Kiddushin 88

Chapter 88

א נערה מהו שתעשה שליח לקבל גיטה מיד בעלה כיד אביה דמיא או כחצר אביה דמיא כיד אביה דמיא מה אביה משוי שליח אף היא נמי משוי שליח או דילמא כחצר אביה דמיא ועד דמטיא גיטא לידה לא מיגרשה

1 Can a na'arah appoint an agent to receive a divorce from her husband?1 Does she rank as her father's hand, or as his court-yard?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The question is posited on the view of the Rabbis (supra 43b) that in the case of a betrothed na'arah either her father or she herself can receive the divorce. It further postulates that the power is actually vested in him, her own being in virtue of his, and the problem is whether she is regarded as his hand or as his domain. For if the Get is placed in his domain she is divorced, and so it may be that the Rabbis reason that she herself is no worse (being under her father's authority) , and on that score only can she accept her divorce.');">2 Does she rank as her father's hand: just as her father can appoint an agent, so can she too appoint an agent.

ב ומי מספקא ליה לרבא הא והאמר רבא כתב גט ונתנו ביד עבדה ישן ומשמרתו ה"ז גט ניעור אינו גט ניעור אמאי אינו גט דהויא לה חצר משתמרת שלא לדעתה ואי ס"ד כחצר אביה דמיא כי מטא גיטה לידה נמי לא תיגרש דהויא לה חצר המשתמרת שלא לדעת אביה

2 Or perhaps, she is as her father's court-yard, and [hence] she is not divorced until the Get actually reaches her hand. Now, is Raba doubtful about this? But Raba said: If he [the husband] writes a Get and places it in her slave's hand,3

ג אלא לעולם פשיטא ליה דכי יד אביה דמיא והכי קמיבעיא ליה מי אלימא כיד אביה לשויה איהי שליח או לא א"ל אין עושה שליח

3 and he is asleep while she watches over him, it is a [valid] divorce; but if he is awake, it is not a [valid] divorce.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Git. 77a-b: the divorce may be placed in the wife's domain, e.g., her court-yard. But it must be guarded through her own will, not at the instance of another person. Now, a Gentile slave is as her domain: if he is asleep and she watches over him, he is guarded through her. But if he is awake he guards himself, and so falls within the latter category.');">4 Now, why is it not a [valid] divorce if he is awake? [Surely] because he is as a court-yard guarded without her instructions.

ד איתיביה קטנה שאמרה התקבל לי גיטי אינו גט עד שיגיע גט לידה הא נערה ה"ז גט הכא במאי עסקינן בשאין לה אב

4 But if you think that she [a na'arah] is as her father's court-yard, then she should not be divorced even when the Get reaches her hand, since she is as her father's courtyard that is guarded without his instructions! Hence it must be obvious to him [Raba] that here she is as her father's hand, but this is his problem: is she as strong as her father's hand, so that she can appoint an agent, or not? - She cannot appoint an agent, he answered him. He raised an objection: If a minor [ketannah] says: 'Accept my divorce on my behalf,' it is not a valid divorce until it reaches her hand.5 Hence in the case of a na'arah it is a [valid] divorce!6

ה הא מדקתני סיפא אם אמר אביה צא וקבל גט לבתי אם רצה בעל לחזור בו לא יחזור מכלל דרישא בדיש לה אב עסקינן חסורי מיחסרא והכי קתני קטנה שאמרה התקבל לי גיטי אינו גט עד שיגיע גט לידה הא נערה ה"ז גט במה דברים אמורים כשאין לה אב אבל יש לה אב ואמר אביה צא וקבל לבתי גיטה ורוצה בעל לחזור לא יחזור

5 - The reference here is to one who has no father.7 But since the second clause teaches: If her father says to him [the agent], 'Go and accept the Get for my daughter', should her husband wish to retract,8 he cannot:9

ו איתמר קטנה שנתקדשה שלא לדעת אביה אמר שמואל צריכה גט וצריכה מיאון אמר קרנא דברים בגו אם גט למה מיאון אם מיאון למה גט

6 this proves that the first clause refers to one who has a father? - The text is defective, and should read thus: If a minor says: 'Accept my Get for me,' it is not a [valid] divorce until it reaches her hand; but in the case of a na'arah it i [valid] divorce. When is that said? If she has no father.

ז אמרו ליה הא מר עוקבא ובי דיניה בכפרי אפכוה שדרוה לקמיה דרב אמר להו האלהים צריכה גט וצריכה מיאון וחס ליה לזרעיה דאבא בר אבא דנימא הכי

7 But if she has a father and he says: 'Go and accept th Get for my daughter', and [then] the husband wishes to retract, he cannot. It has been stated: If a minor [ketannah] is betrothed without her father's knowledge,10 Samuel said: She requires both Get and mi'un.11

ח וטעמא מאי אמר רב אחא בריה דרב איקא צריכה גט שמא נתרצה האב בקידושין צריכה מיאון שמא לא נתרצה האב בקידושין ויאמרו אין קידושין תופסין באחותה

8 Said Karna: This is inherently open to objection:12 if Get, why mi'un, and if mi'un, why Get?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Get is necessary where the marriage is valid by Biblical law, or where there is a Biblical tie; whereas mi'un dissolves a marriage that has Rabbinical force only.');">13 Said they [the scholars] to him: But there is Mar 'Ukba and his Beth din at Kafri.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Let us ask him. [If Nehardea, the home of Samuel, is too distant to send for information, let us ask Mar 'Ukba in Kafri which is nearer to us. The reference is to 'Ukba I. v. Funk. op. cit. I Note iv.] Kafri is a town in S. Babylon, Obermeyer, op. cit., p. 316.');">14

ט אמר ר"נ והוא ששדכו

9 Then they reversed it15 and sent it to Rab. Said he to them, 'By God! she requires both Get and mi'un, yet Heaven forfend that16

י עולא אמר אפילו מיאון אינה צריכה אע"ג דשידכו מאן דמתני הא לא מתני הא איכא דאמרי אמר עולא קטנה שנתקדשה שלא לדעת אביה אפילו מיאון אינה צריכה

10 the seed of Abba B'Abba17 should say thus.'18 And what is the reason? - Said R'Aba son of R'Ika: She needs a divorce, in case her father consented to the kiddushin,19

יא מתיב רב כהנא וכולן אם מתו או מיאנו או נתגרשו או שנמצאו איילונית צרותיהן מותרות

11 while she needs mi'un, in case her father did not consent to the kiddushin, and it is said that the kiddushin with her sister [by the same man] is invalid.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If she is given a divorce, it will be assumed that her father consented to the betrothal, which had Biblical force. Consequently, should the same man then betroth her sister, it is quite invalid, since she is his divorced wife's sister (v. Lev. XVIII, 18, which is interpreted as applying to such a case) . But her father may not have consented, and so neither the betrothal nor the divorce are Biblical, wherefore her sister's betrothal is valid and requires a divorce for its dissolution. (He could not keep the sister, for fear that the first marriage was legal.) Hence she needs mi'un, to draw attention to this possibility.');">20 R'Nahman said: Providing that they negotiated [with the father].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And he consented (Tosaf. of Ri the Elder) . Hence, when he subsequently betroths her without her father's knowledge, her father may thereafter consent, whereby the kiddushin becomes retrospectively valid, and so she needs a divorce. But otherwise she needs no divorce.');">21 'Ulla said: She does not even require mi'un.22

יב דקדשה מאן אילימא דקדשה אביה במיאון סגי לה גט מעליא בעיא אלא לאו דקדשה איהי נפשה וקתני דבעיא מיאון

12 [What!] even though there were negotiations?23 - He who learnt this did not learn the other.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He who learnt that 'Ulla differed from Samuel did not learn R. Nahman's proviso, and so assumed that Samuel gave his ruling even if there were no previous negotiations.');">24 Others say: 'Ulla said: If a minor [ketannah] is betrothed without her father's knowledge, she does not even require mi'un.25

יג הוא מותיב לה והוא מפרק לה כגון שנעשה לה מעשה יתומה בחיי האב

13 R'Kahana objected: And if [any among] all these<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The consanguineous relations enumerated in Yeb. 25, q.v. If A has a number of wives, one of whom, C, is interdicted to B, his brother, on the score of consanguinity, e.g., she is B's daughter, and A dies childless, all his other wives are exempt from yibum or halizah (q.v. Glos.) , providing that C is alive and married to him at the time of his death.');">26 died, protested,27 were divorced,28

יד מתיב רב המנונא אין מוכרה לקרובים משום ר' אלעזר אמרו מוכרה לקרובים

14 or found to be constitutionally barren,29 their fellow-wives are permitted [to the yabam]. Now, who betrothed her?30 Shall we say, her father betrothed her? is then mi'un sufficient? She requires a proper Get!31 Hence it must surely mean that she betrothed herself, yet it is taught that she requires mi'un!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though her father was and is still alive (v. p. 224, n. 11.) . This contradicts the last ruling reported in the name of 'Ulla. - Mi'un only applies to the marriage of a minor.');">32 - He raised the objection and he [himself] answered it: [We] suppose she had been treated as an orphan during her father's lifetime.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If a father marries (not merely betroths) his daughter as a minor and she is widowed or divorced as a minor, he has no more authority over her, and she is technically regarded as an orphan in her father's lifetime. If she then betroths herself while still a minor, her marriage is Rabbinically valid, and she can dissolve it on attaining her majority by mi'un.');">33 R'Hamnuna objected: He [her father] may not sell her to relations. On the authority of R'Eleazar it was said: He may sell her to relations.

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