Kiddushin 2a — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

The woman is acquired

by her husband, to be his wife and to be forbidden to every other man, besides him,

in three ways,

which will be explained below.

And

a married woman

acquires herself,

to be permitted to marry another man,

in two ways,

which will also be explained below: The woman

is acquired

in three ways:

a.

With money —

the husband gives her money or an object worth money, and says to her, “Behold, you are betrothed to me.”

b.

With a document —

the husband writes on paper, “Behold, you are betrothed to me,” and gives it to her. And even if the paper is not worth a pruta, she is nevertheless betrothed through the document.

c.

Through intercourse —

he has intercourse with her and says to her, “Become betrothed to me through this intercourse.”

And now the Mishna explains what the measure of money is with which the woman is acquired by her husband — “

With money” —

Beit Shammai say: With a dinar

of silver,

and with the value of a dinar,

or with an object worth a dinar.

And Beit Hillel say:

It is sufficient that she be acquired by her husband

with a pruta

of copper,

and with the value of a pruta,

or with an object worth a pruta, but not with less than this.

And since the measure of the value of the pruta is not fixed, but varies according to currency fluctuations, the Mishna explains:

And how much is it

its value

of a pruta? —

One-eighth of an Italian issar.

An eighth of an Italian issar, which is the name of a certain coin whose measure is fixed, while the prutot become cheaper or more expensive relative to it.

Until here the Mishna explained the three ways in which the woman is acquired by her husband.

And now the Mishna proceeds to explain the two ways in which the woman acquires herself, so that she is in her own possession and can marry another man:

And she acquires herself

to be permitted to marry another —

a. When her husband divorces her

with a bill of divorce.

b. Or when she becomes permitted automatically,

through the death of the husband.

Until here the Mishna explained the acquisitions of the woman and the ways of permitting her.

And now the Mishna explains the law of levirate marriage and the permission through chalitza.

a. A man who was married to a woman and died without leaving behind a son or daughter: it is a mitzva upon his brother from his father [called the yavam] to have intercourse with his brother's wife.

This mitzva is called the mitzva of “yibbum,” and through this the yavam acquires her as his wife, in order to establish a name for his brother in Israel.

b. As long as the yavam has not performed yibbum with her, the yevama [called “the woman awaiting levirate marriage”] is forbidden to marry a stranger.

c. A yavam who does not wish to perform yibbum with his dead brother's wife must perform chalitza with her, and through this permit her to marry any man. He does not send her away with a bill of divorce, as will be explained below. But if he has already had intercourse with her, she is like his wife in every respect, and she leaves only through a bill of divorce.

The yevama,

the wife of the deceased, whom it is a mitzva for his brother to take in levirate marriage,

is acquired

by the yavam completely, to be considered his wife, in one way —

through intercourse

alone. And even if he did not have intercourse with her in order to acquire her thereby as a wife, and did not say to her that through this intercourse she would be acquired by him as a wife.

And from the moment the yavam has intercourse with her, she becomes his complete wife; and if he comes to send her away from him, he divorces her with a bill of divorce, and she does not require chalitza.

But if the yavam betrothed his yevama with money or with a document, she is not acquired by him by Torah law, but only by rabbinic law. And then, if he comes to send her away, she requires a rabbinic bill of divorce, in addition to chalitza by Torah law.

For the bill of divorce alone does not permit her to marry another, since betrothal does not take effect for a yavam with a yevama by Torah law, and the bill of divorce does not permit the yevama to marry any man; rather, chalitza does, as follows.

And

a yevama with whom the yavam did not have intercourse, and who was not acquired by him through intercourse as a wife —

acquires herself,

to be in her own possession, so that she can marry another, in two ways:

a.

Through chalitza.

b.

And through the death of the yavam.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna:

The woman is acquired

in three ways.

And the Gemara discusses:

What is different here,

in what is our Mishna different and distinctive,

that it teaches,

that the tan teaches in it

“The woman is acquired,”

and the tan calls betrothal by the wording “acquisition.”

And what is different there,

at the beginning of the second chapter [41a],

that it teaches,

that the tan teaches in it

“The man betroths”

by himself and through his agent, and calls betrothal by the wording “betrothal,” and not by the wording “acquisition”?!

And the Gemara explains: The tan uses here the wording “acquisition,” and not the wording “betrothal,”

because he needs to teach

since he wishes to teach later in the Mishna that one of the ways in which the woman is acquired is through the giving of

money.

And we find that the Torah calls the giving of money “acquisition.”

And the Gemara explains:

And from where do we derive money,

from where is it known that she is acquired through it?

He derived

the tan learned the monetary acquisition of a woman through a gzera shava,

“taking” —

“taking,”

from the field of Ephron,

which was acquired with money.

It is written here,

it is said here, concerning the betrothal of a woman, with the wording “taking” [Deuteronomy 22]:

“When a man takes a woman.”

And it is written there,

it is also said concerning the acquisition of the field of Ephron, with the wording “taking” [Genesis 23]:

“I have given the money for the field; take it from me.”

And Scripture teaches through a gzera shava —

Just as the “taking,” the taking mentioned concerning the field of Ephron, is monetary acquisition [as it is said there in the verse, and as the Gemara will explain immediately], so too, the “taking” mentioned in the verse concerning the betrothal of a woman is monetary acquisition.

And

the

“taking”

mentioned concerning the field of Ephron

is called

is called

“acquisition” —

As it is written,

concerning the field of Ephron [Genesis 49]:

“The field that Abraham acquired.”