Wednesday 23 December 2015

Gittin 11: Assimilation, Contracts and Agents Creating Detriment

We are told that there are different implications when the names on a document are obviously Gentile names.  The Gemara even shows us a number of examples: Hurmiz, Abbudina, Bar Shibbetai, Bar Kidri, Bati and Nakim Una.   What if the names are not obviously Gentile, but might be Gentile?  Examples of those names are shared as well.  These could be Jews who took on Gentile names. Jews living in Gentile lands might have names that are not Jewish at all.  Raba introduces a conversation about documents written in Persian - when are those documents considered to be valid?  

These conversations continue even today.  When Jews assimilate, how can we know that these Jews are Jewish 'enough' to validate documents?


A new Mishna teaches us that the rabbis disagree about whether or not a get and/or a bill of manumission might be rescinded after the fact.  One argument reminds us that one can benefit a person away from that person, but one can harm a person only in that person's presence.  

Another difference between the two cases is that a man need not sustain a slave but he must sustain his wife.  The rabbis wonder about whether or not teruma is owed to the slave of a priest.

The Gemara tells a story about Rabbi Yirmeya dozing while Rav Huna and Rav Yitzchak bar Yosef discuss the question of whether or not someone can benefit monetarily from the detriment of someone else.   The Gemara ends with the example of peah that is collected by someone as an agent.  That person is obligated to give that peah to the next poor person who walks by.

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