Kiddushin

[animals] about to die, yet [ritually] slaughtered, than flesh of dying animals which have perished;1 ‘and thou hast a desire’ — even if she is not beautiful; ‘unto her’ — but not her and her companion;2 ‘and thou shalt take’ — thou hast marriage rights3 over her;4 ‘to thee to wife,’ [teaching] that he must not take two women, one for himself and another for his father, or one for himself and another for his son: ‘then thou shalt bring her home [to thine house].’ teaching that he must not molest her on the [field of] battle.5 Our Rabbis taught: But if the servant shall plainly say;6 he must say and reiterate [it]. If he declares [thus] at the beginning of the sixth year. but not at the end, he is not bored, for it says. ‘I will not go out free’: [hence] he must say it when about to depart. If he says it at the end of the six[th year], but not at the beginning, he is not bored, for it is said: ‘But If the slave shall plainly say’: he must say it while still a slave. The Master said: ‘If he declared [thus] at the beginning of the six[th year] but not at the end, he is not bored, for it is said: I will not go out free; [hence] he must say it when about to depart.’ Why choose [to learn this] from ‘I will not go out free’: deduce it because we require [that he shall say]. ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children,’ which is absent.7 Furthermore, ‘if he says it at the end of the six[th year], but not at the beginning, he is not bored, for it is said . . . "the slave"’: is he then not a slave at the end of the sixth year?8 — Said Raba: [It means,] At the beginning of the last perutah[‘s worth of service], and at the end thereof.9 Our Rabbis taught: If he has a wife and children, but his master has no wife and children, he may not be bored, for it is said, because he loveth thee and thine house.10 If his master has a wife and children, but he has no wife and children, he may not be bored, for it is said: ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children’. If he loves his master but his master does not love him, he may not be bored, for it is said: ‘because he is well with thee.’11 If his master loves him but he does not love his master,12 he may not be bored, for it is said: ‘because he loveth thee’. If he is an invalid but his master is no invalid, he may not be bored, for it is said, because he is well with thee.13 If his master is an invalid but he is no invalid, he may not be bored, for it is said, with thee. 14 R. Bibi b. Abaye propounded: What if both are invalids? Do we require, ‘with thee’ [to be applicable], and it is; or perhaps we require, ‘because he is well with thee,’ which is absent? The question stands. Our Rabbis taught: ‘Because he is well with thee’: he must be with [i.e., equal to] thee in food and drink, that thou shouldst not eat white bread and he black bread, thou drink old wine and he new wine, thou sleep on a feather bed and he on straw. Hence it was said: Whoever buys a Hebrew slave is like buying a master for himself. Our Rabbis taught: Then he shall go out from thee, he and his children with him:15 R. Simeon said: if he is sold, are then his sons and daughters16 sold?17 Hence [we learn] that the master is liable for his children's keep.18 Similarly you read: If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him:19 R. Simeon said: If he is sold, is then his wife sold? Hence we learn that the master is responsible for his wife's keep. Now, both are necessary. For if we were informed [this] of his children, [I would say] that is because they cannot work for a living;20 but as for his wife, who can work for a living, I would say: Let her earn her keep. While if we were informed [this] of his wife, that is because it is not meet for her to go begging; but as for his children, for whom it may be seemly to go begging,21 I might say: It is not so. Hence both are necessary. Our Rabbis taught: cannot be humanized, nor primitive passions subdued. Yet the Rabbis endeavoured to curb them as far as possible and minimize their evil effects: the captive was to be kindly treated, given the full legal status of a wife, and unmolested in actual battle, — possibly because in cool blood he would altogether recoil from his intentions. follows from certain passages: Pe'ah, VIII, 7; Shab. 2a, 151b; Sifre, Deut. 116 and elsewhere. But women did not beg, and in consequence it was held more meritorious to support a needy woman than a man (Hor. III, 7; J.D. 251, 8).