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Gittin 51a

גיטין נ״א ע״א

Learn Gittin 51a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

What lets a debt be collected from sold property (fixed amount, writing, or timing), and the oath of one who finds a lost object.

Overview

The גמרא asks what an obligation needs in order to be collected from property already sold to a buyer (נכסים משועבדים): must it be both fixed in amount and written down, or is a fixed amount enough? It first tries to prove this from a daughter's dowry (פרנסה), which is fixed but unwritten. The proof is rejected, because a dowry is public knowledge and so counts as written. רב הונא בר מנוח then brings a משנה in which a stepdaughter collects food support even from buyers. The גמרא explains that a קנין was made for her, and after several attempts settles on why the man's own daughter does not collect this way: her father may already have given her money. Next a teaching of רבי נתן suggests that collecting from buyers depends only on timing. The גמרא answers that תנאים disagree, some saying the reason is that these debts are unwritten and רבי יוסי saying it is that they are unfixed. Finally, the גמרא turns to the משנה's rule that a finder of a lost object does not swear. It brings רבי יצחק's cases of tied pouches and tied oxen, then challenges how he can require an oath at all.

Opening lines

אוֹ דִּלְמָא קְצוּבִין,

Or perhaps it is enough that they are fixed,

וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵינָן כְּתוּבִים?

even though they are not written?

תָּא שְׁמַע, דְּאִיתְּמַר:

Come and hear, for it was stated:

מִי שֶׁמֵּת וְהִנִּיחַ שְׁתֵּי בָּנוֹת וּבֵן,

One who died and left two daughters and a son,

The steps (25)

  1. QuestionThe second side of the question: is a fixed amount enough?
  2. ProofBringing a case: two daughters, a son, and the dowry
  3. Statementרבי יוחנן: the second daughter gave up her share
  4. Challengeרבי חנינא: a dowry can even be taken from buyers
  5. ProofThe proof: a dowry is fixed but not written, and still collected
  6. RejectionA dowry is different because everyone knows about it
  7. ChallengeA stepdaughter's food support is collected even from sold property
  8. ResolutionThe case is where a formal קנין was made
  9. ChallengeThen the man's own daughters should collect too
  10. ResolutionThe קנין was made only for the stepdaughter
  11. QuestionWhy set up the case this way?
  12. ResponseOnly the stepdaughter was alive when the קנין was made
  13. ChallengeWhat if both girls were alive at the קנין?
  14. ResolutionThe two girls get support for different reasons
  15. ChallengeCan an extra source of rights make her weaker?
  16. ResolutionMaybe he already gave his daughter money
  17. Challengeרבי נתן: it depends on which came first
  18. ResolutionIt is a dispute between תנאים
  19. Resolutionרבי יוסי gives a different reason: the amounts are not fixed
  20. StatementNew topic: a finder of a lost object does not swear
  21. Statementרבי יצחק: tied pouches mean an oath, tied oxen do not
  22. QuestionWhy are pouches different from oxen?
  23. ResponseOxen can come apart, pouches cannot
  24. StatementA finder who says he returned one ox does swear
  25. ChallengeChallenge: Doesn't רבי יצחק accept that a finder does not swear?