קידושין דף מט ע"ב

ה"ג — this is the reading: What is Torah? Midrash of Torah.

What is Torah? Midrash of Torah.^[1]

And this applies where he told her: I have learned; but if he told her: I am a learned Tanna — not until he has learned halachah, Sifra, Sifrei and Tosefta.

On condition that I am a student — we do not say like Shimon ben Azzai and like Shimon ben Zoma, but anyone who is asked one thing in his learning anywhere and can say it, even in tractate Kallah.

בן עזאי ובן זומא - they were students and young men, and did not reach semichah, and there were none like them in Torah in their days, as we learned (Sotah 49a): when Ben Azzai died, the diligent ceased.

ואפילו במסכת כלה - that it is not deep, and it is a beraisa, and so it is taught: a bride without a blessing is forbidden to her husband like a niddah.

On condition that I am wise — we do not say like the Sages of Yavneh, like Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues, but anyone who is asked a matter of wisdom anywhere and can say it.

בכל מקום - in any one of the places.

דברי חכמה - a matter that depends on reasoning.

On condition that I am mighty — we do not say like Avner ben Ner and like Yoav ben Tzeruyah, but anyone whose fellows fear him because of his might.

On condition that I am rich — we do not say like Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom and like Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah, but anyone whose townspeople honor him because of his wealth.

רבי אלעזר בן חרסום - we say in tractate Yoma (Yoma 35b) that his father left him a thousand ships at sea and, corresponding to them, a thousand towns on land.

ר' אלעזר בן עזריה - he would tithe twelve thousand calves from his herd every year (Shabbos 54b).

On condition that I am a tzaddik — even if he is a complete rasha, she is betrothed, for perhaps he thought of teshuvah in his mind.

On condition that I am a rasha — even if he is a complete tzaddik, she is betrothed, for perhaps he thought of idolatry in his mind.

Ten kav of wisdom came down to the world — the Land of Israel took nine, and the whole world one.^[2]

חכמה - Torah and proper conduct.

Ten kav of beauty came down to the world — Yerushalayim took nine, and the whole world one.

Ten kav of wealth came down to the world — the ancient Romans took nine, and the whole world one.

Ten kav of poverty came down to the world — Bavel took nine, and the whole world one.

Ten kav of haughtiness came down to the world — Eilam took nine, and the whole world one.

And haughtiness did not come down to Bavel? But it is written (Zechariah 5:9–11) Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, two women came out, and the wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of the stork, and they lifted up the measure between the earth and the heavens. And I said to the angel who spoke with me: Where are they taking the measure? And he said to me: To build her a house in the land of Shinar; and Rabbi Yochanan said: These are flattery and haughtiness, which came down to Bavel!

האיפה - just before it is written This is wickedness; and he cast it into the midst of the measure — the evil inclination, which was given into their hands, they cast into it, as we say in Sanhedrin (Sanhedrin 64a): they threw it into a pot of lead. And these two women carried the evil inclination of flattery and of haughtiness, as it is written and the wind was in their wings — that is haughtiness; and flattery, it seems to me, he learns from the wings of the chasidah (stork), which does kindness with its companions, as it says in perek Eilu Treifos (Chullin 63a).

Yes, it came down here, and slipped away from here to there.

להכא - to Bavel.

להתם - to Eilam.

This is precise as well, for it teaches to build her a house; learn from it.

דיקא נמי דכתיב לבנות לה בית - regarding the going, it writes them — two women; and regarding the settling, when they came to build a house to settle in Bavel, it writes her — that is, flattery alone. Another explanation: to build — and they did not build.

Is that so? But the master said: the sign of haughtiness is poverty, and poverty is in Bavel!

What poverty? Poverty of Torah,

מאי עניות - which would be a sign of haughtiness.

עניות דתורה - which does not rest upon the haughty, for out of his haughtiness he does not serve as much as he needs, and does not go around seeking his teaching.

as it is written (Shir HaShirim 8:8) We have a little sister, and she has no breasts; and Rabbi Yochanan said: This is Eilam, which merited to learn and did not merit to teach.

דכתיב אחות לנו קטנה - evidently, poverty of Torah is in Eilam, where Daniel was, as it is written (Daniel 8:2) and I was in Shushan the capital, which is in the province of Eilam, and likewise Mordechai; and their generation did not engage in Torah, and these Sages did not merit to teach, as if they had no breasts to nurse; but Bavel merited to teach, as it is written of Ezra for he had prepared his heart to seek the Torah of Hashem, and to teach in Israel statute and judgment.

Ten kav of might came down to the world — the Persians took nine, etc.

Ten kav of lice came down to the world — Madai took nine, etc.

Ten kav of sorcery came down to the world — Egypt took nine, etc.

Ten kav of plagues came down to the world — pigs took nine, etc.

Ten kav of immorality came down to the world — Arabia took nine, etc.

Ten kav of brazenness came down to the world — Meishan took nine, etc.

עזות - mamzerus.

תשעה נטלה מישן - most of them are mamzerim, as it says further on (Kiddushin 71b) regarding lineage: Meishan is dead; and in Yevamos too we say, at the end of the first perek (Yevamos 17a): the disqualified of Harpanya are on account of the disqualified of Meishan.

Ten kav of talk came down to the world — women took nine, etc.

Ten kav of drunkenness came down to the world — the Kushites took nine, etc.

Ten kav of sleep came down to the world — slaves took nine, and the whole world took one.

MISHNAH

On condition that I am a kohen, and he is found to be a Levi; a Levi, and he is found to be a kohen; a nasin, and he is found to be a mamzer; a mamzer, and he is found to be a nasin; a townsman, and he is found to be a city-dweller; a city-dweller, and he is found to be a townsman;^[3]

בן עיר ונמצא בן כרך - living in large cities is hard, for a large city is a place of markets, where prices are high, and the crowding of passers-by.

בן כרך ונמצא בן עיר - although he misled her for the better, it is a mistake.

on condition that my house is near the bathhouse, and it is found to be far; far, and it is found to be near; on condition that he has a daughter or a grown maidservant, and he has none, or on condition that he has none, and he has one; on condition that he has no children, and he has, or on condition that he has, and he has none —

in all of them, even though she says: in my heart I intended to be betrothed to him regardless — she is not betrothed. And so too if she misled him.

להתקדש לו - even though the matter is as it now is, since his condition was not true.

GEMARA

A certain man sold his property intending to go up to the Land of Israel, and at the time he sold he said nothing at all.

לנכסיה - land.

אדעתא למיסק - and he was prevented and did not go up.

ובעידנא דזבין לא אמר - that I am selling on the intention of going up; for had he stated at the time of sale that I am selling on the intention of going up, it would not have been a sale, for on that intention he would not have sold, to live here without land.

Rava said: It is matters in the heart, and matters in the heart are not matters.

From where does Rava have this? If you say from what we learned^[4]

Tosafos

לבנות לה בית - Rashi explains: to build her — and they did not build, like then Shlomo would build a high place for Kemosh, and we say (Shabbos 56b): he sought to build and did not build. And some explain: since it writes her and does not write them, it implies there is only one, and that is flattery. But this is not right, for in the whole passage it calls the measure in the singular, and to that, to build her, fits well. And some explain: since lah is written without a mappik heh — for every lah in Scripture has a mappik heh except three, and this is one of them — it is like lo with an alef, and teaches us that this name did not endure for her; and so Rashi explained on and he called it Novach, after his own name (Bamidbar 32:42), where it is soft, because this name did not endure for it.

דברים שבלב אינם דברים - This implies: only because he did not state his words; but if he had stated his words explicitly, and said at the time of sale that he is selling because he wants to go to the Land of Israel, the sale would be void. And it is difficult: why? We require a doubled condition, and he did not stipulate that if he does not go the sale will not stand! And the Rashbam explained (Sukkah 41b) regarding an esrog given on condition that it be returned — if he returned it, he fulfilled his obligation; if he did not return it, he did not — that although we require a doubled condition, that applies to matters of prohibition, such as: be betrothed to me on condition that you give me two hundred zuz, and likewise with a get, as Shmuel instituted for the get of a dying man; but with money we do not require a doubled condition. But this is not right, for we learn every condition from the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuven, and there it was a monetary matter. And the Ri says one must distinguish and say: there are matters that need no doubled condition, only a revealing of intent, where we are witnesses that he acted with this in mind; and there are also matters that need not even a revealing of intent, such as that case of one who writes all his property to others and then hears that he has a son — the gift is void; and likewise one who writes all his property to his wife has made her only a guardian — because we assess that this was in his mind. And likewise here, we are witnesses that he sold only intending to go up to the Land of Israel.

Notes

1. 1. Continues from [Kiddushin 49a]: one who betroths on condition that I have learned — Rabbi Yehudah says: anyone who has learned Torah.
2. 2. A kav — a measure. That is: most of the wisdom in the world was given to the Land of Israel.
3. 3. A nasin — a descendant of the Givonim, who may not marry into the congregation.
4. 4. The passage continues on [Kiddushin 50a].