daf bit: Kiddushin 14

[cellio]

The mishna teaches: a Hebrew slave is acquired by money or by deed (I think this means by court sentence), and acquires himself (his freedom) by serving six years, by the occurrence of the Yovel (Jubilee) year, or by paying his pro-rated debt. It's easier for a Hebrew maidservant; she acquires herself by showing signs of puberty. (14b)

I had not previously known that women, as opposed to girls, could not be slaves (to Jews). Of course, that could be clarified somewhere in the g'mara that I'm not seeing here; there's a lot of g'mara...

(Today's daf is actually 15, but it's in the middle of an argument depending heavily on precise terminology, and I didn't think I could do it justice for the morning minyan.)

Comments

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

Deed means a contract. "I Reuven am selling myself to you Shimon for six years of servitude as a Hebrew slave. Signed Levi & Yehudah, witnesses."

maidservants

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

Just a note: a girl who was "sold" was expected to either be freed or married off to her former owner when she was of age, and she had the right to refuse that marriage just like any other. IIRC there were also serious limits on who could sell her: I think it was only her parents or possibly an older brother acting as a guardian (he would have to be older since he would have to be a legal adult and she would have to be a legal child).

The general purpose of making a girl a maidservant was to make sure that she was fed, housed, etc (following the general rules for slaves) until she was old enough to be fed, housed, etc by a husband, so that girl children wouldn't starve if their families fell into poverty.

[cellio]

Oh, that kind of deed. Oops.

So what does money mean? I thought it was selling oneself into servitude -- the same idea as your contract.

Re: maidservants

[cellio]

Thanks! I didn't know all that.

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

Much to do is made over when exactly the transaction occurs, because if there is a change between say, signing the contract and paying, it matters. One can buy a slave without a contract (using money), or sign a contract of slavery without money (assuming the slave is willing to be enslaved for free...unlikely but theoretically possible. The master does have to feed and clothe the slave, so it could make some sense. Also, if the master wanted to buy the slave before he has the money to buy him, he can acquire the slave before paying. Slavery doesn't require cash up front.)