(Wenn einer sagte :) "Ich habe meine Tochter verlobt" (oder :) "Ich habe sie verlobt und geschieden [dh ich habe sie akzeptiert], als sie minderjährig war", und sie ist minderjährig [jetzt, wenn er sagt es wird angenommen, dass er sie vom Priestertum ausschließt. Denn ein Vater wird in Bezug auf seine Tochter geglaubt, solange sie minderjährig ist, und es steht geschrieben (5. Mose 22, 16): "Ich habe meine Tochter diesem Mann gegeben" (wörtlich: "einem Mann, diesem" ). "zu (einem) Mann" verbietet sie allen Männern, denn wir wissen nicht, wem. Wenn er dann sagt: "das", erlaubt er sie ihm.] (Wenn er sagte :) "Ich habe sie verlobt und geschieden, als sie minderjährig war", und sie ist jetzt volljährig [dh wenn er das danach sagte sie wurde erwachsen, nachdem sie es als Minderjährige nicht gesagt hatte], wird ihm nicht geglaubt. (Wenn er sagte :) "Sie wurde gefangen genommen und ich habe sie erlöst", ob sie minderjährig oder volljährig ist, es wird nicht angenommen, dass er sie vom Priestertum ausschließt. Denn die Tora hat dem Vater nur in Bezug auf die Ehe Glauben geschenkt, aber nicht in Bezug auf die Gefangenschaft.] Wenn einer vor seinem Tod sagte: "Ich habe Kinder" [und meine Frau benötigt kein Yibum], wird er geglaubt. (Wenn er sagte :) "Ich habe Brüder" [und meine Frau benötigt Yibum (seine Frau, bis dahin wurde angenommen, dass sie es nicht benötigt)], wird ihm nicht geglaubt. Wenn man seine Tochter verlobte, ohne anzugeben (welche Tochter er beabsichtigte), sind die Bogroth (die im Alter der Mehrheit) nicht enthalten. [Denn sie unterliegen nicht der Gerichtsbarkeit ihres Vaters, von ihm verlobt zu werden. Und selbst wenn der Bogereth ihn zum Boten gemacht hat, um ihre Verlobung anzunehmen, sagen wir, dass ein Mann eine Mizwa, die ihm obliegt, nicht aufgibt, um eine Mizwa auszuführen, die ihm nicht obliegt. Aber seine minderjährigen und jungfräulichen Töchter benötigen alle die Möglichkeit (verlobt zu sein), denn wir wissen nicht, welche von ihnen er verlobt hat.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
וגרשתיה – I received her Jewish bill of divorce.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
Introduction
The main topic discussed in this mishnah is when a man is believed with regard to statements he makes that impact his children’s personal status. The general rule is that a man is believed to say that he has done something which he currently has the legal ability to do. We shall see examples of this in the mishnah.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
והרי היא קטנה – now when I said this about her.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
[If a man declares] “I have given my daughter in betrothal,” [or] “I gave her in betrothal and divorced her while she was still a minor,” and she is [now] a minor, he is believed. As we have learned already, a man has the legal right to betroth his daughter before she reaches majority age. He also has the legal right to accept a get on behalf of his married daughter as long as she has not reached majority age. If the daughter about whom this father is testifying is now a minor, he is believed to say that he betrothed her, or that he betrothed her and then accepted her get, since he currently has the power to perform either activity. The ramification of his being believed to state that he accepted her get, is that she will be disqualified from subsequently marrying a priest.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
נאמן – to make her disqualified from the priesthood [through marriage]. He is believed about his daughter all the time that she is a minor, as it is written (Deuteronomy 22:16): “[And the girl’s father shall say to the elders,] ‘I gave this man my daughter to wife…” When he said “[this] man, he prohibited her to everyone else, for we do not know to whom [it was that he was talking about], and when he returned and said to this one, he made her permissible to him.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
“I gave her in betrothal and divorced her while she was still a minor,” and she is now of majority age, he is not believed. If she is now an adult (past 12 1/2 years old), he is no longer believed if he makes these statements, since he no longer has the legal right to either accept betrothal or a get on her behalf. We should note that this limits the power of the father over his daughter. Once she is past a relatively young age, he has no legal right to make decisions regarding her kiddushin, nor can he make any statement which would severely impact her status.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
והרי היא גדולה – and if he said this after she had grown [into adulthood], but did not say this when she was still a minor, he is not believed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
“She was taken captive and I redeemed her,” whether she is a minor or of majority age he is not believed. A woman who was taken captive is forbidden from subsequently marrying a priest (see Ketubot 2:5). This is because it is assumed that her non-Jewish captors had sexual relations with her and a woman who has had intercourse with a non-Jew is forbidden from marrying a priest. The father is not believed if he states that his daughter was taken captive, no matter how old she is when he offers such testimony. A father does not have the legal right to give his daughter in marriage to a non-Jew and therefore he doesn’t have any special right to testify about this having happened in order to thereby prohibit her to a kohen. Note that when she is a minor the father does have another means by which to prohibit his daughter to the priesthood; he can testify that he betrothed her and then accepted her divorce. Nevertheless, he does not have the right to testify that she was taken captive.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
נשבית ופדיתיה וכו' אינו נאמן – to disqualify her from the priesthood, for regarding marriage, the All-Merciful (i.e., the Torah) believes the father; regarding her being taken captive, he is not believed.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
If a man declares at the time of his death “I have sons,” he is believed; “I have brothers,” he is not believed. This section discusses a man who offers testimony which will impact his wife’s subjectivity to the laws of yibbum. By stating that he has sons he is exempting her from yibbum. He is believed because if all he wanted to do was exempt her from yibbum he could divorce her. However, he is not believed to state that he has brothers, thereby obligating her for yibbum. Unless we know that he has brothers, he (or others) would have to bring evidence to make his wife subject to yibbum.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
יש לי בנים – and my wife will not be dependent upon her brother-in-law (who in the case of his brother dying without issue enters into his estate and marries his wife).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Kiddushin
If one betroths his daughter without specifying which, the daughters of majority age are not included. This section connects back to the previous mishnah as well as to the next mishnah. If a father states that he betrothed one of his daughters, but does not remember which one he betrothed, all of his minor daughters are in a state of possible betrothal, since he has the legal right to betroth any of them. None of them can marry until the matter is clarified. However, the girls who are of majority age are not doubtfully betrothed since the father has no legal right to betroth them.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
יש לי אחים – and my wife will be dependent upon her brother-in-law, but up until now, she was in the status that she would not be dependent.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Kiddushin
אין הבוגרות בכלל – because they are not in the domain of the father to become betrothed, and even though he had made the adult daughter an agent to receive her betrothal, we say (Kiddushin 64b) that a person does not put aside a Mitzvah which [primarily] rests on him [to see to the betrothal of his daughter] and perform one which is not incumbent upon him [concerning his adult daughter]. But minors and girls between the ages of twelve and twelve-and-one-half require a Jewish bill of divorce, out of doubt, for we don’t know which of them he (i.e., the father) had betrothed.
