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29a: Mitzvot for Men and Women

29a: Differences Between Men and Women

A scan of the classic printed daf can be found at:

http://dafyomi.org/index.php?masechta=kiddushin&daf=29a&go=Go

http://www.e-daf.com/dafprint.asp?ID=2684 

Key words and phrases in Hebrew and Aramaic are marked in blue, and their translation/ explanation can be seen by placing the cursor over them. 

From time to time, the shiur will include instructions to stop reading and do some task on your own.  This will be marked by a

red pause box
 It is highly recommended that you follow those instructions.  I am working on a way to have your computer melt if you don't, but as of yet, the technical details are still beyond me.

Within the quoted texts, my explanations and additions are also noted in red.

The central concern of Massekhet (Tractate) Kiddushin is the procedure of kiddushin, which is the first stage of halakhic marriage.  Toward the end of the first chapter, the massekhet digresses to discuss halakhic differences between men and women, which in turn leads to other important discussions.  It is this part of the massekhet that will serve as the topic of study in our shiur.

As mentioned in the introductory shiur, it is highly advisable that you follow along in a standard text of the Gemara.  I will note where the selection we are studying can be found in the classic format.

We will begin our study from the mishna on 29a.  Note that the abbreviation מתני appears in bold and large font on the 12th line of the text.  This stands for "matnitin," which means "our mishna."  The mishna concludes, and the gemara begins, where the abbreviation גמ appears in the text.

Without further ado, let's begin!

 

 

Mishna All mitzvot of the son on the father -

men are obligated and women are exempt.

 

And all mitzvot of the father on the son -

both men and women are obligated.

 

And all positive mitzvot that time causes -

men are obligated and women are exempt.

And all positive mitzvot that time does not cause - both men and women are obligated.

And all negative mitzvot, whether time causes them or time does not cause them -

both men and women are obligated,

except for the prohibitions of rounding, destroying and defiling by corpses.

מתני' כל מצות הבן על האב -

אנשים חייבין ונשים פטורות.

וכל מצות האב על הבן -

אחד אנשים ואחד נשים חייבין.

וכל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמא -

אנשים חייבין ונשים פטורות.

וכל מצות עשה שלא הזמן גרמא - אחד האנשים ואחד הנשים חייבין.

וכל מצות לא תעשה, בין שהזמן גרמא בין שלא הזמן גרמא -

אחד האנשים ואחד הנשים חייבין,

חוץ מבל תקיף ובל תשחית ובל תטמא למתים.

The mishna here compares the obligations of men and women with regard to various different areas of Halakha.  The first two groupings of responsibilities relate to parents and children.  Mitzvot that a parent does on behalf of a child apply to men but not to women.  Conversely, mitzvot that apply to children with regard to their parents are equally relevant to men and women.  The gemara will explain exactly what these two categories include.

The mishna continues with a set of rules that applies to all mitzvot.  Mitzvot asei she-hazeman geramah, time-bound positive commandments, apply to men but not to women.  On the other hand, positive mitzvot that are not time-oriented apply equally to men and women.  The gemara will discuss the parameters and sources of this differentiation, and we will delve more fully into the issue at that point. For now, we will simply note that a "time-bound" positive mitzva is one that applies only at specific times, such as the mitzva of shofar, which applies only on Rosh Ha-shana, or the mitzva of sukka, which applies only on Sukkot.

In contrast to positive mitzvot, halakhic prohibitions apply to both men and women, regardless of whether their application is brought on by time.  Thus, for example, women are obligated to avoid prohibited melakha (labor) on Shabbat, just as men are obligated.  The issue of time is simply not a relevant factor when it comes to prohibitions.

The mishna concludes by noting the three exceptional cases in which prohibitions apply only to men and not to women.  One is the prohibition of "bal takif" (see Vayikra 19:27), which refers to removing the hair at the corners of one's head (commonly known as pei'ot, or "corners"), thus creating one even hairline from the front of the head to the top of the ears; doing so is called "rounding" because it would make the hairline at the top of one's head look rounded.  The second exception is the prohibition of shaving one's face with a razor (ibid.); if a woman were to remove hair from her face in this manner, she would not violate any prohibition.  Finally, a woman is not included in the prohibition of contracting tuma (ritual impurity) from a corpse.

A short explanation of some basic rules of tuma is in order here. If one comes into contact with a corpse, moves it (even without direct contact) or takes cover under the same roof as a corpse, he becomes tamei, and may not enter the Beit Ha-mikdash (Temple) or eat sanctified food.  While there are other ways to become tamei, corpse-tuma is the most severe form of tuma and cannot be removed without the para aduma (red cow, the ashes of which are mixed with spring water; see Bamidbar 19).  It is not forbidden to become tamei, with one exception - a kohen (priest; descendant of Aharon) may not contract tuma from a corpse unless it is in the context of caring for a deceased immediate relative, in which case he is actually obligated to become tamei (Vayikra 21:1-4).  A woman who is the daughter of a kohen, though she does share some of the privileges of the priestly lineage, is not included in this prohibition.  It should be noted that we are all considered to have contracted corpse-tuma nowadays (since we have no para aduma waters).  Nevertheless, one attains a higher level of tuma at the time one is actually in contact with a corpse (in any of the three ways we mentioned above).  Therefore, the prohibition against a kohen becoming tamei remains in effect.

Let us continue with the gemara.  We begin from the "גמ," which stands for "gemara."  It appears in our text a little less than halfway down the page. 

 

Gemara What are "all the mitzvot of the father on the son?"

If you say all the mitzvot that a son is obligated to do for a father, (are) women (really) exempt?

 

But it states in a beraita: "'Man' (Vayikra 19:3) - I only have man, woman from where?

When it says 'You shall revere, each man, his mother and his father,'

we have two!"

Rav Yehuda said, this is what it means to say:

all the mitzvot of the son that are incumbent upon a father to do for his son -

men are obligated and women are exempt.

גמ' מאי כל מצות הבן על האב?

אילימא כל מצות דמיחייב ברא למיעבד לאבא, נשים פטורות?

והתניא: איש - אין לי אלא איש, אשה מנין?

כשהוא אומר: (ויקרא יט) איש אמו ואביו תיראו -

הרי כאן שנים!

אמר רב יהודה, ה"ק (=הכי קאמר):

כל מצות הבן המוטלות על האב לעשות לבנו -

אנשים חייבין, ונשים פטורות. 

This gemara opens by questioning the meaning of the mishna's opening statement, which is somewhat ambiguous.  Does "mitzvot of the son on the father" refer to things that a father must do for his son or to responsibilities that a son has toward his father?  The gemara clarifies the issue by examining the implications of the latter suggestion. In order to understand the gemara's analysis, two introductory notes are necessary.  Firstly, with regard to children's obligations toward their parents, there are two complementary mitzvot - honoring one's parents (kavod), from Shemot 20:11, and revering them (mora), based on the verse quoted in our beraita.  The gemara will eventually discuss the relationship between the two.  If our mishna were to be understood as making a blanket statement that women are exempt from all obligations toward their parents, that would mean that they are exempt from kavod and from mora.  This conclusion is untenable, as the gemara proves based on a beraita.

As explained in last week's introductory shiur, the Mishna is a collection of teachings compiled by Rabbi Yehuda Ha-nasi at the beginning of the third century of the Common Era.  The sages quoted in the Mishna are known as the tanna'im, and they lived in the two centuries or so preceding Rabbi Yehuda Ha-nasi. There were many teachings of the tanna'im that were preserved but were not included in the Mishna. They are known as beraita, which literally means "outside," because of their exclusion from the Mishna.  This fact does not mean that these teachings were deemed halakhically irrelevant, and the Gemara commonly quotes beraita'ot as the sources for halakhic rulings.  Some beraitot were eventually collected in a separate compliation called the Tosefta (lit. Appendix).  Most massekhtot have a set of toseftot that parallel the mishnayot, often with additions or differences.  The Tosefta is printed at the very back of standard editions of each massekhet of the Gemara.

In our case, the gemara quotes a beraita that discusses the mitzva of revering one's parents.  The pasuk that informs us of this obligation states, if translated literally: "Man, his mother and his father, you shall revere" (Vayikra 19:3).  The beraita notes that based on the introductory word "man" (ish), one might think that this directive applies only to males and not to females.  However, the commandment concludes with the word "tira'u," "you shall revere," which is written in plural (as opposed to the singular tira); this indicates that the command is addressed to multiple people; not just to men, but to women as well.

The fact that the beraita quotes a pasuk allows us the opportunity to point out a tool available in standard editions of the Gemara. You will note that there is a circle over the word "ish."  That symbol means that a pasuk is being quoted, and the margin between the text of the Gemara and Rashi gives the source (book and chapter) of the pasuk.  In our case, it says "sham 19."  Sham means "there" (i.e,. ibid.), and the first citation of the page (in that same margin) refers the reader to the Book of Vayikra.

Having proven that women are obligated in the mitzva of revering their parents (and, by extension, honoring them as well), the gemara rejects the possibility that the mishna intends to release women from obligations toward their parents.  Rather, as Rav Yehuda explains, the mishna teaches that women are released from certain obligations toward their children.

Having reached this conclusion, the gemara continues by quoting another beraita that elaborates on the specifics of a father's obligations toward his children.  We are ten lines from the end of the short lines in the gemara on 29a.

 

We have learned in mishna that which the rabbis taught (in a beraita):

A father is obligated regarding his son to circumcise him, and to redeem him,

and to teach him Torah, and to find him a wife, and to teach him a trade;

and some say even to teach him to swim in water.

Rabbi Yehuda says: Anyone who does not teach his son a trade teaches him banditry.

 

Do you really think that he teaches him banditry?

Rather, it is as though he teaches him banditry.

תנינא להא דת"ר (=דתנו רבנן):

האב חייב בבנו למולו, ולפדותו,

וללמדו תורה, ולהשיאו אשה, וללמדו אומנות;

וי"א (=ויש אומרים): אף להשיטו במים.

רבי יהודה אומר: כל שאינו מלמד את בנו אומנות - מלמדו ליסטות.

ליסטות ס"ד (=סלקא דעתך)?

אלא, כאילו מלמדו ליסטות.

Having concluded that our mishna teaches that only a man is obligated with respect to certain responsibilities toward a son, the gemara notes that this teaching corresponds to that which we learn in a beraita.  The beraita mentions a list of parental responsibilities in the context of a father.  The implication is that only the father, and not the mother, is obligated in these responsibilities.  Since the beraita specifies what these obligations are, it also helps us to better understand the full import of our mishna.

The first two responsibilities are specific mitzvot that apply when a child is very young.  Circumcision is performed at the age of eight days.  Redemption refers to the mitzva of pidyon ha-ben, "redemption of the son."  It applies to a baby boy who is the firstborn child to his mother and whose parents are not kohanim or levi'im. When the child reaches the age of 30 days, his father must give 5 sela'im to a kohen.  

The final set of obligations are ways in which a father is obligated to give his son the tools to live productively and independently.  A father must teach his son Torah so that he can keep the mitzvot and live a meaningful religious life.  Additionally, he must help his son get married so that he can have a family, and he must teach him a trade so that he can support himself.  Some say that he must teach him to swim as well, so that the son will be able to stay safe.

Rabbi Yehuda adds that teaching a trade is so critical that if a father does not fulfill this obligation it is as though he has taught his son to be a bandit. With no means to support himself, it is highly likely that the son will turn to criminal activity.

The gemara goes on to analyze this beraita and the sources for its rulings; we will tackle that analysis next week.

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