Study Gittin folio 39B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Did you hear it explicitly said by R' Yehoshua ben Levi, or did you hear it by inference, i.e., did you infer it from some other statement of his? R' Ya’akov bar Idi asked him: What inference could I have drawn? R' Zeira answered: As R' Yehoshua ben Levi says that they said before R' Yehuda HaNasi:
The Talmud continues explaining the possible inference. And R' Yoḥanan said: What is the reasoning of R' Yehuda HaNasi? He derived this by means of a verbal analogy, understanding the meaning of “to her [lah],” written with regard to a female slave in the verse: “Nor was freedom given to her” (Levi
You heard this statement and deduced from this comparison that with regard to his master’s death, a slave is comparable to a wife. Just as a wife is released by the death of her husband from a prohibition but not from a monetary bond, so too, a slave is also emancipated by his master’s death from a
R' Ya’akov bar Idi said to him: And if this was derived by inference, what of it? R' Zeira said to him: If you derived this by inference from R' Yehoshua ben Levi’s statement, then, on the contrary, deduce from this to the other side and say as follows: Just as a wife is released by her husband’s d
And R' Ḥiyya bar Abba says that R' Yoḥanan says: The halakha is not in accordance with the opinion of Abba Shaul. R' Zeira said to R' Ḥiyya bar Abba: Did you hear it explicitly that R' Yoḥanan said it, or did you hear it by inference? R' Ḥiyya bar Abba asked: What inference could have been drawn? R