Torah Community Connections

Week 89 - Monday - 6 August 2001

KIDDUSHIN: CHAPTER 1: MISHNAH 10

Whoever performs one commandment is rewarded and his days are prolonged, and he inherits the Land. And whoever does not perform one commandment, is not rewarded and his days are not prolonged, and he does not inherit the Land. Whoever is in the Scriptures and the Mishnah and correct conduct will not speedily sin, as it is written, "a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Eccl. 4:12). And whoever is not in Scripture, and not in Mishnah, and not in correct conduct, is not of the settlement.

Kehati

Mishnayot 7-9 taught the distinctions between different categories of commandments; there are commandments incumbent upon men and not upon women, while others are incumbent upon both men and women; similarly, there are commandments, which are in force only in the Land, but not outside the Land, while others are in force both in the Land and outside the Land. Our mishnah, in discussing the reward attainable for fulfilling a commandment, teaches that it is possible to merit long life and the World to Come through the performance of a single commandment.

Whoever performs one commandment - this refers to a person who possesses an equal amount of merits and sins and the mishnah teaches that if he performs one additional commandment, and causes his merits to outweigh his sins, - he is rewarded and his days are prolonged - in this world (Rambam), as the Torah states, "And you shall keep His statutes, and His commandments…that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days upon the land, which the Lord your God gives you" (Deut. 4:40), and he inherits the Land - of eternal life, i.e., the World to Come (Rashi, Rambam). According to other commentators, who follow the Gemara, the entire clause "he is rewarded etc." refers to the World to Come (Bartenura; see Tosefot Yom Tov). In the mishnah of Pe'ah it is taught "these are the things, the fruits of which a person enjoys in this world, and the principal remains for him in the World to Come: honoring one's father and mother, kindness..." (Pe'ah 1:1), and the Gemara explains, "if it is balanced, this decides," which means, if the scales are balanced, with an equal number of merits and sins but the fulfillment of one of these commandments is among his merits, his merits are considered to outweigh his sins.

And whoever does not perform one commandment - if a person's sins are greater than his merits, and he does not perform one commandment to balance his sins, but remains with his sins outweighing his merits, he is not rewarded and his days are not prolonged, and he does not inherit the Land - as was explained above. Regarding a person whose merits and sins are equally balanced, the School of Hillel says, "The one who abounds in goodness is inclined to goodness" (Gemara, R. H. 17b), i.e., he is judged meritorious only because of Divine goodness. At the beginning of the mishnah, however, we learned that whoever performs one commandment, so that his merits outweigh his sins, is rewarded. This greater reward comes because the righteous person who has more merits than sins is superior to one with balanced merits and transgressions, who is regarded as having a greater amount of merits only as a result of God's goodness (Tosefot Yom Tov).

The Gemara quotes a baraita: "A person should always view himself as being equally balanced between liability and merit; if he performs one commandment, he should rejoice, because he has tipped his balance towards merit; if he commits one transgression, woe to him, because he has tipped his balance towards liability, as it is written, 'But one sinner destroys much good' (Eccl. 9:18) - because of a single sin which he performs, he loses many merits. Rabbi Eleazar ben Shimon says, Since the world is judged according to the majority, and the individual is judged according to the majority, if he performs one commandment, he should rejoice, because he has tipped his balance and that of the entire world towards merit; if he commits one transgression, woe to him, because he has tipped his balance and that of the entire world towards liability, as it is written, 'But one sinner destroys much good' (ibid.) - because of a single sin which he performs, he and the world lose much benefit."

Whoever is in the Scriptures - whoever learns the written Torah, and the Mishnah - the oral Torah, and correct conduct - and conducts himself morally and with gentleness will not speedily sin, as it is written, "a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Eccl. 4:12) - just as the threefold cord will not be quickly torn, neither will the person involved with these three things quickly succumb to sin.

And whoever is not in Scripture, and not in Mishnah, and not in correct conduct - whoever does not possess even one of these qualities (Rashi), is not of the settlement - is of no benefit in a settled community, and is only worthy of living in the wilderness. The Gemara states, "He is unfit to give testimony in court" - since he is not from the settlement, he shows no concern for himself, and has no shame (Rashi); Rambam explains that "anyone who has gone so far astray surely commits most of the transgressions that he encounters" (Hil. Edut, 11:1).

KIDDUSHIN: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 1

A man can betroth by himself or through his agent. A woman is betrothed by herself or through her agent. A man can give his daughter in betrothal when she is a na'arah (a girl), by himself or through his agent. If a man says to a woman, "Be betrothed to me with this date," "Be betrothed to me with this": if one of them is worth a perutah, she is betrothed, and if not, she is not betrothed. "With this, and with this, and with this": if they are worth a perutah together, she is betrothed, and if not, she is not betrothed. If she eats them one by one, she is not betrothed unless one of them is worth a perutah.

Kehati

The second chapter returns to the subject of the kiddushin. Our mishnah deals with the employment of an agent for kiddushin, and discusses the law of a man who betroths a woman with several items which together are worth a perutah.

A man can betroth - a woman - by himself or through his agent - a man's agent is like himself (Gemara, Kidd. 4 lb). The Gemara explains that our mishnah writes, "by himself or through his agent," to teach that it is preferable for a person to perform the commandment by himself and not to delegate it to an agent. According to one opinion, it is forbidden for a person to betroth a woman before seeing her, lest he see something unseemly in her and come to despise her, and the Torah states, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). However, if a person relies on his agent, and the latter betroths a woman on his behalf, by saying to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to so-and-so with this money," or with this document, the kiddushin is valid. And similarly,

The woman is betrothed by herself or through her agent - she may authorize an agent to receive her kiddushin for her; however, it is preferable that she perform the commandment by herself and not delegate it to an agent.

A person may give his daughter in betrothal when she is a "na'arah" (a girl) - the father may receive his daughter's kiddushin when she is still a girl, before she becomes a bogeret, as it has already been taught: "The father has jurisdiction over his daughter's kiddushin" (Ket. 4:4), either - by himself or through his agent - in this case as well, it is preferable that the father perform the commandment himself and not delegate it to an agent (Hameiri). The mishnah states, "A man may give his daughter in betrothal when she is a na'arah," although this obviously includes the period when she is a minor before becoming a na'arah, however the mishnah uses this wording to instruct the father not to betroth his daughter while she is a minor, but to wait until she matures and says, "I want this man" (Gemara). A na'arah is a girl who has reached the age of twelve years and one day, and has brought forth two pubic hairs. She has the status of na'arah for only six months, after which she becomes a bogeret.

If a man says to a woman, "Be betrothed to me with this date," "Be betrothed to me with this" - he gives her one date and tells her, "Be betrothed to me with this date," and afterwards he gives her another date and tells her, "Be betrothed to me with this": if one of them - the dates, is worth a perutah she - the woman, is betrothed - with that date, and if not - if neither of them is worth a perutah by itself, even though both together are worth a perutah, she is not betrothed - since he said "Be betrothed" with each date that he gave, they are judged separately, and kiddushin can be effected only with one of them at a time, the remaining date being considered a gift or an entrusted article. Therefore, if no single date is worth a perutah, she is not betrothed, since kiddushin may not be effected with less than the value of a perutah (see above, 1:1). Rambam writes: "There is a possibility of kiddushin (Safek kiddushin), since somewhere else a date may be worth a perutah in another place" (Hil. Ishut 5:26).

But if he said to her, "Be betrothed to me - with this, and with this, and with this" - and did not repeat "Be betrothed" with each date that he gave her: if they are worth a perutah together, she is betrothed - since all the dates he gave her were for one act of kiddushin, and if not - if they are not worth a perutah together, she is not betrothed - Rambam writes that the validity of her kiddushin is in doubt in this case as well. (Hil. Ishut 5:27). Even if the dates are worth a perutah together, the kiddushin is not valid unless she has them all with her and when she receives the last date they are all in existence:

But - If she eats them one by one - she eats each date that he gives her immediately, she is not betrothed until one of them is worth a perutah - the Gemara explains: unless the last one is worth a perutah - since the dates that she ate are considered as a loan to her until the kiddushin is completed if at the conclusion of the kiddushin, she does not have in her possession the worth of a perutah, then even though one of the first dates was worth a perutah, the kiddushin is not valid since the law is that kiddushin cannot be effected with a loan. If, however, the final date is worth a perutah, even though she was betrothed with all the dates, the kiddushin is valid, since there is the worth of a perutah in existence at the conclusion of the kiddushin. In this case she is considered betrothed by a loan and by an object with the value of a perutah, and the law is that kiddushin can be effected by a loan and by a perutah together, since the woman's acceptance is based on the worth of a perutah (Gemara, Kidd. 46a).

Return to Mishna Yomit Index

Visit the Mishna Yomit Archives