Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Same But Different

לזכות רפואת שרה רבקה בת בריינדל לאה ואיתמר בן מירי- מרים בתוך שח"י

Rav says [Kiddushin 47a] that if a man approaches a woman and says that he wants to marry her with a loan that she owes him, they are not married. The language of the gemara is המקדש במלוה אינה מקודשת. The rationale is that a loan is given to be spent - מלוה להוצאה ניתנה. Therefore, after she receives the money he can't "give" it to her again because it is already considered spent and if a man doesn't "give" something to a woman he can't be married [after marraige he should keep giving but that is another topic...]. OK. All is well.

Then the gemara says that this principle of the amora Rav is disputed by tannaim. One tanna maintains that one who marries a woman with a loan is married and the other tanna holds that he is not.

Fine.

Not fine.

If one started the masechta at daf מז everything is cool. But if one previously learned daf ו he begins to wonder. Their we have a statement by Abaye that ....המקדש במלוה אינה מקודשת. Same thing! Different Rabbi. But on daf ו it doesn't say that this statement is the source of a machlokes tannaim.

This is an important methodological point. When you have two parallel sugyos, it is worth your time and effort to compare and contrast and you will often see wonders of Toras Hashem.

Suggested HaGaon Rav Chaim Stein ztz"l, the Rosh Yeshiva of Telz [Ohel Chiya Page 998]: On daf ו Abaye is talking about someone who marries a woman with an absolute debt, in other words, money that is not בעין [the money is gone]. There we have no argument and the woman is not married. On daf מז we are talking about money that the man gave as a loan to the woman and she still has it. In such an instance, there is an argument whether she can be married with such a loan. Hence, the gemara says that the statement of Rav is a subject of a Tannaic dispute. [With this understanding in hand, he also resolves a difficult Rambam that has been the subject of much discussion over the centuries].

See also the Kuntres Orah Vi-simcha on Maseches Kiddushin by HaRav Yaakov Dovid Homnick Shlita for a very original proposal. [In Rav Homnicks sfarim, most called "Marbeh" something, he excels at comparing and contrasting parallel sugyos and showing what each one is teaching us].

For a few words on the sugya of Hamekadesh Bi-milveh you can see what was written recently, here.