One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
אִישׁוּת
Marriage 5
Sefer Nashim · What a man may consecrate a woman with, why a loan already spent and a favor already done are worth nothing here however large they were, and the ruling in which the coin travels from the woman to the man and the kiddushin hold
1
Prutah, the whole threshold, and its value is in doubt from town to town
1/5
Added to the value owed the treasury when he used dedicated property unknowingly
200
Zuz whose extended term is itself the benefit that consecrates
0
Given her by an important person who accepts her dinar, and she is consecrated
Part 1What a man does not own well enough to give
- Forbidden benefit is not money. Consecration with a mixture of milk and meat, with chametz on Pesach, or with anything forbidden to derive benefit from is void, and this holds even where the prohibition is Rabbinic, as with chametz in the sixth hour on the fourteenth of Nisan. (5:1)
- Proceeds work, except from a false deity. Money received for selling a forbidden article does consecrate, but not money received for a false deity, nor the dung of cows consecrated to one, since nothing condemned may cling to the hand; the dung of an ox condemned to be stoned does consecrate, being negligible beside the ox. (5:2)
- Sacred produce, sorted by what he may do with it. Sabbatical produce, the ashes of the red heifer and water drawn for sprinkling all consecrate; dedicated Temple property consecrates when he did not know it was dedicated and not when he did; second tithe never consecrates, since it is not his to use until redeemed. (5:3, 5:4)
- A mouth is not a title. A priest's share of the offerings does not consecrate, since he was permitted only to eat it, while the great terumah, terumah of the tithe and first fruits do, as do a Levite's first tithe and an Israelite's tithe of the poor; terumah inherited through a maternal grandfather consecrates because it may be sold, while terumah an Israelite separates from his own heap does not, since choosing the priest is a privilege and not money. (5:5, 5:6)
- Stolen and shared property. Robbed property consecrates only where the owner despaired and the despair conferred title; taking an object from a colleague's house consecrates nothing even if the owner later says he would have given something better, since he speaks to prevent shame; and dividing partnership merchandise without the partner is void, a division requiring evaluation by the court. (5:7, 5:8, 5:9)
RememberTwo men hold terumah neither may eat. The one who can sell it is holding money. The one who can only choose the priest is holding a privilege.
Part 2Everything that arrived too early to still be there
- A loan is given to be spent. Consecration with a debt she owes him, even one recorded in a promissory note, is void, since a loan is given to be spent and nothing presently exists for her to benefit from; a loan against collateral does consecrate when he returns the collateral, and so does the benefit of extending a loan of two hundred zuz, though making that condition is forbidden as resembling interest. (5:13, 5:14, 5:15)
- Repaying her is not giving her. Where he repays a debt he owes her and speaks before she accepts, silence suffices if they were engaged and explicit consent is needed if they were not; where he speaks after she has accepted, she is not consecrated even with explicit consent, since she took only what was rightfully hers and the debt was discharged when she took it. (5:12)
- Silence counts only in one position. Remaining silent after money has been given is of no consequence, so a deposit already accepted for safekeeping requires her to agree out loud, while a statement made before she takes the article makes her silence sufficient. (5:11)
- A finished favor is a debt. Speaking to the ruling authorities on her behalf does not consecrate without a prutah of his own, the benefit being regarded as a loan, and neither does work performed for her, since a worker earns his wages continuously and by completion they have become a debt she owes. (5:19, 5:20)
RememberExplicit consent can supply what silence lacks. It cannot supply an object that is no longer on the table.
Part 3Benefit as the object, and what the container is worth
- A present to a third party. Where she asks him to give a present to another and be consecrated by it, the kiddushin are binding, since she benefits from her will being carried out and the recipient benefits because of her; the same holds where a third party gives her a dinar so that she become consecrated to someone else who then invokes that benefit. (5:21, 5:22)
- The important person. Where she gives him a dinar as a present and he accepts it and consecrates her by the pleasure she received in his accepting from her, she is consecrated if he is an important person, since she derives satisfaction from his having benefited from her and consecrates herself for the sake of that satisfaction. (5:22)
- Nothing that must come back. Security given until he brings the dinar does not consecrate, since it was not given to be hers, and a dinar given on condition that she return it does not consecrate whether she returns it or not; security held for a third party's debt does consecrate, a creditor having rights in it. (5:23, 5:24)
- Dates, and the last one. Where dates are given one by one and eaten as they arrive, only the final date decides, the eaten ones having become a loan, while dates given as a single set consecrate by their combined worth even if she eats them all, since she is eating her own property. (5:26, 5:27, 5:28)
- The cup and what is in it. A cup of water is valued as cup and contents together, a cup of wine as the cup alone, and a cup of oil as the contents alone, so that oil worth less than a prutah leaves the kiddushin in doubt however valuable the cup is. (5:29)
RememberThe coin travels from her hand to his, nothing at all comes back, and she is married, because being received by someone whose receiving matters is itself the object handed over.