Related%20passage for Kiddushin 38:17

ר' אליעזר אומר אם ללמד שמוכרה לפסולין הרי כבר נאמר (שמות כא, ח) אם רעה בעיני אדוניה שרעה בנישואיה מה ת"ל לאמה מלמד שמוכרה

- Said Hezekiah: Here it is different, because the Writ saith, [and if a man sell his daughter] to be a bondwoman:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XXI, 7.');">¹⁶</span> sometimes he can sell her to be only a bondwoman.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence the stipulation is not contrary to Scripture.');">¹⁷</span> And the Rabbis? How do they utilize this, 'to be a bondwoman'! - They employ it, even as was taught: 'To be a bondwoman': this teaches that he can sell her to unfit persons.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., who are forbidden to intermarry with Jews of unblemished birth, e.g.. a bastard, to whom he can sell her only for servitude and not designation.');">¹⁸</span> But does this not follow a fortiori: if h can betroth her to unfit persons,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if he betroths her to a bastard, though it is forbidden, the betrothal is valid.');">¹⁹</span> shall he not sell her to unfit persons?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Surely he can; then why deduce it from Scripture? It might be argued that whereas such betrothal is valid only if performed, we desire to prove now that one may at the very outset sell his daughter to an unfit person, and this vitiates the argument. But this rebuttal is fallacious: it is logical to distinguish in marriage between what is permitted at the very outset and what is valid only if done in defiance of the law; but there are no grounds for drawing this distinction in respect to a sale, and if the sale is valid when done, there is no reason for saying that it is not permitted in the first place (Maharsha) . S. Strashun explains it differently.');">²⁰</span> - As for betrothing her to unfit persons, that may be because a man can betroth his daughter as a na'arah: shall he then sell her to unfit persons, seeing that a man cannot sell his daughter as a na'arah?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But only as a ketannah (q.v. Glos.) . Hence his power of betrothal is greater than that of sale.');">²¹</span> Therefore Scripture states: 'to be a bondmaid', teaching that he can sell her to unfit persons. R'Eliezer said: If it is to teach that he can sell h unfit persons - behold, it was already said: 'if she displease her master [so that he hath not espoused her],' which means, she was displeasing in respect of marriage.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., forbidden to her master.');">²²</span> What then is taught by, 'to be a bondwoman'? It teaches that he may sell her

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