1. The original of this and the following paragraphs is in Šebuot 6:1 (36d, 11. 21–50, ו).
2. The oath required by Ex. 22:8 for a person denying a claim when neither he nor the claimant have proof. The defendant can be made to swear only if he admits that at least one peruṭah’s worth of the claim is true; cf. Ketubot 2:1, Note 12 (Mekhilta dR.Ismael,Neziqin 2).
3. One sixth of a drachma identified with the imperial silver denar.
4. Miishnah Qiddušin 1:1. The formulation shows that the origin of the text is in Ševuot.
5. Miishnah Qiddušin 1:1. The formulation shows that the origin of the text is in Ševuot.
6. Ex. 21:11,10, speaking of the “Hebrew slave girl”, the underage girl sold by her father with the understanding that the buyer may use the amount he paid for the girl as bride-money in case he wants to marry her or give her to his son. This certainly is marriage by money. V. 11 notes that if she is not married either within 6 years or by the time she reaches adulthood, she goes free; the money given for her was to buy her working power. V. 10 states that once she is married, she cannot be treated differently from any other wife. It is inferred that as a matter of principle her acquisition cannot be different from that of any other wife.
7. It is clear from the biblical text, Ex. 21:7–11, that the person buying an underage Hebrew girl is supposed to marry her when she grows up, or to marry her to his son. The money given for her services is at the same time the money for preliminary marriage. The House of Shammai hold that the original buying price, which later is shown to be at least a silver denar, is the bridal money used for the legal acquisition of the girl as preliminarily wedded wife. The House of Hillel hold that only the amount not amortized by the girl’s work in the meantime is bridal money. Since the master can marry the girl even on the last day of her servitude, he can marry her for a peruṭah’s worth and, as shown before, he can marry any other woman also for a peruṭah’s worth.
8. Since Ex. 21:8 states that “if she is bad in her master’s eyes, who does not intend her for himself, let her be redeemed”, it is concluded that the Hebrew girl-servant can be redeemed during her servitude, in contrast to the Hebrew indentured servant who has to serve his full six years. Since it is prescribed for the Hebrew servant of a Gentile master that he can be redeemed by paying off the proportion of his original price not amortized by the time spent in servitude (Lev. 25:50), the same must hold for the servant girl. As long as she still is a servant, the redemption price is at least a peruṭah.
9. Ex. 21:11,10, speaking of the “Hebrew slave girl”, the underage girl sold by her father with the understanding that the buyer may use the amount he paid for the girl as bride-money in case he wants to marry her or give her to his son. This certainly is marriage by money. V. 11 notes that if she is not married either within 6 years or by the time she reaches adulthood, she goes free; the money given for her was to buy her working power. V. 10 states that once she is married, she cannot be treated differently from any other wife. It is inferred that as a matter of principle her acquisition cannot be different from that of any other wife.
10. Ex. 21:11. At the end of six years, the master cannot ask for money to let her go.
11. Since “gratis” means “without payment”.
12. Even though in Achaemenid Persia, the silver half-obolus was currency (also minted in the province of Yehud), in later times, prior to the Roman conquest, the obolus was the smallest silver coin. In Roman currency, the denarius was the smallest silver coin.
13. Since she serves for six years, her price must be a six-fold multiple of a silver coin. This determines the drachma as the minimum price.
14. And be bought at the start for 6 peruṭot.
15. This argument is correctly missing in Šebuot since the House of Shammai consider the original sum as bride-money, cf. Note 81. The Yerushalmi’s interpretation of the House of Shammai is explicitly rejected in the Babli, 12a.