Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Tuesday's Thoughts on the Daf - Kiddushin 48

Kiddushin 48 continues an analysis of whether or not the forgiveness of a debt alone is sufficient in order to be mikadesh. As part of this discussion, the gemara explains the laws of payment for work performed by a craftsman at one's request.

The gemara begins (48a) with the assumption that all agree that when one gives work to a craftsman for him to perform over a period of time, the craftsman earns his wages with each step in the creative process (yeshna l'schirus mi'techila v'ad sof) and thus when he is paid at completion it as if a retroactive loan is being paid back. This later becomes the subject of debate.

On 48b, the gemara states that there is a dispute as to whether a craftsman acquires an interest in the product he is fashioning. As a way of explanation, the gemara is dealing with a situation where the craftsman has been given precious metal and was told to fashion jewelry out of the metal. The gemara then states that according to R' Meir (as explained by Rashi), the craftsman is not being paid on a daily basis and is paid for the project, thus when he completes the project he has acquired ownership of the improvement in the metal and when he gives the finished product in exchange for payment, he is actually selling his interest in the object. The chachamim do not agree with the principal and treat him like a employee who is paid in exchange for his labor.

Later on 48b, the gemara deals with a person who attempts to be mikdesh a woman by handing her a cup of liquid. The gemara says that: T'1 says that when he offers the cup he is offering the cup and its contents; T'2 says that he is only offering the cup and T'3 says that she is only receiving the contents of the cup and not the cup itself. The gemara then states (without connecting the lines) that one of the T's is talking about a cup of water, one is talking about a cup of wine and one is talking about a fish brine which was used over a number days as a dip for bread.

Rashi explains that T'1 (cup+contents) is dealing with the fish brine; T'2 (cup alone) is dealing with a cup of water and T'3 (contents only) is dealing with a cup of wine. Tosafos is bothered by this as the explanation of the contents of the cup which Rashi uses is out of order since the first liquid discussed in the gemara is water. Tosafos (d'h "ha bimaya") attempts to track the parallel language in the gemara before stating that the order is not important.

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