Stay Here With the Donkey and the Status of a Child

There we learned: any woman over whom there is no betrothal binding upon him or upon others, her child is like her. And which is this? The child of a maidservant or of a non-Jewish woman. As for the maidservant, from where do we know it? Scripture says, "Stay here with the donkey" (Genesis 22:5) [literally, "with the donkey," read as] "with the people who are like a donkey." We have found that betrothal does not take hold with her; from where do we know that her child is like her? Scripture says, "The woman and her children shall belong to her master" (Exodus 21:4). As for the non-Jewish woman, it is written, "You shall not intermarry with them" (Deuteronomy 7:3). We have found that betrothal does not take hold with her; from where do we know that her child is like her? Scripture says, "For he will turn away your son" (Deuteronomy 7:4) and so forth: the son who comes from an Israelite woman is called your son, but the son who comes from a non-Jewish woman is not called your son but rather her son. But this is written about the seven nations? Scripture says "for he will turn away your son" to include all who turn one away. This works well for Rabbi Shimon, who expounds the reason of a verse; but according to the Rabbis, who do not expound it, what is the reason? Because Scripture says, "and afterward you may come to her and be her husband" (Deuteronomy 21:13), which implies that beforehand the betrothal status did not take hold with her. We have found that betrothal does not take hold with her; from where do we know that her child is like her? Because Scripture says, "when they belong to a man... and they bear him children" (Deuteronomy 21:15): wherever we can read "when they belong," we can read "and they bear him children"; wherever we cannot read "when they belong," we cannot read "and they bear him children." If so, the same should apply to the maidservant. Indeed it does. Then why do I need "the woman and her children"? It is needed for that which was taught: One who says to his maidservant, "You are a freewoman, but your child is a slave," the child is like her [the mother], because it is said, "the woman and her children" - the words of Rabbi Yose the Galilean. And the Sages say, his words stand.