Resources for Yevamos daf 70

1. The משנה says that an ערל cannot eat תרומה. There is a מחלוקת רש"י ור"ת as to what ערל means in all of ש"ס. רש"י says it means that several of the child’s brothers had previously died as a result of the מילה. According to הלכה that child may not get a ברית מילה since it is סכנת נפשות. Nonetheless, רש"י is telling us that such a person is still called an ערל and may not eat תרומה. תוספות in ד"ה הערל actually agrees with רש"י and says that the גמרא later on דף ע"א that is מסופּק if a baby less than 8 days old is called an ערל is only unsure because everyone in the world is פּטור when they are six days old. However, the person whose brothers died from the ברית is of age to get a מילה and even though he personally can’t get one he is still called an ערל.

תוספות ישנים and many other ראשונים bring ר"ת who disagrees with this and says that someone whose brothers died from a ברית מילה is allowed to eat תרומה since he is an אונס and פּטור. The ערל that the משנה is referring to is someone who simply doesn’t want to get a ברית מילה since he saw other people die from מילה and is too afraid.

The קובץ הערות in סימן מ"ח אות י"ט explains that even ר"ת would agree that just being an אונס in the sense of being on a desert island without a knife is certainly called an ערל. What he means is that if someone is halachically not allowed to get a ברית מילה then he is not considered an ערל since there is no מצוה רמיא עליה at all.

In a similar vein, the גרי"ז in פּרשת לך לך explains that even though אברהם אבינו did all of the מצוות before he was commanded in them, he didn’t give himself a ברית מילה prior to being commanded to by Hashem because if there is no מצות מילה then there isn’t a דין ערלה at all.

The מנחת חינוך in מצוה י"ז אות י"ד points out that even ר"ת agrees that a child over 8 days old is called an ערל even though that child himself does not have any מצוה to do it since he is a baby. Nonetheless, all קטנים are considered בני מצוה but just without an obligation to do them since they have no דעת. 

2. The גמרא says that a person isn’t קונה a קנין הגוף in their עבד עברי. תוספות in ד"ה אלמא asks that if this is true how is an עבד עברי allowed to marry a שפחה? He answers that it is included in his obligation to work for his master day and night. The קובץ הערות in סימן נ"ז אות א brings the אבני מילואים in סימן י"ז בתשובות who asks why would a monetary obligation allow you do violate an איסורי דאורייתא? Can the עבד עברי collect ריבית for his master? Of course not! So if a ישראל is אסור לשפחה, how is saying he needs to work for his master at night a היתר to do something a ישראל is forbidden to do? רב אלחנן ז"ל answers that תוספות understands that it is a גזרת הכתוב that an עבד עברי can marry a שפחה. All he means is that this isn’t indicative the there is a קנין הגוף in the עבד עברי since he is only מותר to his master’s שפחה and is actually forbidden to some other master’s שפחה since that isn’t included in “working for the master by night”. Had it been a full קנין הגוף he would have been allowed to marry any שפחה. However, the ריטב"א in קידושין דף ט"ז says explicitly that if someone is מפקיר an עבד עברי they are considered free and no longer need to work for their master at all but are still permitted to a שפחה until they get a גט שחרור. The ריטב"א must disagree with תוספות and hold that while there is no קנין הגוף, there is a קנין איסור in an עבד עברי.

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