The Weekly Daf #387
Kiddushin 62-68
Issue #387 Parshat Pinchas
Week of 18 - 24 Tammuz 5761 / July 8 - 14, 2001
By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions
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PULLING STRINGS

A man gives a woman the value of a pruta, the minimum required 
for making kiddushin, but he makes this kiddushin conditional on 
his interceding on her behalf with the authorities; if he 
subsequently fulfills his condition by speaking to the 
authorities regarding her indebtedness to them, the kiddushin is 
valid.

This ruling of the mishna does not seem to offer us any new 
information, asks Tosefot, and should be challenged in the same 
manner as is an earlier mishna (Kiddushin 60b) as to why it is 
necessary to repeat the simple principle that a fulfilled 
condition validates kiddushin.  Tosefot answers that we might 
have otherwise assumed that the woman can claim that she was not 
satisfied with the way he interceded on her behalf.

Rambam (Laws of Marriage 5:19) adds a couple of words to the 
description of the man's fulfillment of his condition:  The man 
spoke to the authorities, he writes, and they gave her a break 
and did not press their claim.

This is understood by one of the commentaries (Korban Netanel on 
the Rosh) as a paraphrase of the Tosefta cited by Rosh which 
states that he fulfills his condition by "speaking to the 
authorities in the manner of interceders."  The intent of the 
Tosefta and Rambam is to communicate that if the man who made 
this condition only succeeded in gaining for the woman a 
deferment of payment, it is considered a fulfillment; the woman 
cannot contest the kiddushin by claiming that she consented to it 
only because she expected him to achieve total cancellation of 
her debt.  He was required only to "speak in the manner of 
interceders," and this he certainly did.

Beit Yosef, in his commentary on the Tur Even Haezer (38:12), 
understood the Rosh as citing the Tosefta as a challenge to the 
approach of Tosefot, and variations of these approaches appear in 
the Beit Chadash on Tur (ibid.), Tosefot Yom Tov on the mishna, 
and Rashash.

* Kiddushin 63a


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PATRILINEAL JEWISHNESS - A MODERN MYTH

In a case where one of the parties is not marriageable according 
to Jewish Law, says the mishna, the child born of their union has 
the status of the mother; i.e., a Jewish father and a non-Jewish 
mother - the child is considered a non-Jew.

What is the source for this rule?  Rabbi Yochanan, in the name of 
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, based it on the following passages in 
the Torah:
  
  "You shall not intermarry with them [the non-Jews]; 
  you shall not give your daughter to his son in 
  marriage nor shall you take his daughter as a wife 
  for your son.  For - he [the non-Jewish father] - 
  shall turn away your [grand]son from Me and they 
  will serve other gods, and Hashem's anger shall be 
  kindled against you, and you will be quickly 
  destroyed." (Deuteronomy 7:3-4)

Intermarriage is prohibited for both a Jewish boy and girl.  The 
consequence of a grandchild being turned away from his Jewish 
faith is, however, mentioned only in regard to the non-Jewish 
father but not in regard to the non-Jewish mother.  The 
conclusion is that the child of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish 
father is considered Jewish, and the danger of his being diverted 
from his faith is relevant; while the child of a Jewish father 
and a non-Jewish mother is considered non-Jewish, and the 
consequence of his being diverted from the Jewish faith is 
irrelevant.

* Kiddushin 66b


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