005 - הִלְכוֹת אִישׁוּת פֵּרֶק ה

Laws of Marriage, Chapter 5

1. If a man betroths a woman with something that is forbidden to benefit from—such as chametz on Pesach, or meat cooked with milk, or anything else from the other prohibitions of benefit—she is not betrothed. Even if it is something forbidden to benefit from by Rabbinic decree, such as chametz during the sixth hour on the fourteenth of Nisan, she is not betrothed.

2. If someone transgressed and sold something forbidden to benefit from, and betrothed a woman with its proceeds, she is betrothed—except for the case of avodah zarah, for if he betroths her with its proceeds, she is not betrothed, because the proceeds of avodah zarah are forbidden to benefit from just like the avodah zarah itself. If one betroths with the dung of a calf used for avodah zarah, she is not betrothed, because everything from avodah zarah is forbidden to benefit from, as it says: "And nothing of the banned property shall cling to your hand" (Devarim 13:18). But if one betroths with the dung of a condemned ox, she is betrothed—even though a condemned ox is forbidden to benefit from, its dung is not forbidden to benefit from, since it is not considered significant in relation to the ox.

3. If one betroths with produce of the seventh year, or with the ashes of the red heifer, or with water that was drawn to be used as mei niddah, she is betrothed. If one betroths with hekdesh of bedek habayis by mistake, she is betrothed, and he must pay the principal and a fifth to hekdesh, and bring a guilt offering as is the law for anyone who misappropriates hekdesh by mistake. But if he betroths with it intentionally, she is not betrothed.

4. If he betroths her with maaser sheni, whether by mistake or intentionally, she is not betrothed, because he is not permitted to use it for his own purposes until it is redeemed, as it says regarding maaser: "It is for Hashem" (Vayikra 27:30).

5. If a kohen betroths with his portion from kodshei kodashim or kodshim kalim, she is not betrothed, because they were only permitted to him for eating. But if a kohen betroths with terumah gedolah, or terumas maaser, or bikkurim, and likewise if a Levi betroths with maaser rishon, or a Yisroel with maaser ani, she is betrothed.

6. Gifts that have not yet been separated are like those that have been separated. Therefore, if a Yisroel inherited untithed produce from his maternal grandfather who was a kohen, and he separated terumah and maasros from them, they are like terumos and maasros that he inherited from his maternal grandfather; and if he betroths a woman with them, she is betrothed, because even though he is not permitted to eat them, he may sell them to someone who is permitted to eat them. But if a Yisroel betroths with terumah that he separated from his own grain, she is not betrothed, because he is not permitted to sell it, and he only has the benefit of choosing to whom to give it, since he may give it to any kohen he wishes; and this benefit is not considered monetary value.

7. If a man betroths a woman with stolen property, or with something he robbed, or with extorted property—if the owners despaired of recovering it, and it is known that he acquired it through their despair, she is betrothed; but if not, she is not betrothed.

8. If someone enters his fellow's house and takes a utensil or food or something similar, and betroths a woman with it, and the owner of the house comes and says to him, "Why did you not give her this item, which is better than what you gave her?"—she is not betrothed, for he only said this so as not to embarrass him, and since he betrothed her with his fellow's property without his fellow's knowledge, this is theft and she is not betrothed. But if he betrothed her with something the owner is not particular about, such as a date or a nut, she is betrothed out of doubt.

9. If there was merchandise jointly owned by him and his fellow, and he took his share without his fellow's knowledge and betrothed a woman with his share—since it requires assessment by Beis Din, she is not betrothed, for one may not take for himself whatever he wishes and leave whatever he wishes.

10. If he stole the woman, or robbed her, or extorted her, and then betrothed her with property he stole, robbed, or extorted from her, and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with this"—if there had previously been a match arranged between them, and she took it and was silent, she is betrothed. But if he had never arranged a match with her, even if she was silent when he gave her these things as betrothal, she is not betrothed; but if she said "yes," she is betrothed.

Laws of Marriage, Chapter 5

11. Similarly, if he gave her a deposit and said to her, "Take this deposit," and then said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with it"—if he said this before she took it, and she took it and remained silent, she is betrothed. But if, after she had already taken it as a deposit, he said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with it," and she remained silent, this is nothing, for any silence after the giving of money is not effective. However, if she said "yes" after she had taken it, she is betrothed.

12. If he returned to her a debt that he owed her and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with it," before she took it, and she took it and remained silent—if there had been a prior engagement between them, she is betrothed; but if there was no engagement, she is not betrothed until she says "yes." And if he said to her, after she had already taken her debt, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with it," even if she said "yes," she is not betrothed, for nothing reached her from him—she simply took what was hers. His debt was already repaid from the moment she took it, and she cannot go back and claim the debt from him again.

13. One who betroths with a loan—even if it is documented—she is not betrothed. How so? For example, if she owed him a dinar and he said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with the dinar you owe me," she is not betrothed, because a loan is given to be spent, and there is nothing existing from which she can benefit now, since she has already spent that dinar and its benefit has passed.

14. If he had a loan with her secured by collateral, and he betrothed her with that loan and returned the collateral to her, she is betrothed, for she now benefits from the collateral, and benefit has reached her.

15. If one betroths with the benefit of a loan, she is betrothed. How so? For example, if he lent her now two hundred zuz and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with the benefit of the time I am granting you with this loan, that it will remain in your possession for such-and-such days, and I will not demand it from you until a certain date," she is betrothed, for she now has the benefit of using this loan until the end of the set time. However, it is forbidden to do so, for this is like interest. And my teachers have explained regarding the benefit of a loan: these are things that are not fitting to be heard.

16. If he said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with this perutah and with the debt you owe me," she is betrothed; and similarly, if he said to her, "With the loan you owe me and with this perutah," she is betrothed.

17. If he had a debt owed to him by others and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with the debt owed to me by this person," in the presence of all three parties, she is betrothed.

18. If he betrothed her with a deposit he had with her, or with a borrowed item she had borrowed from him—if the deposit or the borrowed item was worth a perutah and still existed in her possession, she is betrothed.

19. If he said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with the reward I will receive for speaking to the authorities on your behalf," and he spoke for her, and the authorities left her alone and did not prosecute her—she is not betrothed, unless he gave her a perutah of his own, for the benefit she received from his words is like a loan, and one who betroths with a loan does not effect betrothal.

20. If he said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with this work I will do with you," and he did the work with her, she is not betrothed, unless he gave her a perutah of his own. For with hired labor, the worker acquires the wage from the beginning to the end—as long as he does part of the work, he acquires part of the wage; thus, the entire wage is considered a loan with her, and one who betroths with a loan does not effect betrothal.

Laws of Marriage, Chapter 5

21. If a woman says, "Give a dinar to so-and-so as a gift and I will become betrothed to you," and he gives it and says to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me through the benefit of this gift that I gave at your request"—she is betrothed, even though she herself received nothing, since she benefited by her will that the act was done and that so-and-so benefited because of her. Similarly, if she said to him, "Give a dinar to so-and-so as a gift and I will become betrothed to him," and he gave it to him, and that so-and-so betrothed her and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me through the benefit of this gift that I received with your consent"—she is betrothed.

22. If he said to her, "Here is this dinar as a gift for you, and become betrothed to so-and-so," and that so-and-so betrothed her and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me through this benefit that comes to you because of me"—she is betrothed, even though the one who betrothed her gave her nothing.

23. If she said to him, "Here is this dinar as a gift for you, and I will become betrothed to you," and he took it and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me through the benefit that I received from you"—if he is a distinguished person, she is betrothed, for she has benefit from his deriving pleasure from her, and with this benefit she acquires herself to him.

24. If a man says to a woman, "Become betrothed to me with a dinar, and here is this pledge in your hand until I give the dinar"—she is not betrothed, for the dinar did not reach her, and the pledge was not given to be hers. If he had a pledge in his hand for a debt owed to him by others, and he betrothed a woman with it—even though it is not his, she is betrothed, because a creditor has some ownership in the body of the pledge.

25. If a man says to a woman, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with this dinar, on condition that you return it to me"—she is not betrothed, whether she returned it or not: for if she did not return it, the condition was not fulfilled; and if she did return it, she did not benefit and nothing reached her hand.

26. If he gave her a bundle of myrtle or something similar and said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with this," and she accepted it, and they said to him, "But it is not worth a perutah," and he said, "Let her be betrothed with the four zuz hidden inside the bundle"—if she said "yes," she is betrothed. But if she was silent, she is not betrothed with these coins, for silence after the money has reached her hand is not effective; but she is betrothed in doubt because of the bundle—perhaps it is worth a perutah elsewhere.

27. If a man says to a woman, "Become betrothed to me with this date, become betrothed to me with this one, become betrothed to me with this one"—if one of them is worth a perutah, she is betrothed; if not, she is only betrothed in doubt, for perhaps one date is worth a perutah in another country.

28. If he said to her, "Become betrothed to me with this one and this one and this one"—if all together are worth a perutah, she is betrothed; if not, she is only betrothed in doubt. If she was eating them one by one—if the last one is worth a perutah, she is betrothed; if not, she is only betrothed in doubt, for those dates she ate are considered as a loan, and one who betroths with a loan, she is not betrothed, so it turns out that the betrothal is only with the last date.

29. If he said to her, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with these"—if all together are worth a perutah, she is betrothed, even if she eats them one by one, for she is eating what is hers.

30. If a man says to a woman, "Behold, you are betrothed to me with this cup"—if it was filled with water, she is betrothed with it and with what is inside it; if it was filled with wine, she is betrothed with it, but not with what is inside it; if it was filled with oil, she is betrothed with what is inside it, but not with the cup. Therefore, if the oil is not worth a perutah, she is betrothed in doubt; and if the oil is worth a perutah, she is certainly betrothed. The cup itself is not considered.