For the source text click/tap here: Kiddushin 57
To download, click/tap here: PDF
As we learned on yesterday’s daf, objects that appear to have value, but whose use is forbidden by Jewish law, cannot be used for kiddushin, which can only take effect if the object that is transferred from the husband to his wife has some minimal value. The Gemara on our daf examines each of the examples cited in the Mishna as being assur be-hana’ah – objects from which someone cannot derive any benefit – and searches for a source for them.
The Gemora had stated: One verse comes to include the metzora bird that is set free in the category of permitted birds. Another verse comes to include the slaughtered metzora bird in the category of forbidden birds.
The Gemora asks: Perhaps it is exactly the opposite!? Rava answers: It is not logical to assume that the Torah said that the bird should be sent away in a matter where it will create a stumbling block (for if this would be the bird that is forbidden, someone might mistakenly find this bird and eat it, for there is no way to recognize that this was a metzora bird).
We explore the Metzorah bird ritual and its ANE parallels.