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<DIV>Someone wrote to me off-list:</DIV><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2
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<DIV dir=ltr> >> Your comment, "<SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">When a man buys an amah ivriya he has to marry her or
give her to his son </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">as a >>
wife, or let her go free", is, I fear, misleading. </SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"><BR></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12px"> >> You make it
sound as though he has an obligation to marry her himself or give her in
marriage to his >>son, or else to let her go free. In fact, yiud is not
an obligation but a privilege (though by exercising it, the >>purchaser
fulfills a mitzva). If neither he nor his son marries her, she remains
an amah until she >>completes six years of servitude or reaches puberty,
whichever comes first -- which would have been >>the case had there been
no din of yiud.</SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2>>>>>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I stand corrected. I was in fact under the impression
that the master has an obligation to marry her or give her to his son as a
wife. See Shmos 21:8 and Rashi there. The pasuk says if he doesn't
marry her then "vehefdah" -- he releases her. I took that to mean that if, after
she has worked for him some period of time -- let's say two years or three, but
no more than six -- if he doesn't want to marry her, then he has to set her
free. But I was mistaken. I see on a more careful reading that Rashi
only says he has to make it easier for her to ransom herself, by pro-rating the
buy-back price. And what does it mean "he has to release her...."?
He is halachically obligated to do it, or only, if he's a mensh that's what
he'll do? I don't know. I guess the latter.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>On the words "asher lo ye'ada" where the ksiv
is "lo" spelled with an aleph ("not") but the kri is "lo" with a vav ("to
him") Rashi says, "Kan ramaz lecha hakasuv shemitzva beyiud."
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>"Here the text hints that it is a mitzva to
perform yiud." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2> OR in the Silbermann translation:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>"Scripture hereby implicitly tells you that it is his
duty</FONT> <FONT size=2>to designate her for himself..."
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Since he is translating "mitzva" as duty I took that to
mean the master is obligated. But I see now that "mitzva" in
context can mean "something nice to do, something a mensh would do, something
he'll get schar for if he does it" rather than something that is
obligatory.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>The question that started this thread now remains
unanswered. That was R' Akiva Miller's post:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>>> I have heard it said (usually in the context of
military service) that the<BR>Torah forbids a woman to be under the
control of anyone other than her<BR>father or husband.<BR><BR>It seems
from the beginning of Mishpatim that Amah Ivriya is an exception<BR>to
that rule. Or perhaps it's not an exception, but that the rule
is<BR>actually "father, husband, or Adon," ..... <<
[--RAM]<BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>So, is there a Torah rule forbidding a woman to be under the
control of anyone other than her father or husband? And if there is such a
rule, is the amah ivriah an exception?<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><B><FONT color=#0000ff>--Toby
Katz<BR>t613k@aol.com</FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#ffffff size=2 face=Arial
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR>..</FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#0000ff size=2
face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR>=============</B><BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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