Si uno fuera mitad esclavo-mitad libre [como cuando era el fiador de dos maestros, y uno de ellos lo liberó], o de lo contrario, cuando su maestro recibió la mitad de su valor de él y liberó la mitad de él por ese dinero], él sirve a su maestro un día, y a sí mismo el otro día. Estas son las palabras de Beth Hillel. Beth Shammai les dijo: "¡Han 'enmendado' a su maestro, [que no pierde nada], pero no lo han enmendado!" No puede casarse con una esclava, porque está medio libre. No puede casarse con una mujer libre, porque es medio esclavo. No casarse—¿No fue creado el mundo para la fecundidad y la multiplicación, a saber? (Isaías 45:18): "No por nada lo creó; para ser habitado lo formó". Más bien, debido al "bien general", su amo se ve obligado a liberarlo, y él (el sirviente) escribe una factura de la deuda por la mitad de su valor. [Lo mismo ocurre si él fuera el esclavo de cien socios y uno de ellos lo liberara. Todos se ven obligados a liberarlo.] Y Beth Hillel se revirtió para gobernar según las palabras de Beth Shammai.
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
מי שחציו עבד וחציו בן חורין – such as a slave of two partners, who was freed by one of them. Alternatively, his master received from him half of his financial worth, and freed that half on account of those funds.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Introduction
This mishnah deals with a person who is half a slave and half free. This could happen if he was owned jointly by two masters and one of his masters freed him but not the other.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
תקנתם את רבו – who is not lacking for anything
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
One who is half a slave and half free works for his master one day and for himself one day, the words of Beth Hillel. Beth Hillel seems to make a reasonable suggestion for what to do in this situation. The half-slave splits his time between working for his master and working for himself.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
לישא שפחה אינו יכול – because of the side of “freedom” within him.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Beth Shammai said to them: you have set things right for the master but you have not set things right for the slave. He cannot marry a female slave because he is already half free, and he cannot marry a free woman because he is half a slave. Shall he then decease [from having children]? But wasn’t the world only made to be populated, as it says, “He did not create it as a waste, he formed it to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18)? Rather because of tikkun olam we compel his master to emancipate him and he writes a document for half his purchase price. Beth Shammai responds in what is in my opinion one of the more remarkable statements in the Mishnah. Beth Hillel’s solution for the half slave is beneficial to his master but leaves the half slave in an untenable position. Slaves and free people cannot marry. Since this person is a half slave, he can marry neither a slave nor a free woman. However, the commandment of having children “be fruitful and multiply” applies to everyone, even slaves and half slaves. The halakhah cannot allow a situation where a person has no one to marry. The world, after all, was formed by God for it to be inhabited, and not for it to lay desolate of human beings. Therefore, because of tikkun olam, his master is forced to free him, thereby allowing him to marry a free woman. The slave merely writes a document for half of his value and owes that amount to the owner.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
בת חורין אינו יכול – because of the side of enslavement within him.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Beth Hillel retracted [their opinion and] ruled like Beth Shammai. Indeed, Beth Shammai’s argument was so compelling that Beth Hillel changed their opinion and ruled like Beth Shammai.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
כופין את רבו ועושהו בן חורין – And the same law applies if he was the slave of one-hundred partners and one of them freed him; we force all of them to free him.
