Wednesday 2 March 2016

Gittin 80: More Invalid Gittin and Their Consequences

Today's daf continues with the Mishna that we began to learn in yesterday's daf.  The Mishna goes on to describe numerous ways that a get might be invalidated.  Further, it details the consequences of disqualifying a get.  

The description of invalid gittin include women who have been found to be aylonit, sexually underdeveloped women, when they remarry through levirate marriage laws.  Both marriages are considered to be invalid.  This also affects any rival wives who would not be permitted to remain married either, for the permission for them to marry in the first place was in error as well.  Another example is a scribe who gives the get and the the receipt for the get to the wrong parties.  Since the husband and wife never received the proper documents, the get was invalid and any subsequent marriage of the wife was also invalid.

The Gemara begins by commenting on the start of the Mishna.  Kingdoms were to be mentioned specifically, dates and locations were to be accurate.  The Gemara discusses the need to appease the surrounding nations by following their rules regarding contracts.  Names and places also had to be precise and unchanged.  The Gemara notes when one might include the name of an official and when the name of an official might be omitted (this would be dependent upon the status of the official).  

The rabbis have a significant conversation about whether or not a rival wife is permitted to marry a yavam in specific circumstances: if the wife was found to be an aylonit and the rival wife participated in "licentious sexual intercourse" before marrying the yavam. Of concern is whether or not the yavam is a priest.  The rabbis seem to be very interested in the potential sexual relationships of women of precarious marital status.

Our daf ends with the rabbis questioning the Mishna regarding a woman and man who have been given the wrong get documents by the scribe.  Is the get invalid immediately?  Might this situation be remedied by the husband giving the get to his wife?  Is her second marriage invalid?  The rabbis debate about this point enough to make it clear that they were not comfortable with the ruling suggested by the Mishna.  Was this because the intention was present and the error was not the fault of the two parties?  Was this because they did not wish to interrupt a functioning family who believed that a past divorce was valid?  Was it something else?



No comments:

Post a Comment