1עבד עברי עושה ביום אבל לא בלילה ר׳ יוסי אומר הכל לפי אומנותו. אבל הכל שוים שלא ילמדנו לא צבע ולא טבח ולא נחתום לרבים ולא יטלנו לכסא ולא יטול [כליו] לפניו למרחץ ולא יסמוך לו את מתניו ולא ישיפנו ולא יסיכנו:
A Hebrew slave does work by day but not by night. R. Jose said: It all depends on his occupation. All agree that [the master] should not teach him to be a dyer, a butcher, or a baker for the public.1But he can serve him privately in these capacities. MS.K. and H add ‘or a money-changer to the public’. He should not carry him to the privy or carry his clothes before him to the bath-house or gird his loins for him,2[H understands the phrase to mean ‘support his master in walking’.] massage or anoint him.
2אוכל ממה שהוא אוכל ושותה ממה שהוא שותה מיסב אצלו ויושב כנגדו אפי׳ היה בטל. לקה או שחלה אינו מחשב לו את בטלונו ברח וחזר מחשב לו את בטלנותו:
He eats the same food and drinks the same drink [as his master]; he sits at meals with him3MS.K. and H add ‘and sleeps facing him’. even if his stomach is full.4lit. ‘heavy’, i.e. he is not hungry. This is the reading of MS.K. and H. V has ‘even if he is idle’. If he is beaten or falls ill, [the master] does not reckon the time of his idleness,5i.e. he deducts the time the slave did not work from the period of service. but if [the slave] runs away and returns, he does reckon the time when he was not working.
3לא ימכור את עצמו ליקח לו כסות או מצעות אבל מוכר הוא את עצמו להחיות את נפשו:
[An Israelite] may not sell himself in order to obtain clothing or bedding, but he may sell himself to maintain himself alive.
4השלים את שניו לא ישלחנו ריקם. דכתיב (דברים ט״ו:י״ג-י״ד) וכי תשלחנו חפשי מעמך לא תשלחנו ריקם העניק תעניק לו ראב״ע אומר אם מתברך הוא על רגלו מעניק לו ואם לאו אינו מעניק לו אר״ע בין כך ובין כך לא יפחות (ס"א לו) מחמשים זוז. בכל מעניקים חוץ מעבדים ושטרות וקרקעות. אחד איש ואחד אשה אלא שהאיש קונה עבד עברי ואין האשה קונה עבד עברי:
When [the slave] has completed his term of years, he must not be sent away empty-handed, as it is written, And when thou lettest him go free from thee, thou shalt not let him go empty; thou shalt furnish him liberally.6Deut. 15, 13f. R. Eleazar b. Azariah says: If the house is blessed on his account he is furnished liberally, but otherwise not. R. ‘Aḳiba says: In either case [the master] should not give him less than fifty zuz. We give him as parting gifts anything except slaves, documents and immovable property.7i.e. things that do not grow from the soil, because Scripture ordained, Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy threshing-floor and out of thy wine-press (Deut. 15, 14). Both a man and woman [owner is under the obligation to give parting gifts] but only a man can acquire a Hebrew slave while a woman cannot acquire a [male] Hebrew slave.
5אין קונין ב׳ עבדים כאחד:
Two slaves should not be bought together, [so that a public sale should not be made with two slaves].7a(7a) The words in brackets are added by MS.K. The term ṭumaria, translated ‘public sale’, is obscure but it seems to indicate that too much publicity attaches to the sale of two slaves at once. [Krauss, Lehnwörter reads either טימיתא, ‘price’ (p. 264) or טימוס, ‘tax’ (p. 263).]
6המוכר את עצמו והבורח והיוצא בגרעון כסף אין מעניקין לו:
One who sells himself, one who runs away and one who gains his liberty by deduction of money does not receive parting gifts.
7הנמכר בגניבתו לא ימכר לא בשוק ולא באיטליז שנא' (ויקרא כ״ה:נ״ה) כי לי בני ישראל עבדים וגו׳:
He who is sold for committing a theft should not be sold either in the market-place or in a bazaar, as it is stated, For unto Me the children of Israel are servants.8Lev. 25, 55. They must be treated as human beings and not as chattels.
8המוכר את עצמו לעובד כוכבים קרובין וב״ד מצווין לפדותו. הוא אינו מצווה לפדות את עצמו שנא' (שם) אחד מאחיו יגאלנו או דודו או בן דודו יגאלנו וגו׳ שהיה רבי ישמעאל אומר ומה אחרים מצווים לפדותו הוא אינו מצווה לפדות את עצמו ומה אני מקיים (שם) או השיגה ידו ונגאל אלא מה הוא שיפדה את עצמו אינו חוזר לשיעבוד אף אחרים שפדו אותו אינו חוזר לשיעבוד ר׳ יוסי הגלילי אומר בית דין לשיעבוד וקרובים לחירות ר׳ עקיבא אומר ב״ד לחירות וקרובים לשיעבוד:
If [an Israelite] sells himself to Gentiles, his relatives and the Beth Din are commanded to redeem him, but he is not commanded to redeem himself, as it is stated, One of his brethren shall redeem him; or his uncle or his uncle’s son shall redeem him.9ibid. 48f. E.V. may redeem. To make sense of this passage we must read ‘he is [also] commanded to redeem himself’ instead of ‘but he is not commanded to redeem himself’. R. Ishmael learns this by a fortiori reasoning and uses the verse or if he be waxen rich, etc., from which it might be learnt that he need not sell himself again in order to repay those who have redeemed him. For R. Ishmael used to say: Seeing that others are commanded to redeem him must he not be commanded to redeem himself? [And if you ask] what do I make of the words, Or if he be waxen rich, he shall redeem himself?10ibid. [The meaning is,] that just as if he redeems himself he does not return to servitude, so if others redeem him he does not return to servitude.11In order to repay them. R. Jose the Galilean said: If the Beth Din [sell him he returns] to servitude,12To refund the money. but if relatives [redeem him it is] for his freedom; while R. ‘ Aḳiba said: If the Beth Din [redeem him it is] for his freedom but if relatives [redeem him he returns] to servitude.
9גנב מאתים ושוה מנה ימכר וחוזר ונמכר גנב מנה ושוה מאתים לא ימכר רא״א לעולם אל ימכר עד שיהא ממכרו וגניבתו שוים אל ימכר וישנה לו בגניבה אתת וחוזר לשררה שהיה בה דר״מ ר׳ יהודה אומר לא היה חוזר לשררה שהיה בה:
If he stole two hundred [zuz] and his valuation13As a slave. is only a maneh,14A hundred zuz. he is sold and sold again.15Each time for his valuation of one hundred zuz. [The correct reading is probably ‘not sold again’, cf. Ḳid. 18a (Sonc. ed., p. 82, n. 3.)] If he stole a maneh and his valuation is two hundred zuz he is not to be sold.16Since half of him cannot be sold (Ḳid. loc. cit.). R. Eliezer said: In no case should he be sold unless his sale price and the amount of his theft are equal. He cannot be sold and sold again for the same theft and he returns [after his servitude] to the rank which he formerly held. This is the view of R. Meir; but R. Judah said: He does not return to the rank which he formerly held.17[Cf. the discussion in Mak. 13a (Sonc. ed., p. 89). H has a different version of this paragraph: ‘If one has stolen a maneh and his valuation is a maneh, or [if he stole] two hundred [zuz] and his valuation is two hundred [zuz], he may be sold; but [if he stole] two hundred [zuz] and his valuation is a maneh he may not be sold. R. Eliezer said: He is not sold unless his sale price and his theft are equal. [If he stole] a hundred [zuz] and his valuation is two hundred [zuz], he may not be sold. He may not be sold and resold for another theft or for repayment of double (cf. Ex. 22, 3, 6, 8) or repayment of fourfold and fivefold (cf. ibid. XXI, 37). [After his servitude] he returns to the rank’, etc.]
