Commentary for Gittin 10:3

תסתיים דר"י בן לוי הוא דאמר לפי שאין בקיאין לשמה דר' שמעון בר אבא אייתי גיטא לקמיה דר' יהושע בן לוי וא"ל צריכנא למימר בפני נכתב ובפני נחתם או לא

one of whom held that the reason [for requiring the declaration] was because the Jews outside the Land of Israel were not familiar with the rule of 'special intention', and the other that it was because witnesses could not easily be found to confirm the signatures. We may conclude that it was R. Joshua b. Levi who gave the reason, 'because they are not familiar with the rule of "special intention",' from the following incident. R. Simeon b. Abba once brought a Get before R. Joshua b. Levi, and said to him: Am I required to declare, 'I was present when it was written and present when it was signed'? and he replied: You need not make the declaration. It was only required in former generations, when the rule of 'special intention' was not generally known, but not in these times when the rule is known. We may therefore conclude [that it was R. Joshua b. Levi who gave this reason]. [Was this a good ruling,] seeing that Rabbah accepts Raba's reason also, and further that, as we have said, precaution should be taken in case there is a recurrence of the abuse? — There was another man with him,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And therefore Raba's reason did not apply. ');">²</span>

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