Rambam - 1 Chapter a Day

I.e., twelve years old, after manifesting signs of physical maturity (Hilchot Ishut 2:1).

As stated in Chapter 1, Halachah 2, a woman past majority is not sold by the court for a theft, nor does she have the right to sell herself. Nor can a girl below majority sell herself, for she does not have an independent financial capacity. Exodus 21:7 states that the right to sell a girl is granted to a father. The Mechilta states that her mother is not given this prerogative.

See Hilchot Ishut 2:2.

Arichin 76a derives this law through deduction. If manifesting signs of physical maturity is a sufficient cause for a maid-servant to be released (Halachah 5), it is certainly sufficient to prevent her from being sold.

See Hilchot Ishut 3:11.

An aylonit is a woman who will never manifest signs of female sexual maturity. Hilchot Ishut 2:6 lists several physical signs that are considered definite indicators of such a condition.

In the case of an aylonit, she is considered to be below the age of majority until the age of 20 even though she has manifested signs of her physical condition. If she does not manifest physical signs that she is an aylonit or physical signs of sexual maturity, she is considered to be below majority until she reaches the age of 35. See Ibid.:4.

A person whose genital area is covered by a sheet of flesh, and thus it cannot be determined whether the person is male or female. Because of the doubt, all the stringencies that apply with regard to both males and females are applied to this person. (See Ibid. 2:25.)

A person who has both male and female sexual organs, and thus it was not determined by the Sages whether such a person is considered as a male or a female. Because of the doubt, all the stringencies that apply with regard to both males and females are applied to this person. (See Ibid.:24.)

Neither by the court, nor by himself.

By her father.

As mentioned in the commentary to Chapter 2. Halachah 9, the father does not have a Scriptural commandment to redeem his daughter. Therefore the Rambam offers an explanation why the father is compelled to redeem his daughter.

I.e., the family’s reputation will suffer from the shame of having sold a daughter into servitude.

I.e., we do not compel her relatives to redeem her.

And anything less than a p’rutah is not significant.

Or an agent of his.

In contrast to a servant who sells himself, who may sell himself for a longer period as stated in Chapter 3, Halachah 12.

This proof-text refers to a servant sold by the court, not one who sells himself, and it concludes: “He shall serve you for six years and in the seventh year, you shall send him away free.”

See Chapter 3, Halachah 7, in contrast to a Hebrew servant who must serve his deceased master’s son, as stated in Chapter 2, Halachah 12.

And this proof-text refers to a servant whose ear is pierced.

Although this proof-text was also used to teach us that a Hebrew maid-servant receives a severance gift (Chapter 3, Halachah 13), Kiddushin 17b explains that it can be used to teach both concepts.

See Chapter 2, Halachah 11.

See Hilchot Ishut, Chapter 2, for a description of these signs.

Entirely, as is true with regard to any young girl.

At the age of 20 or 35, as stated in Hilchot Ishut 2:4-5.

See Chapter 5, Halachah 4, which explains that Canaanite slaves are released when their master destroys one of their prominent limbs.

4:10.

I.e., by selling his daughter as a servant, a father is also giving her master the right to marry her, as implied by Exodus 21:8 - or have his son marry her (Ibid.:9) - if the master desires. Since the father has the authority to consecrate her while she is below the age of majority without her consent (Hilchot Ishut 3:11), his sale of her can retroactively become a consecration. See Halachah 8.

For once she is designated as a wife, she is no longer considered a servant, , and her marriage is dissolved in the same manner as that of any other woman.

Sefer HaMitzvot (Positive Commandment 233) and Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 43) consider designation of a Hebrew maid-servant as a wife to be one of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah.

For the consecration of a woman as a wife must be performed in the presence of two witnesses (Hilchot Ishut 1:1).

I.e., even if a p’rutah’s worth of time does not remain from her period of servitude, she may be designated as a wife.

I.e., the money given her father for her purchase as a maid-servant.

The Kessef Mishneh states that once the master designates the maid-servant as a wife, the consecration takes effect retroactively from the time of her purchase. See Halachah 15.

I.e., one woman.

For a man cannot consecrate a woman until he reaches majority. No exception is made in the case of the designation of a maid-servant (Kiddushin 19a).

Appointing him as his agent. For a man must either consecrate his wife himself or charge an agent with doing so.

Kiddushin 19a states that the maid-servant must be notified that she has been designated as a wife. The Kessef Mishneh interprets this to mean that she must consent to the marriage. Otherwise, of what value would notifying her be? Tosafot and the Rashba in their commentaries on that Talmudic passage differ and maintain that once the girl is sold as a maid-servant, her master may marry her without her consent or the consent of her father.

I.e., thus the son can never be the active agent in designating the maid-servant as his wife.

As stated in Halachah 4.

I.e., if the husband is a priest who is forbidden to become impure because of contact with a human corpse. He may - and indeed is obligated to - become impure in burying his wife. This applies only with regard to a woman with whom the husband has entered nisuin, marriage, not merely erusin, consecration (Hilchot Eivel 2:7).

Our Sages granted a husband the right to inherit his wife’s estate, but this also applies only after nisuin, not after erusin (Hilchot Ishut 22:1-3).

After a woman is consecrated, her husband and her father must both decide to nullify her vows together. Once she is married, her husband nullifies her vows alone (Hilchot Nedarim 11:9).

I.e., entering into privacy with her husband, as stated in Hilchot Ishut 10:1.

In Halachah 5.

The completion of six years, the advent of the Jubilee, the death of the master and the transfer of a bill of release, as stated in Halachah 6.
In the standard printings of the Mishneh Torah, the latter phrase is part of Halachah 10. We have placed it at the conclusion of Halachah 9 on the basis of authoritative manuscripts and because of the easier conceptual flow.

Sefer HaMitzvot (Negative Commandment 261) and Sefer HaChinuch (Mitzvah 45) consider this prohibition to be one of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah.

By not designating her as his wife, he is considered to have betrayed her.

I.e., since it is forbidden to sell a Hebrew servant as a slave (see Chapter 1, Halachah 3 and notes), one could conclude that it is forbidden to sell him to another person. Nevertheless, since the Torah granted a master permission to give a maid-servant to his son as a wife, one might assume that she could also be given to other persons. Therefore, the Torah explicitly states that this is forbidden.

As opposed to marriages between close relatives as the Rambam continues to explain.

For a marriage between a person and his granddaughter (– or the other close relatives mentioned in this halachah –) is forbidden and is not binding (Hilchot Ishut 1:7).

And not only is one permitted to marry a brother’s daughter, it is a mitzvah to do so.
In his gloss on this halachah, Rabbi Akiva Eiger states that this law applies only when the father in fact has another son who is past majority – or will reach majority during the maiden’s servitude. Otherwise, it is not possible for the maid-servant to be designated as a wife.

The rite that frees a woman from her obligation to perform levirate marriage to her deceased husband’s brother when her husband dies childless. See Deuteronomy, Chapter 25.

The Rambam is speaking about an instance where the woman became widowed or divorced after erusin. If she became widowed or divorced after nisuin, she cannot be sold as a maid-servant, as stated in the following halachah.

After nisuin. Kiddushin 18a derives this as follows: Exodus 21:8 states: “He does not have the authority to sell her to a different man, when he betrays her.” Even though on a simple level the verse refers to the prohibition against a master selling a maid-servant, it also can be interpreted as a prohibition against the father selling his daughter after she was married. In that context, bibigdo baw, translated as “when he betrays her,” can be interpreted as “and he [the girl’s husband] spread his garment over her.”

The Rambam exemplifies this concept in the following halachah. Significantly, in his Commentary on the Mishnah, Kiddushin 1:2, the Rambam states that a Hebrew maid-servant may not be sold a second time.

This is speaking about an instance where the master designated the maid-servant as his wife, but died before completing nisuin. As mentioned in Halachah 9, the designation of a maid-servant as a wife is considered as erusin and not nisuin.

Her deceased husband’s brother.

For chalitzah to be effective, the widow must be above majority, as stated in Hilchot Yibbum VaChalitzah 4:16.

Ibid.:26.

In Halachah 12.

For as mentioned in Halachah 7, when the master designates the maid-servant as his wife retroactively it is considered as if the consecration took effect from the time the girl was sold. Thus, at the time when her father consecrated her to the second person she was already consecrated, and his act is of no consequence.
The situation can be compared to a person who consecrates a woman with the stipulation that after 30 days, the consecration will take effect retroactively. If another person consecrates her during that time, she is consecrated to the first individual (Kiddushin 19b).

But until the girl’s servitude is completed, the marriage cannot be consummated, lest the master decide to designate her as his wife.

This is a principle that applies not only in the present context, but with regard to the entire Torah. See other examples in Hilchot Ishut 6:9-10 and Hilchot Nezirut 1:13.