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1) A DOCUMENT CAN ACQUIRE SLAVES

(a) (Mishnah): With a document...
(b) Question: From where do we know this?
(c) Answer (Ula): "If (a master that married his Amah (Yisraelis slave)) will take another wife" - this equates a slave to a wife;

1. Just as a wife can be acquired through a document, also an Amah.

(d) This fits the opinion that the master writes the document to acquire an Amah.
(e) Question: According to the opinion that the father writes the document - we cannot learn from here!

1. (Rav Huna): The master writes the document to acquire an Amah;
2. (Rav Chisda): The father writes it.

(f) Answer (Rav Acha bar Yakov): "She will not go out as (Canaanite) slaves go out" - but she is acquired as slaves, namely, through a document.
(g) Question: Why not say, she is acquired as slaves - through Chazakah!
(h) Answer: "You will bequeath them (Canaanite slaves) to your children (as an inheritance)" - they are acquired as an inheritance (through Chazakah), but not others (Yisrael slaves) through Chazakah.
(i) Question: Why not say, they are acquired through a document, but not others!
(j) Answer: "She will not go out as slaves" - but she is acquired as slaves, through a document.
(k) Question: Why not learn the other way - "You will bequeath them" teaches that a document does not work, and "She will not go out" teaches that Chazakah works!
(l) Answer: It is more reasonable to learn that a document works, since it can divorce a Bas Yisrael.
(m) Question: Rather say that Chazakah works, for it can acquire Hefker property!
(n) Answer #1: We do not find that Chazakah works regarding marriage.
(o) Answer #2: Since the Torah equated an Amah to a wife, we learn a document, which also acquires a wife (even if the documents are written by different parties).
(p) Question: Rav Huna does not need "She will not go out as slaves go out" to teach that she is acquired through a document - what does he learn from it?
(q) Answer: That she does not go free if her master destroys one of her extremal limbs.

1. Rav Chisda: If the Torah only wanted to teach that, it would have said "She will not go out as slaves"; it added "as slaves go out", to also teach about their acquisition.

(a) (Mishnah): A slave acquires his freedom through (serving 6) years.
(b) We learn from "Six years he will work; in the seventh..."
(c) (Mishnah): And in Yovel.
(d) We learn from "Until the Yovel year he will work with you."
(e) (Mishnah): Through paying his redemption (decreased according to the years worked).
(f) (Chizkiyah): "She will be redeemed" - this teaches that her redemption is reduced, and she goes free.
(g) (Beraisa): A slave can acquire himself through money or something worth money or a document.

1. We know the source for money - "From the money of his purchase".
2. We also know the source for something worth money - "He will return his redemption", to include something worth money.

(h) Question: What is the case of the document?

1. Suggestion: If the slave wrote a document, saying that he owes the master his redemption - this is redemption through money!

(i) Answer: Rather, it is a Get of freedom.
(j) Question: Why is a document needed - the master can simply say in front of 2 witnesses, or in front of Beis Din, 'Go'!
(k) Inference (Rava): Since the Tana considers a document as a method of freedom - it must be, it is not enough to say 'Go' - we infer, a Hebrew slave is acquired bodily to his master (not just his earnings);

1. Therefore, the master cannot pardon the slave of his bondage, a Get of freedom is needed.

(a) (Mishnah): An Amah acquires herself as a male slave, or by becoming a Na'arah.
(b) (Reish Lakish): A Kal va'Chomer teaches that an Amah acquires herself when her father dies.

1. Becoming a Na'arah does not make her leave her father's jurisdiction, but it frees her from her master - death of her father, which makes her leave her father's jurisdiction, all the more so it frees her from her master!

(c) Question (R. Hoshaya - Mishnah): An Amah acquires herself as a male slave, or by becoming a Na'arah.

1. According to Reish Lakish, the Mishnah should also list death of the father!

(d) Answer #1: The Tana omitted some cases.

1. Question: (He would not omit only 1 case) - what else did he omit?
2. Answer: Death of the master.
3. Rejection: That does not count as something omitted, for it also applies to male slaves!

(e) Answer #2: Rather, the Tana omitted death of the father because it varies (when he will die), he only listed things that are fixed.

1. Question: But becoming a Na'arah is not fixed (it depends on when she grows hairs)!
2. Answer (Rav Safra): Although it might not happen for a long time, there is a lower limit - she cannot become a Na'arah before she is 12.

i. (Beraisa): A boy no more than 9 years old that grew 2 hairs - they are Shuma (not signs of adulthood);
ii. A child (the Gemara in Nida explains that this clause speaks of a girl) over 9 but no more than 12 that grew 2 hairs - they are Shuma; R. Yosi says, they are signs of adulthood;
iii. A boy above 13 that grew 2 hairs - they are signs of adulthood.

(f) Question (Rav Sheshes - Beraisa - R. Shimon): Four types of slaves receive gifts when they go free; 3 apply to men, 3 to women, 4 cannot be found in either gender, because men do not go free at adulthood, and a woman cannot be Nirtza'as.

1. According to Reish Lakish, R. Shimon should include a woman going free when her father dies!

(g) Answer #1: The Tana omitted this case.
(h) Rejection: The Tana said there are (only) 4!
(i) Answer #2: The Tana omitted death of the father because it varies, he only listed things that are fixed.

1. Question #1: But becoming a Na'arah is not fixed, and R. Shimon taught it!
2. Answer: We can answer as Rav Safra (although there is no upper limit, there is a lower limit - she cannot become a Na'arah before she is 12).
3. Question #2: But death of the master is not fixed, and R. Shimon taught it!
4. Answer: No - the 4 ways of leaving he speaks of are: 6 years; Yovel; a Nirtza leaving in Yovel; a girl leaving at Na'arus.

i. Support: He said that you cannot find 4 ways by a woman - if he includes death of the master, there are 4 ways by a woman!

(j) Question (Rav Amram - Beraisa): These slaves receive gifts: one who leaves - after 6 years; in Yovel; when the master dies; an Amah when she becomes a Na'arah.

1. According to Reish Lakish, the Tana should also list death of the father!

(k) Answer #1: The Tana omitted this case.
(l) Rejection: The Tana said 'these' (are the only cases)!
(m) Answer #2: The Tana only listed things that are fixed.

1. Question #1: But becoming a Na'arah is not fixed, and he taught it!
2. Answer: He taught it because it has a lower limit.
3. Question #2: But death of the master is not fixed, and R. Shimon taught it!
4. Reish Lakish is refuted.

(n) Question: Reish Lakish had a Kal va'Chomer - why is he wrong?
(o) Answer: There is an objection to the Kal va'Chomer: she goes free at Na'arus because her body changed - this does not apply to death of the father.

(a) (Beraisa #1): A Hebrew slave, male or female, keeps his own gifts;
(b) Contradiction (Beraisa #2): An Amah - her gifts and objects she finds, they belong to her father; the master gets compensated for the time she took to take the found object.

1. Suggestion: The first Beraisa is when she left upon becoming a Na'arah, the second is when she left upon death of her father.

(c) Answer: No - in both, she left upon becoming a Na'arah;

1. Beraisa #1 is when she left after her father's death; Beraisa #2 is when she left in her father's lifetime.

(d) (Beraisa #1): An Amah keeps her own gifts.

1. This teaches that her brothers do not get them.
2. (Beraisa): "You will bequeath them (Canaanite slaves) to your children" - but you do not bequeath your daughters to your sons.

i. This teaches that sons do not inherit the privileges a man had in his daughter.

(e) Question: Why did Beraisa #1 teach that a male Hebrew slave keeps his own gifts - who else would get them?!
(f) Answer #1 (Rav Yosef): Indeed, we learn nothing from this part of the Beraisa.
(g) Answer #2 (Abaye): The Beraisa is as Tutoy.

1. (Beraisa - Tutoy): "To (the slave)" - and not to his creditor.

(h) (Beraisa): These slaves receive gifts: one who leaves - after 6 years; in Yovel; when the master dies; an Amah when she becomes a Na'arah;

1. But a slave that runs away, or is redeemed, does not receive gifts;
2. R. Meir says, a slave that runs away gets no gifts, but a slave that is redeemed receives gifts;
3. R. Shimon says, 4 types of slaves receive gifts when they go free; 3 apply to men, 3 to women, 4 cannot be found in either gender, because men do not go free at adulthood, and a woman cannot be Nirtza'as.

(i) Question: From where do the Tana'im learn who receives gifts?
(j) Answer (Beraisa): One might have thought, the only slave that receives gifts here is one who leaves after 6 years - "You will send him...when you will send him" includes one who leaves in Yovel; when the master dies; and an Amah when she becomes a Na'arah;

1. Suggestion: Perhaps we should even include one who runs away, or is redeemed!
2. Rejection: "When you will send him free from you" - gifts are only when the master sends the slave, to exclude these cases, where the slave left by his own volition.
3. R. Meir says, one who runs away gets no gifts, for the master did not send him; one who redeems himself gets gifts, for the master sends him (by receiving the money).
4. Question: Why would we think that one who flees gets gifts - he must complete his service!

i. (Beraisa): "Six years he will serve you" - this teaches that a slave that flees must complete his term;
ii. One might have thought, even if a slave that was ill must complete his term - "In the seventh year he will leave" teaches that this is not so.

5. Answer (Rav Sheshes): The case is, the slave fled, and Yovel came (before he returned).

i. One might have thought, since Yovel frees him, it is considered as if the master sent him, and he receives gifts - we hear, this is not so, he is fined and gets no gifts.

(k) Question: The Beraisa said, even if a slave was ill, "In the seventh year he will leave" - this should apply even if he was ill all 6 years!

1. (Beraisa): If he was sick for 3 years and worked for 3 years, he need not work any more; if he was sick all 6 years, he must complete his term of service.

(l) Answer (Rav Sheshes): He goes free (even if sick all 6 years) as long as he was doing some work during his illness (e.g. sewing).
(m) Question: The beginning of the Beraisa said, if he was sick for 3 years and worked for 3 years, he need not work any more - we infer, had he been sick 4 years, he would have to complete the time missed;

1. The end of the Beraisa said, if he was sick all 6 years, he must complete his term - implying, if he was sick 4 years, he is exempt!

(n) Answer: The Beraisa means, if he was sick for 4 years, it is as if he was sick all 6 years, he must complete his term.