The Torah states: "And if a man sells his daughter as a maid-servant" (Exodus 21:7). The Mekhilta draws a striking inference from this phrasing. A father may sell his daughter as a maid-servant once, but he may not sell her a second time. The word "sells" is read as a singular, unrepeatable act. One sale. That is the limit of his authority.
Rabbi Yossi HaGlili elaborates on the boundaries of paternal power by mapping out exactly what a father can and cannot do with his daughter's status. A father may betroth his daughter, and if that betrothal ends in divorce, he may betroth her again to someone else. Betrothal after betrothal is permitted. A father may also betroth his daughter after having previously sold her as a maid-servant, once her term of service is complete. Betrothal after maid-service is permitted.
But maid-servant after maid-servant is forbidden. A father who has already sold his daughter into servitude once has exhausted that particular power. He cannot exercise it again. And it goes without saying, Rabbi Yossi adds, that maid-servant after betrothal is also forbidden. If a daughter has been betrothed and subsequently divorced, the father cannot then sell her as a maid-servant. The sale of a daughter into servitude is a one-time authority that, once used, is permanently spent.
This ruling reflects a broader principle in Jewish law about the limits of paternal authority. A father holds significant power over his minor daughter's legal status, but that power is not unlimited. The Torah grants specific, bounded rights that cannot be repeated or expanded beyond their original scope. Even within the framework of servitude law, the daughter's dignity imposes a ceiling on what can be done to her.