 1:2 [Tractate Avadim 1:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:2) עבד עברי נקנה בכסף ובשטר וקונה את עצמו בשנים וביובל ובגרעון כסף יתירה עליו אמה העבריה שהיא קונה את עצמה בסימנין. הנרצע נקנה ברציעה וקונה את עצמו ביובל ובמיתת האדון: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** ¹¹ A Hebrew slave is acquired by money purchase or by document, and he acquires his freedom by years of service,¹² through the advent of the Jubilee¹³ and by deduction of money.¹⁴ The Hebrew handmaid has an advantage over him in that she acquires her freedom by the signs [of puberty]. The *nirẓa‘* is acquired by the boring [of his ear] and acquires his freedom through [the advent of] the Jubilee or through the death of his master. footnotes: ¹¹ This paragraph is quoted from Mishnah Ḳid. I, 2 (Sonc. ed., p. 59). ¹² Cf. Ex. 21, 2; Deut. 15, 12. ¹³ Cf. Lev. 25, 40f. ¹⁴ i.e. by repaying his master his purchase price less the value of the service he has completed. ###### Tractate Avadim 1:3 [Tractate Avadim 1:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:3) הכותב שטר גירושין לשפחתו רבי חנינא בן גמליאל אומר אינה בת חורין וחכ״א הרי זו בת חורין. אמר לה הרי את בת חורין חכ״א אינה בת חורין: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** If a man writes a document of divorce for his handmaid,¹⁵ R. Ḥanina b. Gamaliel says that she does not become free, but the Sages say that she does become free. If he said to her,¹⁶ ‘Behold, you are free’, the Sages say that she does not become free. footnotes: ¹⁵ Instead of giving her a deed of manumission. According to the Gemara, Giṭ. 85b (Sonc. ed., p. 412), there was no difference of opinion on this point. ¹⁶ Without giving her a document. ###### Tractate Avadim 1:4 [Tractate Avadim 1:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:4) מוכר אדם את בתו משפחות לשפחות ומאישות לאישות ומשפחות לאישות אבל לא מאישות לשפחות: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** [4. If one who is about to die says, ‘My slave So-and-so is free’, then he is free. If he wrote a deed of manumission for him, ‘Behold this [slave] is free’, the latter should have concern.]¹⁷ A man may sell his daughter from one servitude to another,¹⁸ and from one matrimony to another and from servitude to matrimony, but not from matrimony to servitude. [R. Simeon said: He may not sell her from one servitude to another, much less from matrimony to servitude.]¹⁹ footnotes: ¹⁷ [Whether he is free. This paragraph is omitted in V and MS.K. but added in H.] ¹⁸ i.e. he may sell her a second time if the first master dies or releases her. ¹⁹ The words in brackets are not in V and are introduced from MS.K. ###### Tractate Avadim 1:5 [Tractate Avadim 1:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:5) המוכר את בתו על מנת שלא ייעדנה האדון מכרו קיים ותנאו בטל [מפני שהתנה על מה שכתוב בתורה וכל המתנה על מה שכתוב בתורה תנאו בטל]: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** If a man sells his daughter on condition of her not being betrothed by the master, his sale is valid but his condition is void, because he made a condition overriding what is written in the Torah,²⁰ (Ex. 21, 8). The Rabbis took this to mean that he bought her for the purpose of espousing her. and whoever makes a condition which overrides a prescription of the Torah [does something which] is void. footnotes: ²⁰ Which declares, If she please not her master who hath espoused her to himself ###### Tractate Avadim 1:6 [Tractate Avadim 1:6](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:6) האב לייעד והבן לייעד האב קודם הבן לייעד והאב לפדות הבן קודם מפני שמצות ייעוד קודמת למצות פדיה שנאמר (שמות כ״א:ח׳) אשר לא יעדה והפדה. אין מיעדין שתים כאחת: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** If the father wants to betroth her and the son wants to betroth her, the father takes precedence. If the son wants to betroth her and the father to redeem her, the son takes precedence, because the precept of betrothing takes precedence over the precept of redeeming, as it is stated, *Who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed*.¹ Two must not be betrothed together.²¹ footnotes: ¹ (20a) Ex. 21, 8. ²¹ A master cannot be betrothed to two maidservants simultaneously. ###### Tractate Avadim 1:7 [Tractate Avadim 1:7](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:7) האח אינו מייעד שהיה בדין מה אם הבן שאינו קם תחת אביו ליבום הרי הוא מייעד. זה שהוא קם תחת אחיו ליבום אינו דין שייעד ת״ל (שם) ואם לבנו ייעדנה. פרט (לזה) [לאח]: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** A brother²² must not betroth her. [This had to be mentioned] because it might have been argued: Seeing that the son who does not take the place of his father to act as levir may betroth her, does it not stand to reason that one who takes the place of his brother to act as levir should betroth her! Hence [the Torah] states, *And if he espouse her unto his son*,²³ thus excluding the brother. footnotes: ²² Of the master of the maidservant. ²³ Ex. 21, 9. ###### Tractate Avadim 1:8 [Tractate Avadim 1:8](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:8) ייעדה בסוף השנים אם יש לו רשות עליה מיועדת כדברי רשב״א ואם לאו אינה מיועדת. וחכ״א כל זמן שהיא ברשותו מיועדת שעל מנת כן נתן את הכסף בתחילה: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** If he betrothed her at the end of the [six] years [of bondage], should she still be in his possession²⁴. she is betrothed, according to the view of R. Simeon b. Eleazar, and if not she is not betrothed. The Sages, however, say that as long as she is in his possession²⁵ she is betrothed, since that was the condition on which he paid the money [for her] at the beginning.²⁶ footnotes: ²⁴ i.e. if there is still time for her to do work for him to the value of a peruṭah ²⁵ Until the setting of the sun. ²⁶ viz. that the purchase money should also serve as the money of betrothal. ###### Tractate Avadim 1:9 [Tractate Avadim 1:9](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tractate%20Avadim/r/1:9) המוכר את בתו והלך וקדשה לאחר שחק באדון כדברי ר׳ יוסי בר יהודה וחכמים אומרים לא עשה כלום: **The Minor Tractates of the Talmud, trans. A. Cohen, London: Soncino Press, 1965:** If a man sells his daughter and then went and betrothed her to another, he made game of the master²⁷ according to R. Jose b. Judah; but the Sages say that he has done nothing.²⁸ footnotes: ²⁷ And the betrothal to the second is valid; cf. Ḳid. 19b (Sonc. ed., p. 88). ²⁸ The second betrothal is invalid.