Comentários de Citação sobre Deuteronômio 15:14

ואם לבנו ייעדנה, “but if he designated her (as a wife) for his son, etc.” If the master had intended to marry the girl in question herself, no additional act of betrothal is necessary as the money he paid to her father when he “bought” the girl constitutes the money or equivalent a groom has to give to the father of a minor. He had to add the words הרי את מקודשת לי, “you are betrothed to me, etc.” (according to Maimonides hilchot avadim 4,7) If, however, he had not meant to marry her himself but had intended for his son to marry her, then the Torah adds: כמשפט הבנות יעשה לה, “he has to deal with her according to the rights of free women.” She is a Jewish girl and the master acts as her father in this instance. In practice this means that her master (the groom’s father) must provide the appropriate (22,16) dowry for her from his own funds. Seeing that she is a Jewish girl, all the provisions the Torah has made in Deut. 15,14 that the master has to provide a stake for a Jewish servant who is released from service are to apply to her also. This is an act of kindness towards her by G’d.

TAKE, I PRAY THEE, MY BLESSING. I.e., the gift. Likewise, Make your blessing with me⁸⁸II Kings 18:31. means “bring me a gift” or “make your peace with me.” So also, Take a blessing of thy servant⁸⁹Ibid., 5:15. means “take a present from thy servant.” They called a gift which a man sends of his own free will “a blessing” because he sends it from that with which G-d had blessed him, just as the verse states, Wherewith the Eternal thy G-d hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him,⁹⁰Deuteronomy 15:14. and just as Scripture said above, And he took of that which he had with him.⁹¹Above, 32:14. However, a specific gift of that which has been agreed upon as due the king is called mas (tribute).

So that people would say: Rather the dung of Yitzchok’s mules... Otherwise why does it say, “Until he became very great”? [The next verse details his wealth! Perforce,] it comes to tell us the extent [of his blessing]. Thus Rashi mentions mules, since mules [ordinarily] have no blessing at all, as Rashi explained in Devarim 15:14.

ולא יראו פני ריקם AND NONE SHALL APEAR BEFORE ME EMPTY — According to the plain sense of the verse this is an independent statement and does not refer to the firstborn just mentioned — because in connection with the command concerning the firstborn there is no duty of appearing before the Lord; but it is another (a separate) prohibition merely connected by a conjunctive ו with the former statement and means: when you go up to the festival gathering to Jerusalem to appear before the Lord, none shall appear before Me empty; it is your duty to bring the burnt offering prescribed for the appearance before My face (Chagigah 7a). According to the Halachic explanation of the Boraitha this portion of the verse is redundant (since the same commandment already appears Exodus 23:15) and is consequently “free” (מופנה) to be used for a גז"ש (an analogy based on verbal similarity in two texts, viz., the word ריקם here and in the text Deuteronomy 15:13 לא תשלחנו ריקם “thou shalt not let him go away ריקם”) — it is repeated here after the law about the first born to teach you that the outfit given to a Hebrew slave when he leaves your service should consist of five Sela’im-worth of each of the things (mentioned Deuteronomy 15:14: thy sheep, thy threshing floor, and vinepress) just as the ransom of the firstborn is five Sela’im. Thus are we taught in Treatise Kiddushin 17a.