Gittin 4:4-5

Gittin 4:4

If a non-Jewish servant was taken captive and ransomed by others, if their intention was that he remain a servant, he is a servant; if to be free, then he is free. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that in either case, he remains a servant (to his original owner). If a master mortgaged a servant to another person against a loan and then he freed him, technically the now-freed servant doesn’t owe the lender anything but they enacted, for the good of society (i.e., so that the lender not enslave the freed servant by force), that the lender must free him and the freed servant writes a document for his value. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says that the freed servant doesn’t write this document, the master who freed him does.

Gittin 4:5

A person who is half-servant and half-free works one day for his master and one day for himself; this is the opinion of Beis Hillel. Beis Shammai said to Beis Hillel, “Your ruling is fine for the master but what does it do for the servant? He can’t marry a servant girl because he’s half-free and he can’t marry a free woman because he’s half-servant! How can he refrain from marrying when the whole world was created for the sake of procreation as we see in Isaiah 45:18, ‘He didn’t create it to be a wasteland, He made it to be inhabited.’ Rather, for the good of society, the master is compelled to free him and to write a document for half his value.” Beis Hillel withdrew their original ruling and subsequently taught like Beis Shammai.