This month's learning is sponsored by C. S E. K for the refuah shleima of Sharona Rachel bat Miriam Chana.

Today's daf is sponsored by Hadran women on LI for a refuah shleima for Gittel Rivkah bat Golda Mariam.

One should not redeem a person who sells themselves a few times to a non-Jew to discourage them from doing it. The Gemara relates stories of Jews who sold themselves to non-Jews (cannibals or to be a gladiator), including one about Reish Lakish who managed to escape by outsmarting them. One who sells one's field to a non-Jew is responsible to buy back the bikurim (first fruits) from the non-Jew and bring them to the Temple - in order to prevent people from selling their land to non-Jews. If one sells a field to a non-Jew, and then a Jew buys fruits from that field, is one obligated to tithe the fruits? There is an argument between Rabba and Rabbi Elazar and the Gemara attempts to bring support for each opinion. If one sells one's land for its produce but retains ownership of the land itself, the purchaser brings the bikurim, but there is a debate between Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish regarding whether they read the text that is generally read by the one who brings them. They each raise difficulties against each other from tannaitic sources.

Today's daf is dedicated by Hadran Women of Long Island for a refuah shleima for their fearless leader and inspiring daf sister, Gitta Neufeld, Gittel Rivka bat Golda Mariam. "We need you back here in good health quickly!!"

The rabbis instituted a takana that if a man divorces his wife due to suspicions about her promiscuous behavior or because of a vow she made, he is unable to remarry her. There are two different reasons given for the takana. The tannaim also disagree as to which types of vows are referred to here. There is a tannaitic debate about a man who divorces his wife because she is an aylonit (a woman who can't have children because she never fully develops), can he remarry her? The opinions of the tannaim here seem to contradict their opinions in the previous Mishna and the amoraim try to resolve these contradictions. The Mishna rules that we do not redeem one who sells himself or his son to gentiles. But we do redeem the sons after the death of their father. Rav Asi limits the first part of the Mishna and a story is brought to support his ruling.

Today's daf is sponsored by the Hadran Women of Long Island in loving memory of Professor Gene Moshe Schramm, Yochanan Moshe ben Meir v'Rivka. "Beloved father of our friend and co-learner Deena Rabinovitch. May our learning be a zechut for him. תהא נשמתו צרורה בצרור החיים"

If one lives in Israel and sells a slave to someone outside of Israel, the slave goes free. Why does the buyer get penalized? If a slave runs away from his master who was living abroad to live in Israel, we force the master to free the slave in order to allow the slave to keep the mitzvot that are dependent on living in Israel. Rabbi Achai b'Rabbi Yoshaya derives in from the verse in Devarim 23:16 "lo tasgir eved el adonav." The Gemara brings three other interpretations of this verse. Redeeming captives, sifrei Torah, mezuzot, and tefillin for more than they are worth are forbidden because of tikkun olam. What are the reasons given for this takana? The daughters of Rav Nachman were considered to be very righteous as they would stir a pot on the fire with their bare hands and not get burned. Rav Illish was taken into captivity with them and when he received a premonition from birds that he should escape, he thought to take them with him, but first wanted to check that they were really righteous. After eavesdropping on their conversation in the bathroom, he realized they were not righteous at all and therefore did not bring them with him to escape and accused them of engaging in witchcraft. Can one read from a Torah written by a gentile or found in the possession of a gentile? The Rabbis instituted a takana that if a man divorces his wife due to suspicions about her promiscuous behavior or because of a vow she made, he is unable to remarry her. Does this depend on what type of vow she took?

Today's daf is sponsored by Emma Rinberg in loving memory of her father, Dr. Eric Glick, Yitzhak Nisan Ben Etta Faiga v'Yaacov on his 33rd yahrzeit.

Today's daf is sponsored by Elisa Hartstein in honor of her daughter Dalia who finishes 5 years of dedicated army service in the IAF today. "Also in grateful appreciation of all our chayalim and chayalot, past and present who make our lives here in Israel possible every single day."

One who sells his slave to a non-Jew or sells him to a Jewish owner outside of Israel is penalized because the slave will no longer be able to fulfill all the mitzvot. The slave is immediately freed. The Gemara discusses various situations and tries to determine if the owner should be penalized in those situations as well (e.g. if the non-Jew forced him to sell him the slave, etc. If the slave gave himself over to a non-Jewish army, and the owner has no way to redeem him, can he accept a monetary payment for the slave or is it not allowed since it may encourage others to actually sell the slave? Would the law be the same as for one whose house in Israel was taken over by non-Jews? In a case where the owner is obligated to redeem the slave, he is required to pay even up to ten or possibly one hundred times the value. Is it ten or is it one hundred? How does that amount differ from the amount required to redeem a large animal that one sold to a gentile? Why is there a difference? Does the penalty to redeem the slave apply to a son whose father sold the slave and subsequently died? If one sold a slave to someone who owns property in Israel and outside of Israel, the seller is penalized only if it was made clear in the contract that the slave was going to be brought to work outside of Israel. What if a woman from Israel married a man who was from Babylonia and was planning to go back there and she had slaves in her dowry, is it considered that she sold them to him? If a slave willingly went with his owner abroad and then the owner sold him there, does the slave go free? It depends on whether the owner planned to stay abroad or was planning to go back to Israel.

Can a master sell the potential k'nas (fine) payment that the master would receive in the event that an ox gored his/her slave and killed him? They bring a source to answer the question, but it is inconclusive. There is a debate regarding a half-slave/half-free man who betroths a woman or a man who betroths a woman who is half maidservant/half-free - is the kiddushin valid? Is it the same as one who betroths half a woman or is there reason to distinguish between the cases? If she was betrothed before she was entirely freed and then freed, does the emancipation cancel the kiddushin or complete it? There was a case where they forced an owner to release his half-maidservant/half-free woman. Was it because they held like Rabbi Yochanan ben Broka that also women are commanded to procreate or was it to protect her as men were taking advantage of her since she was unable to be married? The rabbis penalized those who sold their slaves to a Gentile or Jewish owner outside of Israel. Do they need to also give them an emancipation document? If one used a slave as collateral for a loan to a gentile, at what stage is the slave considered freed?

Study Guide Gittin 42

Rabba holds that the debate between Rebbi and the rabbis about whether one can free a slave partly is only when the owner frees part and remains owner over the other part, but if the owner sold the other part, all would agree that the slave would be partially free. Abaye raises a contradiction to Rabba from two contradictory braitot, claiming that the only resolution is to say that one holds like Rebbi and one like the rabbis. However, the Gemara suggests four other resolutions to the contradiction. If an ox gored a slave that was half free/half slave, the damages go to the master if it was a day he was working for the master, and if it was a day he was free, the damages go to the freed slave. Two questions are raised against this and are resolved. If one has freed one's slave but has not given the slave an emancipation document yet, does the owner receive payment if the slave was killed by someone's ox? Does the slave continue to eat teruma? What is their status? They bring sources to resolve these dilemmas, but all of them are inconclusive.

If a slave is used as a designated payment for a loan (apotiki) and the master frees the slave, the slave has no responsibility to the creditor. However, the rabbis instituted a takana and force the master to free him. To compensate the creditor, the slave writes a promissory note for his value. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds that the one who frees the slave writes the promissory note. Rav and Ulla each explain this case differently. Which master freed the slave, which master needs to free the slave and who writes the promissory note according to Rashbag? What is the purpose of the takana and what is the root of the debate between tana kamma and Rashbag? If one designated a field to repay and loan and the field is damaged, can the creditor collect from other property of the debtor? On what does it depend? If a slave is half freed, Beit Shamai and Beit Hillel disagree about whether or not the owner needs to free the other half. In the end, Beit Shamai convince Beit Hillel that we need to free the slave in order to permit him to marry a woman so he can fulfill the mitzva of procreation. Can one free a slave partially? There is a debate between Rebbi and the rabbis about whether this works. Raba and Rav Yosef disagree about whether the debate relates only to a slave freed by a document or also by money.

Study Guide Gittin 40

Today's daf is sponsored by Rabbi Joel and Shulamith Cohn in loving memory of Rabbi Dr. Akiba Predmesky on his yahrzeit.

What type of actions would be an indication that the master has freed the slave? If the owner gave up financial rights to the slave, can the owner or the son (in the case of the death of the owner) redeem the slave to permit marriage with a Jew or does they no longer have the right to do that as they no longer own the slave? What language should be used in an emancipation document? If one writes the language in the future tense, there is a debate about whether or not it is effective.

Today's daf is sponsored by Gitta and David Neufeld in loving memory of Gitta's father, Yosef ben Menachem Mendal v'Pesha. "Tatty was so proud of learning, be it secular or Jewish. He always told us how he envied us our Jewish education, which the Nazis and Communists managed to deprive him of. Unbelievably, he left cheder - and formal Jewish education - when he started learning Mishna, yet his dedication to learning and striving, with a nightly chavruta (despite working a 12-hour day) and a never-missed weekly shiur in Shul, molded three generations of learners and strivers. It was a special zechut this year to learn the daf in Lizhensk, where he had his last formal Jewish learning experience. Yehi Zichro Baruch!"

Today's daf is sponsored by Harriet Hartman in loving memory of her husband, Moshe ben Yehuda Aryeh on his 4th yahrzeit. "How I would have liked to discuss many things we are learning in the daf with him! I am sure he would have had interesting insights that would help me understand better what his own training gave him. I hope he is benefitting from my own exposure and learning as I persist in this daily exploration of our tradition's wisdom and the ways in which our learned ancestors addressed problems in the context of halacha and gemara. Yehi zichro baruch."

Rav says that if one sanctifies one's slave, the slave goes free. The third question raised on Rav from a braita is resolved. Is this issue also a tannaitic debate? Rabbi Yochanan said that one who makes his slave ownerless still needs to give him an emancipation document to free him in order to allow him to marry a Jew. A difficulty is raised from a braita and resolved. The braita discussed a case of a convert who died and left slaves - who can acquire the slaves. There is a tannatic debate. The Gemara brings a few traditions of rabbis who ruled like one of the tannaitic opinions and then they try to assess did the rabbi rule that way explicitly or did they derive it from something else he said?

Study Guide Gittin 38

Today's daf is sponsored by Art Gould in loving memory of Carol Joy Robinson, Karina Gola bat Huddah v'Yehudah Tzvi. "My beloved bride of almost 50 years. Tomorrow, Shabbat, we would have been married 50 years on the secular calendar. It's no accident that Joy was Carol's middle name. She brought joy to everyone who knew her. I will be forever grateful to HaShem for dropping Carol into my life like an angel from the heavens on an erev Shabbat in August of 1971. And I will love Carol forever. רַבּ֣וֹת בָּ֭נוֹת עָ֣שׂוּ חָ֑יִל וְ֝אַ֗תְּ עָלִ֥ית עַל־כֻּלָּֽנָה."

A gentile can acquire a gentile or a Jew for his labor either by paying money or even by chazaka. From where is this derived? Rabbi Yochanan ruled that a Caananite slave who escapes from prison is automatically freed (and becomes Jewish). How does this fit with his other ruling that whenever a Mishna quotes Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the halakha is like him other than three cases and in our Mishna, he ruled that the slave who is redeemed stays a slave. How can we distinguish between the two cases? The Gemara brings the stories of three maidservants of rabbis that were either taken into captivity or there was an issue with freeing her. Each story is explained according to the rules of redemption/freeing of slaves. One is not supposed to free a Caananite slave, as derived from a verse in the Torah. However, there is a debate whether that verse is obligatory or perhaps it is just permitting keeping a slave, but not forbidding freeing a slave. Also, there are exceptions to the rule, such as for the purposes of a mitzva, like needing a tenth for a minyan. Rav and Shmuel argue in a case where one is mafkir (makes ownerless) his slave, whether or not he also needs to give the slave an emancipation document freeing the slave in order to permit marriage with a Jew. Rav says that one who sanctifies one's slave is really just freeing the slave, but also needs to give an emancipation document to permit marriage with a Jew. Three other sources say that one who sanctifies a slave needs to bring the value of the slave to the Temple, thus indicating against Rav that one is not setting the slave free. Each difficulty is resolved.