Gittin 65a

גיטין ס״ה ע״א

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Topic

A minor's ability to acquire and to appoint agents, רבא's stages of a child, and agents for receiving or bringing a גט.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a debate over whether the rule 'whatever רבנן enacted, they modeled on Torah law' covers enactments with no Torah root. רב אויא then challenges שמואל's view that a קטן cannot acquire for others. He cites a משנה where a Hebrew maidservant, who must be a minor, redeems מעשר שני for her master. The גמרא first answers that the case is מעשר nowadays, which is only דרבנן. Since Hebrew servants do not exist nowadays, it moves the case to produce grown in an עציץ שאינו נקוב, which is also only rabbinic. רבא then lists three stages of a child's maturity and what a boy or girl can do legally at each stage. A new משנה teaches that a minor girl cannot appoint an agent to receive her גט, but her father can. It also covers what happens when a husband or wife names a place for the agent, where רבי אלעזר disagrees in the wife's case. The גמרא explains that the husband means his instruction, while the wife, who can be divorced against her will, is only giving directions. A final משנה applies these rules to when a כהן's wife must stop eating תרומה. The גמרא's answer to a contradiction there continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (19)

1. ResponseThe first sage's reason: rabbinic enactments copy Torah law
2. ResponseThe other sage: the rule applies only to enactments rooted in Torah
3. Challengeרב אויא's challenge from redeeming מעשר שני
4. ProofThe maidservant must be a minor
5. RejectionThe case is מעשר nowadays, which is only rabbinic
6. ChallengeThere are no Hebrew maidservants today
7. ResolutionThe case is produce from a pot without a hole
8. Statementרבא's first stage: the child who throws away a pebble but keeps a nut
9. StatementSecond stage: young children can buy and sell movables
10. StatementThird stage: the age of vows, and selling a father's land at twenty
11. StatementA minor girl cannot appoint an agent to receive her גט
12. StatementHer father can appoint an agent to receive her גט
13. StatementThe husband names a place: an instruction versus just information
14. StatementThe wife names a place for her agent: a dispute, then the 'bring' case
15. QuestionWhy does רבי אלעזר argue only in the second case?
16. ResponseThe husband means it; the wife is only showing a place
17. StatementWhen must the wife of a כהן stop eating תרומה?
18. ChallengeBut didn't the earlier משנה call this גט invalid?
19. ResolutionShe explicitly allowed taking the גט anywhere