Kiddushin Through Arev and Eved Kena'ani: Analyzing Indirect Acquisition

The shiur opens with three technical cases presented by the Gemara (גמרא) on Kiddushin 7a. In the first case (din arev), a woman tells a man to lend money to a third party and she will guarantee the loan, thereby becoming mekudeshes. The Gemara establishes that even though the money never reaches her hand (af al gav delo matei hanoli yad'ei), she can obligate herself (kamishabad nafshei) through the din of arev (guarantor). The second case (din eved kena'ani) involves a third party giving his own money and saying the woman should be mekudeshes to someone else—this works through the principle of eved kena'ani, where someone can be acquired even though the money comes from another party. The third case (din shenayim) combines both principles: the woman asks a third party to give money to the intended husband, and she will be mekudeshes to him. Rabbi Zweig first addresses a fundamental question: what do we need the pasuk of arev for in the context of kiddushin? If someone asks you to spend money on his behalf, he owes you that money as a basic matter of doing a service—why does this require a special din of arev? The answer emerges that by a loan, the primary obligation rests with the borrower, not the lender. The lender is owed back what he gave. The chiddush of arev is that the guarantor can create a legal obligation (shibud) upon himself even though he received no direct hana'ah and the primary obligation lies elsewhere. This is fundamentally different from a simple case of agency or service.