출애굽기 21:8의 주석

אם רעה בעיני אדניה IF SHE BE EVIL IN THE EYES OF HER LORD — i. e. that she did not find favour in his eyes so that he might be induced to marry her (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 21:8:1).

L’AM NOCHRI’ HE SHALL HAVE NO POWER TO SELL HER. “Neither her master nor her father has the right to sell her to another [Hebrew man].⁷³Rashi thus interprets l’am nochri [literally: “unto a foreign people”] as signifying “unto a strange man,” i.e., to another Israelite. Thus the verse is stating that neither the father nor the master has a right to resell her. Ramban will question this interpretation. Seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her — if he [i.e. the master] intends to act deceitfully towards her and not to fulfill the commandment of designating her as his wife [or his son’s]. So also did her father act deceitfully towards her, by selling her to this master.” Thus far Rashi’s language. And if so, l’am nochri would be like l’ish nochri (to a strange man), but we find in all Scripture no parallel to such a usage [that am (people) should be understood in the sense of “man”]. Perhaps the letter lamed in the word l’am draws along with it a similar letter in the next word, thus making it: ‘l’am l’nochri’ he shall have no power to sell her, and the explanation thereof would be similar to the verse, Thou gavest him to be food ‘l’am l’tziyim’ (to the folk inhabiting the wilderness)⁷⁴Psalms 74:14. where the second word l’tziyim explains: who is the folk? — the men who inhabit the wilderness; so here too He says, he shall have no power to sell her ‘l’am’, and He explains: who is l’am? — l’nochri, that is to say, to any stranger from the whole people [i.e., to another Israelite]. The term nochri here will then be similar in usage to the expressions: and thy labors in the house of a ‘nochri’ (stranger),⁷⁵Proverbs 5:10. which means in the house of another man; even from the ‘nochriyah’ (the strange woman) that maketh smooth her words,⁷⁶Ibid., 2:16. meaning the woman who is not his wife. All this I have written in order to uphold the words of the Sages⁷⁷Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Shimon — in Kiddushin 18a. who say that a man is not permitted to sell his daughter twice into the status of a handmaid, thus holding to the explanation: since he has once dealt deceitfully with her [by selling her to such a status of a handmaid], he has no more the right to sell her.
But I have seen in the Mechilta:⁶⁰Mechilta here on the Verse. “‘L’am nochri’ he shall have no power to sell her, — this is a warning to the court that he [i.e., the father] should not sell her to an alien [i.e., a non-Israelite].” It would thus appear from their language that this verse is not meant as an admonition against the father reselling her to this Israelite master or to another one, but is a prohibition against her being sold altogether [even the first time] to a non-Israelite, so that a man may not sell his minor daughter to an idolator as a handmaid. [It was necessary for this to be stated] because in the case of a Hebrew servant He said, and he sell himself unto the stranger who is a settler with thee, or to the offshoot of a stranger’s family,⁷⁸Leviticus 25:47. therefore it had to say that this should not be done to a woman. The reason for it is obvious.⁷⁹“That she not be exposed to the dangers of immorality.” (Bachya). This surely is the plain meaning of Scripture, that after the father — the vendor — redeemed her from her first master, he cannot sell her to an idolator, and the same law applies to the original sale. Scripture, however, [had to state this prohibition in the case of a re-sale], because sometimes a man may very much want to redeem his daughter from a master who did not take her as his wife, and will want to sell her to an idolator for a year or two with the intention of then taking her out from him; therefore Scripture warned him against doing this. Or it may be that this expression [i.e., ‘l’am nochri’ he shall have no power to sell her] refers back to the beginning of this subject: And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant⁸⁰Verse 7. — he shall have no power to sell her to a foreign man. If so, then the Rabbis’ interpretation in the Talmud⁷⁷Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Shimon — in Kiddushin 18a. that a man may not resell his daughter into the status of a handmaid, [even to an Israelite], is derived [not from ‘l’am nochri’ he shall have no power to sell her, but] from the [apparently] superfluous expression: seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. For to a non-Israelite he never has power to sell her; so why did G-d say: seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her, [since he cannot sell her even once to a foreign man], and the meaning of that expression is that since he acted once deceitfully with her by selling her into a status of a handmaid, he cannot do so another time? Therefore the Rabbis interpreted the verse thus: “to a foreign people he shall have no power to sell her [altogether], and when he hath dealt deceitfully with her [he also has no power to sell her];” that is to say, he shall have no power to sell her if he dealt deceitfully with her, for after he sold her once [to an Israelite], he cannot sell her again. There are many instances where the Rabbis interpreted the verses in such a manner. [Thus we find: Unto the stranger that is within thy gates thou shalt give it that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner⁸¹Deuteronomy 14:21. — which Rabbi Meir interpreted]:⁸²Pesachim 21b. “Read the verse thus: unto the stranger that is within thy gates thou shalt give it that he may eat it, or thou mayest sell it; thou shalt give it that he may eat it or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner.” Similarly they interpreted here⁸³Kiddushin 4a. then shall she go out for nothing, without money,⁸⁴Verse 11. which, on account of the redundant language, [“for nothing,” “without money”] they made the basis for two additional ways of the Hebrew maidservant regaining her freedom: “she shall go out for nothing, and she shall go out without money;” thus establishing that she goes out to freedom when she produces signs of puberty, or signs of fuller development if she had no signs of puberty — this being that maturity of the barren woman, [who is incapable of conception], as is stated in the beginning of Tractate Kiddushin.⁸³Kiddushin 4a.
The plain meaning of Scripture in this section is as follows: If a man sell his minor daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as these menservants, [i.e., the Hebrew menservants] mentioned [above in Verses 2-6,] who go out to freedom in the seventh year and in the jubilee year: for the master⁸⁵In the Tur who quotes Ramban: “the father.” That is to say, if the maiden pleased the master and he wishes to marry her, the father cannot take her out from his house. can never send her away from his house if the maiden pleases him and she obtains kindness of him,⁸⁶See Esther 2:9. but he is to take her for a wife as is his will. But if she pleaseth not her master, who has not espoused her to be his wife — for he who buys an Israelite’s daughter does so with the intention of taking her as his wife, thus she is under ordinary conditions designated for him; but now if her master does not desire her, then shall the father mentioned redeem her, for as soon as the master says: “I do not want to marry her,” it is forbidden for the father to leave her any longer under his authority, nor may he sell her to a foreign people in case he comes to deal deceitfully with her, for it is deceit for a man to sell his daughter except to someone who can marry her. Or the meaning thereof may be that anyone who sells his daughter [even to an Israelite], deals deceitfully with her.

אם רעה בעיני אדוניה, even though the normal procedure is what we outlined in verse seven, her “master” does not have to marry her if he finds her incompatible, as otherwise he would eventually come to hate her. However, in such a situation the father and the master have to cooperate in releasing her from her obligation as servant.

אשר לא (ו) יעדה והפדה, who has espoused her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. The reason the word lo is written with the letter א while it is read as if it were spelled with the letter ו, is explained in Kidushin 19 to mean that her espousal must meet with her approval. The master cannot marry her against her wishes. The Talmud derives it from the word יעדה. The Torah therefore begins the verse with "if she is displeasing in the eyes of her master" as describing a hindrance to the marriage which originates with the master. Concerning a hindrance due to the girl, the Torah writes אשר לא יעדה, to indicate that she was the party who did not agree. As a result, i.e. if either party declines to marry the other, והפדה, the legislation of facilitating her release by deducting time not served becomes applicable. If the parties agree to marry, there is no cause for the girl's prior release.

אם רעה בעיני אדוניה, and as a result he does not want to keep the implied agreement to marry her, she will not leave his employ in the manner her male counterparts would leave, but, seeing that he committed a breach of trust by not finalising the deal and marrying her (violating what the prophet Maleachi 2,14 called “the Lord is a witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have broken faith, although she is your partner and covenanted spouse,”) והפדה, the master has to assist her by releasing her prematurely, by allowing her to compensate the employer for unexpired years of service.

לעם נכרי לא ימשל למכרה, “he must not sell it to a member of a different family.” Our sages deduced from this wording that a father must not sell his daughter into service again after she has been released from her first master. Similarly, her first master, instead of releasing her, is also prohibited to sell her services to someone else, seeing he has not kept the promise that was implied when he first acquired her services contractually from her father. He had betrayed her trust by not marrying her when she attained the age of puberty or shortly thereafter. It is also possible that the meaning of our verse is to inform us that the criteria which apply to someone who sells himself, occasionally even to a gentile (Leviticus 25,47) if he cannot find a Jewish employer who pays his wages years in advance, so that he can pay back money he owes, are not the criteria that apply to a young girl’s father, or her employer, although, basically, her father had the right to sell her services as had her employer to buy her services, effectively preventing her from quitting he employment prematurely. This is why the Torah warns that no father has the right to sell the services of his daughter to a gentile. The Torah adds that if the father had bought his daughter out of her original contract (when it became clear that her employer had no intention to marry her, for instance) he is not allowed to sell her services to a gentile instead. He cannot do so even for a very short period of time. Another possibility of understanding our verse is: “when a father is about to sell the services of his daughter the minor, his authority is restricted to his doing so to a Jewish employer.” At any rate, at all events we derive from this verse that a second sale of the same girl by either the father or her former employer is absolutely prohibited. The extra wording in the verse that enables us to derive this rule is בבגדו בה, “seeing he has betrayed her.” The prohibition not to sell her to a gentile would have been clear from the words לעם נכרי לא ימשול למכרה, “he has no authority to sell her to a gentile.” Nachmanides writes that the plain meaning of the verse is as follows: when a man sells his daughter’s services the rules of her release from service are not identical to those applying to males mentioned earlier, such as her being wed by her employer, for instance. If this is the case, the father cannot redeem her by some means to prevent her becoming married to said employer. [the girl herself can, of course, decline such offer of marriage. Ed.] If she does not find favour in the eyes of her employer so that he wants to marry her, the father cannot sell her services instead to anyone else, seeing that he had betrayed her originally by selling her services to someone who had no intention of making her his wife.

אם רעה בעיני אדוניה אשר לא יעדה, “if she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who had designated her for himself (as a wife).” Nachmanides writes that anyone who “buys” a Jewish daughter does so with a view to marrying her. She is automatically considered as designated for her master as a wife. If, after getting to know her while she worked for him, he changed his mind, her father has to assist in her redemption (the word והפדה refers to the first subject in the verse, i.e. the word איש). It is forbidden for the girl’s father to allow her to continue in the service of a man who does not plan to wed her after the master expressly says: “I do not want her.” He has no authority to sell her to a Gentile master. Even though the Torah permitted the master of a Hebrew servant to sell him to a Gentile (compare Leviticus 25 47) where sale to a גר תושב, a resident stranger is expressly permitted, this permission does not apply to girls. This is in order to ensure that Gentiles do not treat Jewish girls or women as inferior. This is the plain meaning of these verses. Thus far Nachmanides.

Here the Torah implies that it is a mitzvah for him to marry her. [Rashi knows this] because it says, “If she is displeasing to her master,” providing the reason why he did not marry her. Thus we infer that if she is not displeasing, he should marry her. Since the Torah calls her marriage יעוד (designation), rather than saying: “had not married her,” we learn that she requires no other marriage ritual.

V. 8. יעד .אשר לו יעדה, verwandt mit יחד, bezeichnet vorwiegend die Bestimmung einer persönlichen Vereinigung, הִוָעֵד: sich gegenseitig zu einer Vereinigung, einer Zusammenkunft zu bestimmen, מועֵד: Zeit oder Ort zu einer solchen Zusammenkunft. Hier: die Bestimmung einer ehelichen Vereinigung. Dem Grundbegriffe des Wortes יעד gemäß wird Kiduschin 19 a, obgleich sonst dem Vater bei minderjährigen Töchtern das Recht zusteht, ohne deren Einwilligung für sie die Traugabe entgegenzunehmen und sie dadurch dem Manne ehelich zu verbinden, hier in diesem Falle die Einwilligung des Mädchens gefordert, אין יעוד אלא מדעת דידה, in dem Begriffe selbst liegt der beiderseitige Entschluss. So fasst dies auch Ramb. Hilch. Abadim IV 8 auf. תוספו׳ jedoch (das. 5a) fasst dies in einer Weise auf, dass auch hier die Einwilligung des Mädchens nicht gefordert werde. — יעדה ist Präteritum, bezieht sich daher auf den Akt des Kaufes zurück und kann ja auch nach dem לו :קרי gar nicht anders verstanden werden, da er sie ja jetzt nicht zur Ehe will. Er hat vielmehr, wie bereits zu V.7 bemerkt, gleich von vornherein mit Aushändigung des Geldes an den Vater "sie für sich zur Ehe bestimmt." Diese Bestimmung war aber nicht eine absolute, sie war noch seiner spätern Erklärung vorbehalten, sie war eine bedingungsweise. Daher das לא :כתיב er hatte sie sich bestimmt und nicht bestimmt. Da aber das לו :קרי und das לא :כתיב, und nicht umgekehrt lautet, in allen קרי und כתיב aber das קרי das vorherrschende ist und das כתיב nur eine Modifikation hinzufügt, so ist auch hier damit gesagt, dass מצות יעוד קודמת, dass in erster Linie ihm die Pflicht der Ehelichung obliegt und von ihm erwartet wird.

והפדה, “he must help her to obtain her freedom;” the unusual phrasing means that he must do more than the law requires to give her freedom, i.e. enable her to avoid having to become someone else’s “slave” due to her being penniless. Rashi explains our verse as follows: if the servant girl had been sold for six years service, for say 600 dollars, and she had only worked for two years, her master must give her 400 dollars upon her going free. If you were to ask what did it cost her master to give her the 400 dollars, seeing that he had received the correct percentage of the work performed? The answer is that the girl’s services becoming worth more every year she grew closer to adulthood, the master had paid her for work performed while she was too young to be worth what he had paid for. In other words, the master did sustain a financial loss by her early release.

אבל אם רעה, “but if she is ugly, etc.” the term רעה while often used to describe moral ugliness, is also used to describe physical ugliness, i.e. being “sourfaced,” as we know from when Joseph asked the baker and cupbearer who had dreamt dreams which had upset them. Compare Genesis 40,7: ?מדוע פניכם רעים היום, “why do you look so crestfallen today?” בעיני אדוניה, “in her master’s eyes;” so that he does not wish her to remain in his house as a prospective bride until she will have completed her years of service;

אשר לו יעדה means: [IF SHE BE EVIL IN THE EYES OF HER LORD] WHO OUGHT TO HAVE DESIGNATED HER to be his wife and ought to have married her, her purchase-money serving as the money necessary to contract a marriage (כסף קידושין). Scripture hereby implicitly tells you that it is his duty to designate her for himself, and since it makes no mention of the manner in which the marriage is to be contracted it implicitly tells you at the same time that she requires no other rite of marriage than the passing of the purchase-money from the master to her father (cf. Kiddushin 19a, Bekhorot 13a).

IN HIS BREAKING FAITH WITH HER - Since he is breaking faith with her in that he does not designate her, as it is written in Malachi (2:14) regarding the wife of one's youth, "you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner and covenanted spouse."

לעם נכרי לא ימשול למכרה בבגדו בה, the father of the girl in question who had already betrayed her by “selling” her initially. We know that even Lavan’s daughters were angry at what they considered their father having done when he “sold” them into marriage. (compare Genesis 31,15) The Torah describes here the negative impression it makes on any of his peers when he observes a Jewish father selling his daughter’s services for something other than marriage. Once an employer/prospective husband, has done this no other Jewish father is allowed to sell his daughter to such a man. [the word נכרי does not refer to a non Jew, but to a Jew who acted contrary to Jewish mores. Ed.]

For he, too, must aid in her redemption. Since it does not say ונפדת (she shall be redeemed), rather והפדה (lit. he shall make her redeemed), we learn that the master must aid in her redemption by calculating for her [the years she already served].

לעם נכרי, to another party, etc. The Torah has to legislate this in order to inform us that though the father has a right to sell his daughter, he does not have the right to sell her לעם נכרי. The words לא ימשול למכרה "he has no auhority to sell her," indicate that if the father sold her without a view to eventual marriage by her master or his son, such a sale is invalid because he has betrayed the girl's trust. The moment the father or the master has betrayed his trust he has forfeited every right to buy or sell this girl.

והפדה da von dem folgenden לא ימשל, wie wir zeigen werden, nur der Vater das Subjekt sein kann, so ist auch von והפרה wohl der Vater das Subjekt: wenn der Herr hintendrein erklärt, sie nicht heiraten zu wollen, so hat der Vater ihre Auslösung zu bewirken; ist er zu Vermögen gekommen, so wird er zur Auslösung gezwungen, oder, wenn er noch unvermögend ist, so ist die Familie dazu anzuhalten (Kiduschin 18 a). Es hat aber auch der Herr dazu mitzuwirken, indem er ihr das verhältnismäßig bereits Abgediente von dem zurück zu erstattenden Gelde abzulassen hat: שמגרע פדיונה ויצאה (das. 16 a)

יעדה, based on the word מועד, “appointed time;” it is used here as in Samuel II 20,5: מן המועד אשר יעדו, “from the appointed time that he (David) had set for him.” The spelling and reading of this word are יעדה and יעדו respectively.

והפדה means he shall afford her the opportunity to obtain her release from service — that he himself must cooperate in respect to the amount of her ransom. And what is this opportunity he has to give her? That he allows her a deduction from her ransom corresponding to the number of years she has served in his house, as though she were only hired by him. How can this be done? Supposing he had bought her for a maneh (one hundred shekels) and she had served him two years. We say to him: “You knew that she was to go free at the end of six years; it follows then that you bought the labour of each year for one sixth of a maneh. Now she has served you two years, that is the equivalent of one-third of the maneh: accept therefore two-thirds of a maneh as a ransom and let her go free out of your house (Kiddushin 14b).

HE SHALL LET HER BE REDEEMED. He reduces her redemption price and she goes out through redemption, according to the number of remaining years.

Neither the master nor the father. Since it says that the master should designate her to himself, or to his son, why would we think he could sell her? Therefore, we must say that “He has no power to sell her” means that even the father may not sell her.

Another aspect discussed in Kidushin 19 is the right of the father to sell his daughter to a master who is forbidden to marry her by Jewish law, such as a widow to a High Priest or a divorcee to an ordinary priest. By precluding the father's right to sell his daughter to עם נכרי, a member of an alien people, the Torah implies that a sale to the above-mentioned categories is legally valid seeing the buyer is a Jew.

לעם נכרי לא ימשל וגו׳ kann sich unmöglich auf den Herrn beziehen, er hat ja überhaupt nicht das Recht, sie weiter zu verkaufen, auch nicht an einen, der nicht unter עם נכרי zu begreifen wäre. Es ist vielmehr auch hier der Vater Subjekt. עם נכרי: wir haben schon wiederholt zu bemerken die Gelegenheit gehabt, wie עם durchaus nicht bloß den Gesamtkreis eines Volkes bedeutet, wie vielmehr das jüdische Volk als aus einer Mehrheit von Kreisen bestehend begriffen wird, deren jeder ein עם ist; daher ja der gewöhnliche Ausdruck: הכרת מעמיה ,רכיל בעמיך ,בעל בעמיו ,עמיך ,עמיו usw. Ein jeder Familienkreis ist עם, und עם נכרי ist: ein ihr fremd bleibender Familienkreis. Vergl. נכריות נחשבנו לו (Bereschit 31, 15) נכר׳ לבנ׳ אמ׳ (Ps. 69, 9). Er, der Vater, hat nicht das Recht, sie in einen Kreis hinein zu verkaufen, der ihr fremd bleiben muss oder fremd bleiben soll. Er darf sie nur einem Manne verkaufen, dessen Kreis sie durch seine oder (V.9) seines Sohnes Heirat angehörig werden kann und eventuell soll. אין מוכרה לקרובים Kiduschin 18 b). Er darf sie nicht an solche Blutsverwandte verkaufen, mit denen) die Eingehung einer Ehe unmöglich ist, darf sie auch nicht verkaufen על מנת שלא ליעדה mit der ausgesprochenen Bestimmung, dass die Ehe nicht erfolgen soll, und hat daher auch ihre Loskaufung zu bewirken, sobald der Herr erklärt, sie nicht heiraten zu wollen.

והפדה, “in order to release her.” Seeing that neither her master nor his son are prepared to marry her, and he does not want her to release herself, but prefers for her to continue to work for him on a socially demeaning level, he has to release her and pay her some compensation. [We must remember that her master had paid her father in advance for up to six years service. Ed.]

לעם נכרי לא ימשל למכרה means that neither the master nor the father has a right to sell her to another Jewish man (Kiddushin 18a),

בגד ב־ בבגדו בה: sich jemandem nur als Kleid erweisen. Mit dem Kleide, das wir anziehen, erteilen wir einem jeden den Anspruch an uns, in uns einen Menschen zu finden und nur Menschenwürdiges von uns erwarten zu dürfen. Rechtfertigen wir das in uns gesetzte Vertrauen nicht, so "sind wir ein Kleid", dem der innere Mensch fehlt. Ähnlich מעל und מעיל, das Priestergewand. מעילה ist die Täuschung in einer heiligen Angelegenheit. Man hat uns priesterliches Vertrauen geschenkt und wir haben uns als "Priesterrock" bewiesen. Der Vater hat sich unväterlich gegen sein Kind benommen, anders als ein Kind von einem Vater zu erwarten berechtigt ist.

והפדה, according to Rash,i he must contribute to the cost of cancelling her contract, i.e. that she must repay for the years of the contract she had not fulfilled her part of. The master must forfeit part of what he could have claimed, as his contribution. You might well ask what the difference is between גרעון and סיוע? (verse 10) Since she has repaid the master for the years she has not worked, what loss did the master experience? Her value as a maid increased with every she grew closer to puberty. We might therefore have assumed that the value of her work is not based on the same amount each year. By not getting back more per year for the last three years this girl did not work, than for the each of the first three years when she was quite young, the master actually did experience a loss, גרע, by releasing her from her contract early.

בבגדו בה SEEING THAT HE HATH DEALT DECEITFULLY WITH HER — If “he” means the master then these words signify: if he intends to deal faithlessly with her, i. e. if he does not intend to fulfil the commandment of “Jiud” (of designating her to himself). So also the father — he has no right to sell her to another man since he has dealt faithlessly with her as a father having sold her to this man (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 21:8:4; Kiddushin 18b).

לעם נכרי, “to an unrelated person;” (compare Ibn Ezra) to anyone other than her master he must not “sell her” to have dominion over her.

לא ימשול למכרה, “he must not abuse his position of mastery even to marry her off (with her consent) to someone other than himself or to his son.” למכרה, “to hand her over.” We find this term used in this sense also in Judges 4,9: כי ביד אשה ימכור ה' את סיסרא, “for the Lord will hand over Siserah into the hand of a woman.”

בבגדה בה “seeing he had betrayed her trust.” By not going through with his promise to marry her when she was old enough, he had betrayed her trust. The expression “betrayal” occurs often in relationships between husband and wife. It describes usually the break up, severance of married life with a partner. Our author quotes verses from Maleachi 2,14, and Jeremiah 3,20, where the prophet in each case refers to Israel having betrayed its relationship with Hashem. Some commentators understand the words: לעם נכרי as referring to a Canaanite, seeing that Canaanites are referred to as נכרי in Judges 19,12: אל עיר נכרי אשר לא מבני ישראל המה, “to a foreign city that does not belong to the Children of Israel.” Also in Kings I 8,41: ובא הנכרי אשר לא מעמך הוא, “or if a foreigner who is not a member of your people comes, etc;” there too the reference is to the Canaanite. Some commentators explain the words as follows: the subject of the word והפדה, is not the girl’s master but her father; he will have the right to cancel the contract and get his daughter released from its terms seeing that he has reneged on his promise to marry her.

לעם נכרי, “to any other nation;” i.e. the father does not have the right to sell his daughter to anyone but a Jewish master. He might have been under the impression that since the Torah permitted him to sell his daughter while she is a minor, it does not matter to whom he sells her. After all, seeing that the Torah did not forbid him to sell himself to a gentile if his fellow Jews did not help him to stay financially afloat, so why could he not do the same with his daughter? Therefore the Torah had to expressly forbid him to do this.

בבגדו בה, “for having betrayed her,” as this was forbidden.”