Traité Gittin

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The mishna is referring to a slave belonging to two partners, and in that case everyone agrees that each one of them can emancipate his portion of the slave. Consequently, there could be a half-slave half-freeman even according to Rav Yosef’s understanding of the opinion of the Rabbis.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : § The Gemara discusses another dispute with regard to one who emancipates half of his slave. Rabba said: The dispute between Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi and the Rabbis concerning whether the slave can be half-emancipated applies only when the master freed half of him and left the other half of him unaffected. However, if he freed half of him and sold the other half of him, or gave the other half of him as a gift to someone else, then, since the slave left him entirely, as the original master no longer owns any portion of the slave, everyone agrees that the slave has acquired half of his freedom.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Abaye said to him: And do they not disagree with regard to a case where he is released entirely? But it is taught in one baraita: In the case of one who writes his property to his two slaves, i.e., gives it to them via a document, they acquired the property and they free each other, because each one has ownership over half of the other slave. And it was taught in another baraita that in the case of one who says: All of my property is given to so-and-so and so-and-so my slaves, they did not acquire even themselves, and all the more so they did not acquire the property. Seemingly, the two baraitot contradict each other.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Abaye continues his question: What, is it not that the way to reconcile the baraitot is to say that this, the first baraita, is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, that emancipation can take effect with regard to half a slave? And that, the second baraita, is in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis, who maintain that even when the master retains no hold on the slave, a slave cannot be partially released?

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara offers a different reconciliation: No, both this and that baraita are in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis. This first baraita is discussing a case where one said that he is giving all of his property to each one of the slaves. Since he gave everything to both of them, they each acquire the property, including each other, emancipate each other, and divide the property between them. That second baraita is discussing a case where one said that he is giving half of his property to one slave and half of it to the other, so neither is fully emancipated.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara challenges this explanation: But from the fact that the latter clause of the second baraita teaches: But if he said that he is giving half of his property to one slave and half of it to the other, they did not acquire the property, it may be inferred that the first clause is discussing a case where he said that he is giving all of his property to each one of them, and yet they do not acquire the property. The Gemara answers: There are not two separate cases in the baraita. Rather, the second clause is explaining the first clause of the baraita, as follows: They did not acquire even themselves. How so? For example, this is the halakha in a case where the master said that he is giving half of his property to one slave and half of it to the other.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara comments: So too, it is reasonable to say this, for if it enters your mind to say that the first clause of the baraita is discussing a case where he said that he gives all of his property to his slaves, and yet they do not acquire it, then the latter clause is unnecessary. Now that the mishna taught that if one said that he gives all of the property to his two slaves, then each slave did not acquire himself, is it necessary to state in the second clause that this is true when one gives half of his property to one slave and half of it to the other?

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara answers: If it is due to that reason, there is no conclusive argument. One could say that the tanna taught the latter clause to shed light on the first clause, so that you do not say: The first clause is discussing only a case where one said that he gives half of his property to one slave and half to the other, but if one said that he gives all of it to both of them, then they did acquire the property. Therefore, the tanna taught the latter clause, where it explicitly discusses a case where he said that he gives half to one and half to the other, and by inference it is clear that the first clause must be discussing a case where he said that he gives all of it to both of them, and even so they did not acquire the property.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And if you wish, say instead that it is not difficult. It is possible to reconcile the two baraitot differently: Here, in the second baraita, where they did not acquire the property, this is a case where the master wrote everything in one document. The reason the slaves do not acquire themselves is that it is not possible to emancipate two slaves with one document. There, in the first baraita, which rules that they did acquire the property, the case is one where the master wrote the transfer of property in two documents.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara asks: If the second baraita is referring to a case where he wrote everything in one document, why specifically mention that the slaves do not acquire themselves when he gave half to one and half to the other? Even if he said all of it as well, they did not acquire the property, as was taught explicitly in the beginning of the baraita. The Gemara answers: That is also what the tanna is saying: They did not acquire even themselves. In what case is this statement said? In a case where the master wrote everything in one document. But if he wrote it in two documents, they acquired the property. And if the master said that he gives half to one and half to the other, then even if he wrote it in two documents they also did not acquire the property.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And if you wish, say instead that it is not difficult, and it is possible to reconcile the two baraitot differently: Here, the first baraita, where they did acquire the property, is referring to a case where he gave them the documents simultaneously. There, the second baraita, where they did not acquire, the property is referring to a case where he gave them the documents sequentially.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara questions this explanation: Granted, if the master gave the documents sequentially, the last slave did not acquire, for the first slave had already acquired him, as the second slave was among the possessions transferred via the first document. However, the first slave should acquire himself and should also acquire the other slave, as he was given all of the property in one document. Due to this objection, the Gemara concludes: Rather, it is clear as we initially answered, and in any case it is referring to when he gave both documents simultaneously.