The Servant Who Comes In Alone and the Wife Who Goes Out With Him

"If he comes in by himself, by himself he shall go out" (Exodus 21:3). One might think this is a decree; Scripture teaches "if" - it is only permission. Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: "if he comes in by himself, by himself he shall go out" - you have a claim upon him only for labor. "If he is the husband of a wife" - just as the master is obligated for his sustenance, so too the master is obligated for the sustenance of his wife and his children. I might still say: a wife and children he had before the master acquired him, the master is not obligated for their sustenance. Or perhaps one says rather: a wife and children he had after the master acquired him, the master is obligated for their sustenance, since the master is already obligated for the servant's own sustenance; but a wife and children he had before the master acquired him, the master is not obligated for their sustenance. Scripture teaches, "if he is the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him" - the two wives are here: one before the master acquired him and one after the master acquired him. One might think this applies even to a betrothed wife or a widow awaiting levirate marriage; Scripture teaches, "then his wife shall go out with him" - one who is with him goes out; this one, who is not with him, does not. One might think it applies even if his wife is forbidden to him, such as a widow married to a high priest, or a divorcee or a woman released from levirate marriage married to an ordinary priest; Scripture teaches, "then his wife shall go out with him" - a wife who is fit to remain with him, excluding one who is not fit to remain with him. One might think it applies even if he married a wife without his master's knowledge; Scripture teaches, "he" (hu) - just as he himself acted with his master's knowledge, so too his wife must be with his master's knowledge. One might think the labor of his wife, sons, and daughters belongs to the master. And it would follow by reasoning: if a Canaanite slave, for whose sustenance the master is not obligated, yet the labor of his sons and daughters belongs to the master, then this one, for whose sustenance the master is obligated, surely the labor of his sons and daughters should belong to the master. Scripture teaches, "he" - his own labor belongs to the master, but not the labor of his sons and daughters. One might think his found objects and inheritance belong to the master; Scripture teaches, "and he shall serve you" (Deuteronomy 15:12) - you have a claim upon him only for labor. One might think that because he goes out to court within the month he should not be entitled to his wife's found objects and inheritance; Scripture teaches, "if he is the husband of a wife" - Scripture explicitly returned him to his general category: he is like any husband; just as a husband is entitled to his wife's found objects and inheritance, so too this one is entitled to his wife's found objects and inheritance. Another interpretation of "then his wife shall go out with him": do not separate him from his wife. And elsewhere it says, "and he shall go out from you, he and his children with him" (Leviticus 25:41): do not separate him from his children.