[Avodah] A woman is acquired

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, May 05, 2015 at 10:47:20PM +0300, Shalom Berger via Avodah wrote:
: I think that it is fairly clear that Jewish law does not believe that a
: woman is owned by her husband, the language of the Mishna notwithstanding.
: Can anyone point to a clear statement by Hazal or rishonim that supports my
: supposition?

First, the halakhos of qiddushin do not conform to that of purchase.
Qinyan is a broader concept than purchase; for example, not that long ago
you probably performed a qinyan sudar to appoint your rav as a shaliach
to sell your chameitz.

Some differences:
- no din of ona'ah, a shaveh perutah is sufficient for all
- you give the perutah to the woman, not her former "owner"
- she has to agree to the qinyan, despite not being the former "owner"
- she has to make a qinyan on the money
- money needn't exchange hands; she could pardon a loan to effect a
  marriage. However, qinyan bekesef does require such an exchange.
- Hilkhos gittin is a lot more complicated than just calling hefqer.
- the wife gets to decide whether to give him her earnings in exchange
  for being supported. If she were property, he would get her earnings
  wheter or not *he* chose to support here.

Now that I got that out of my system, to answer your question:

Qiddushin 6b: ... and if an eved kenaani, whose body he was qoneh,
    if he says to him [in a shetar shichrur] "you are hereby your own"
    it means legmaei,
    ishah DELO QANI LEIH GUFAH, lo qol shekein!

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 31st day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        4 weeks and 3 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Tifferes sheb'Hod: What level of submission
Fax: (270) 514-1507                      results in harmony and balance?