פדיון שבויים
1) תלמוד בבלי מסכת גיטין דף מה עמוד א
מתני’. אין פודין את השבויין יתר על כדי דמיהן, מפני תיקון העולם . . .
גמ’. איבעיא להו: האי מפני תיקון העולם – משום דוחקא דצבורא הוא, או דילמא משום דלא לגרבו ולייתו טפי? ת”ש: דלוי בר דרגא פרקא לברתיה בתליסר אלפי דינרי זהב. אמר אביי: ומאן לימא לן דברצון חכמים עבד? דילמא שלא ברצון חכמים עבד.
Babylonian Talmud Gittin 45a
Mishna: Captives should not be redeemed for more than their value because of tikkun olam.
Gemara: The question was raised: Does this tikkun olam relate to the burden which may be imposed on the community or to the possibility that the activities [of the captors] may be stimulated? Come and hear: Levi the son of Darga ransomed his daughter for thirteen thousand dinars of gold. Said Abaye: But are you sure that he acted with the consent of the Sages? Perhaps he acted against the will of the Sages.
Background: Tikkun olam (עולם (תיקון is a Hebrew phrase that means “repairing the world”. In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period. The concept was given new meanings in the קבלה kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) of the medieval period and further connotations in modern Judaism. The expression tikkun olam is used in the משנה Mishnah in the phrase מפני תיקון עולם mip’nei tikkun ha-olam (“for the sake of tikkun of the world”) to indicate that a practice should be followed not because it is required by Biblical law, but because it helps avoid social chaos. One does not ransom captives for more than their value because of Tikkun Olam, literally: “fixing the world”; for the good order of the world; as a precaution for the general good.
Questions:
How do we determine the value of a person? Age? Ability? Potential? Or should all humans have the same value?
2) רש”י מסכת גיטין דף מה עמוד א
גמ’ . מפני דוחקא דציבורא הוא – אין לנו לדחוק הצבור ולהביאו לידי עניות בשביל אלו.
או דילמא – דלא ימסרו עובדי כוכבים נפשייהו וליגרבו ולייתו טפי מפני שמוכרין אותן ביוקר ונפקא מינה אם יש לו אב עשיר או קרוב שרוצה לפדותו בדמים הרבה ולא יפילהו על הצבור.
Rashi to Babylonian Talmud Gittin 45a:
“Because of the burden imposed on the community” We should not burden the community by impoverishing it for this.
“Or to the possibility” that the idolaters will be willing to sacrifice their lives in order to capture more people and bring them to ransom because they can sell them for a great gain. The practical difference is regarding a situation where the captive has a rich father or relative who wants to redeem him for much money and not hold the community responsible.
Questions:
In our case of a state (Israel) redeeming captives, which reasoning seems more relevant?
3) תוספות מסכת גיטין דף מה עמוד א
דלא ליגרבו ולייתו – והא דתניא בפ’ נערה (כתובות נב.) נשבית והיו מבקשין ממנה עד עשרה בדמיה פעם ראשון פודה שאני אשתו דהויא כגופו יותר מבתו דהכא ועל
עצמו לא תיקנו שלא יתן כל אשר לו בעד נפשו
ור’ יהושע בן חנניא דפרקיה לההוא תינוק בממון הרבה בהניזקין (לקמן דף נח.) לפי שהיה מופלג בחכמה
אי נמי בשעת חורבן הבית לא שייך דלא ליגרבו.
Tosafot:
“So they shouldn’t grab (captives) and bring (them to ransom)”
However, there is a baraita in the chapter Na’arah (Ketubot 52a); she was captured and they asked for her up to ten times her worth. The first time he (the husband) must redeem. A wife is different because she is like part of his own body more than his daughter; for her (his daughter) and for himself the (rabbis) did not fix that he should give more than he is worth.
R’ Yehoshua ben Hananya redeemed the child for much more money than his worth (Gittin 58a) since he was exceptionally wise.
Also, after the destruction of the temple, the concept “so that they should not seize (captives)” is not applicable.
Background
The תוספות Tosafot are mediæval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi‘s notes.
Up to and including רש”י Rashi, the Talmudic commentators occupied themselves only with the plain meaning פשט “peshaṭ” of the text; but after the beginning of the twelfth century the spirit of criticism took possession of the teachers of the Talmud. Thus some of Rashi’s continuators, as his sons-in-law and his grandson רשב”ם Samuel ben Meïr (RaSHBaM), while they wrote commentaries on the Talmud after the manner of Rashi’s, wrote also glosses on it in a style peculiar to themselves. The chief characteristic of the Tosafot is that they evidence no recognition of any authority, so that, in spite of the great respect in which Rashi was held by the Tosafists, the latter freely corrected him. Besides, the Tosafot do not constitute a continuous commentary, but deal only with the difficult passages of the Talmudic text.
The chief home of tosafot literature was incontestably France, for it began with Rashi’s pupils, and was continued mainly by the heads of the French schools. It is true that, practically, tosafot began to be written in Germany at the same time as in France, but the French tosafists always predominated numerically.
Questions:
In order to fully understand Tosafot, it is worthwhile to first study sources #4 & #5. Tosafot provide three exceptions to what is stated in the Talmud. What are they? How do you understand each one? Do you agree with Tosafot?
4) תלמוד בבלי מסכת כתובות דף נב עמוד א-ב
תנו רבנן: נשבית, והיו מבקשין ממנו עד עשרה בדמיה – פעם ראשונה פודה, מכאן ואילך, רצה – פודה, רצה – אינו פודה; רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר: אין פודין את השבויין יותר על כדי דמיהם, מפני תקון העולם.
4) Ketubot 52a-b
Our Rabbis taught: [If a woman] was taken captive and a demand was made upon her husband for as much as ten times her value, he must ransom her the first time. Subsequently, however, he ransoms her only if he desired to do so but need not ransom her if he does not wish to do so. R. Shimon b. Gamaliel ruled: Captives must not be ransomed for more than their value, because of “tikkun olam.”
5) תלמוד בבלי מסכת גיטין דף נח עמוד א
ת”ר: מעשה ברבי יהושע בן חנניה שהלך לכרך גדול שברומי, אמרו לו: תינוק אחד יש בבית האסורים, יפה עינים וטוב רואי וקווצותיו סדורות לו תלתלים. הלך ועמד על פתח בית האסורים, אמר: (ישעיהו מב:כד) “מי נתן למשיסה יעקב וישראל לבוזזים?” ענה אותו תינוק ואמר: “הלא ה’ זו חטאנו לו ולא אבו בדרכיו הלוך ולא שמעו בתורתו”(ישעיהו מב:כד). אמר: מובטחני בו שמורה הוראה בישראל, העבודה! שאיני זז מכאן עד שאפדנו בכל ממון שפוסקין עליו. אמרו: לא זז משם עד שפדאו בממון הרבה, ולא היו ימים מועטין עד שהורה הוראה בישראל. ומנו? רבי ישמעאל בן אלישע.
5) Babylonian Talmud Gitttin 58a:
Our Rabbis have taught: R. Joshua ben (the son of) Hananiah went to the great city of Rome, and he was told there that there was in the prison a child with beautiful eyes and face and curly locks. He went and stood at the doorway of the prison and said, “Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robb
ers?”(Isaiah 42:24). The child answered, “Is it not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned and in whose ways they would not walk, neither were they obedient unto his law” (Isaiah 42:24). He said: I feel sure that this one will be a teacher in Israel. I swear that I will not budge from here before I ransom him, whatever price may be demanded. It is reported that he did not leave the spot before he had ransomed him at a high figure, nor did many days pass before he became a teacher in Israel. Who was he? He was R. Ishmael b. Elisha.
Question:
How did R. Joshua ben Hananiah realize that the child was precocious?
6) תוספות מסכת גיטין דף נח עמוד א
כל ממון שפוסקין עליו – כי איכא סכנת נפשות פודין שבויין יותר על כדי דמיהן כדאמרינן בפרק השולח (לעיל דף מד.) גבי מוכר עצמו ואת בניו לעובדי כוכבים כ”ש הכא דאיכא קטלא אי נמי משום דמופלג בחכמה היה.
6) Tosafot, Gittin 58a
“Whatever price may be demanded” When there is a danger to human life, the captives are ransomed for more than their worth as we say in chapter ha-sholei-ah, (above page 44a). If we say that this is the case when someone sold himself and his children to idol worshippers and they are about to be killed, even more so it should be the case when dealing with someone who is exceptional in his wisdom.
Question:
What additional exception does Tosafot provide to the general rule that “we don’t redeem captives for more than their worth”?