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Can a man betroth a woman by giving half a pruta for half of her and another half for the other half? The shiur analyzes the fundamental dispute between Rashi (רש"י) and Tosafot Rid on Kiddushin 7b: does the problem lie in splitting the woman or splitting the money? The Gemara (גמרא)'s cryptic cases test whether simultaneous or sequential half-betrothal can work.
This shiur provides a detailed analysis of Kiddushin 7b, examining a fundamental question in hilchos kiddushin: can a man betroth a woman by dividing either the woman or the money into halves? The Gemara (גמרא) presents several cases where a man attempts kiddushin using the language of "half and half," and the shiur explores how Rashi (רש"י) and Tosafot Rid understand these cases completely differently. According to Rashi, the core issue is whether the man intends to split the woman into halves. The phrase "chatzi b'chatzi pruta v'chatzi b'chatzi pruta" (half for half a pruta and half for half a pruta) could mean two things: either he's literally trying to betroth half the woman with half a pruta and the other half with another half pruta (which would be invalid because you cannot betroth half a woman), or he's merely counting out the money while intending to betroth the entire woman with a complete pruta. Rashi holds that if he's just counting the money but intending one complete act of kiddushin, it works. The problem only arises if he truly means to create partial kiddushin.
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Kiddushin 7b
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