Bava Batra 319:1

מתני׳ <big><strong>גט</strong></big> פשוט עדיו מתוכו מקושר עדיו מאחוריו

<b><i>MISHNAH</i></b>. A PLAIN DEED<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H], an ordinary deed or note, relating, e.g., to a debt or divorce, all the writing of which appears on one side of the document. ');">¹</span> [MUST BEAR THE SIGNATURES OF] THE WITNESSES ON ITS INSIDE; A FOLDED ONE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] or [H], lit., 'knotted', i.e., stitched. This was a special form of deed, written on alternate lines, blank lines and written lines alternating. Each written line was folded over the blank line adjacent to it, each successive two being stitched together. ');">²</span> [MUST BEAR THE SIGNATURES OF] THE WITNESSES ON THE REVERSE.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Each fold must bear on its external upper side the signature of a different witness, the number of folds not to exceed the number of witnesses. ');">³</span>

פשוט שכתבו עדיו מאחוריו מקושר שכתבו עדיו מתוכו שניהם פסולין רבי חנינא בן גמליאל אומר מקושר שכתבו עדיו מתוכו כשר מפני שיכול לעשותו פשוט רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר הכל כמנהג המדינה

A PLAIN [ONE] THAT BEARS THE SIGNATURES OF THE WITNESSES ON THE REVERSE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'whose witnesses wrote on its back'. ');">⁴</span> [AND] A FOLDED [ONE] THAT BEARS THE SIGNATURES OF ITS WITNESSES ON THE INSIDE ARE BOTH INVALID.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If it is a bill of divorce, the woman cannot be divorced by it; and if it is a bond of indebtedness, the creditor is not entitled to seize any of the debtor's sold lands. ');">⁵</span> R. HANINA B. GAMALIEL SAID: A FOLDED [DEED] THAT BEARS THE SIGNATURES OF THE WITNESSES ON ITS INSIDE IS VALID, BECAUSE IT CAN BE TURNED INTO A PLAIN [ONE].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By removing the stitches. ');">⁶</span>

גט פשוט עדיו בשנים ומקושר בשלשה פשוט שכתב בו עד אחד ומקושר שכתב בו שני עדים שניהם פסולין:

R. SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: ALL DEPENDS ON<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'like'. ');">⁷</span> THE USAGE OF THE COUNTRY. A PLAIN DEED REQUIRES TWO WITNESSES<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'its witnesses by two'. [Meir Abulafia, in his Yad Ramah, explains 'a folded deed' differently. 'We take,' he writes, 'a long scroll, and draw from it three to seven thongs below which there comes the written text of the deed. The deed is then folded, special care being taken that the bottom of the reverse of the deed should remain exposed for the signatures of the witnesses. The scroll being rolled together and fastened by the thongs which are knotted together, the witnesses sign between the knots.' This, as Fischer, L. (ZAW. XXX, 139ff.) points out, is in accord with the 'folded deeds' discovered among the Greek papyri. V. also his article in Jahrb. de Jud. Lit., Gesel. IX. 51ff.] ');">⁸</span> AND A FOLDED [ONE] THREE.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The folded deed contained two elements. The specific (date and amount), and the Formula which is common to all deeds. The first element usually occupied three lines which were folded on the intervening blank lines and stitched together. Hence no less than three witnesses were required. Cf. infra n. 14. ');">⁹</span>

<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> מנהני מילי אמר ר' חנינא דאמר קרא (ירמיהו לב, מד) שדות בכסף יקנו וכתוב בספר וחתום והעד עדים שדות בכסף יקנו וכתוב בספר

A PLAIN [DEED] THAT BEARS THE SIGNATURE OF ONE WITNESS [ONLY]. AND A FOLDED [ONE] THAT BEARS THE SIGNATURES OF TWO WITNESSES [ONLY] ARE BOTH INVALID. <b><i>GEMARA</i></b>. Whence these words?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That there are two kinds of deeds differing from each other in the number of witnesses and the mode of folding. ');">¹⁰</span> — R. Hanina said: For Scripture says, <i>Men shall buy fields for money and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and procure the evidence of witnesses.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jer. XXXII, 44. ');">¹¹</span></i> Men shall buy fields for money and subscribe the deeds,</i>