Gemara Clarity

Gittin 77b

גיטין ע״ז ע״ב

Learn Gittin 77b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Gittin 77b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How a woman can acquire her גט in her own חצר even though her husband has rights in her property: the principle of declining a תקנת חכמים, רבא's idea that the גט and her חצר come 'together', and רבינא's challenge to רבא's comparison with her hand.

Overview

The גמרא is asking how a wife can acquire her גט in her own חצר, since her husband has rights in her property. First it explains that a person may decline a תקנת חכמים made for his benefit, like רב הונא's rule that a wife may refuse support and keep her earnings. רבא gives another answer: the גט and her courtyard come to her at the same moment (באין כאחד). רבינא questions the comparison רבא drew to a wife's hand, and רב אשי explains that רבא was really thinking of a slave's hand. A story follows about a dying man. רבא told him to give his wife the place where the גט lay. When רב עיליש challenged this, רבא defended it, at last with the same idea of באין כאחד. Next, עולא and רבי אושעיא argue over whether the woman must be near her courtyard. They explain differently what it means for a חצר to be 'like her hand.' Finally, רב יוסף rules on a גט that landed on a board in a courtyard lent to her. The board's size and height decide whether it is a separate area, and a further limit continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אִי אֶפְשִׁי בְּתַקָּנַת חֲכָמִים

"I do not want the enactment of the Sages"

כְּגוֹן זוֹ – שׁוֹמְעִין לוֹ.

in a case such as this, we listen to him.

מַאי ״כְּגוֹן זוֹ״?

What is meant by "such as this"?

כִּדְרַב הוּנָא אָמַר רַב –

Like that which רב הונא said in the name of רב,

The steps (26)

  1. StatementA person may decline a rabbinic enactment made for his benefit
  2. QuestionWhich case does 'such as this' mean?
  3. ResponseThe model case: a wife may refuse support and keep her earnings
  4. Resolutionרבא: the גט and her courtyard come to her at the same moment
  5. Challengeרבינא: the husband never owned her actual hand
  6. ResolutionIt was the slave's hand that bothered רבא
  7. StatementA dying man's גט and רבא's ruling
  8. ProofProof that locking a door takes possession
  9. ChallengeWhatever a wife acquires, her husband acquires
  10. ResolutionThe woman turns out to be betrothed, so רבא's ruling stands
  11. Conclusionרבא: for any wife, the גט and the courtyard arrive together
  12. ChallengeDidn't רבא already say this?
  13. Resolutionרבא said it in this very story
  14. Statementעולא: she must be next to her house or courtyard
  15. Statementרבי אושעיא: she can even be in another city
  16. ChallengeBut the משנה says she is in her house
  17. ResolutionThe משנה means 'as if she were in her house'
  18. QuestionMaybe they argue about why a courtyard works
  19. RejectionNo, both agree it is like her hand; for עולא it must be near her
  20. ResolutionFor רבי אושעיא, the comparison means the courtyard must be guarded with her knowledge
  21. QuestionA גט thrown into a courtyard lands on a board
  22. Responseרב יוסף: a board of four by four אמות is its own domain
  23. ChallengeWhose courtyard is it?
  24. ResolutionHe lent her the courtyard
  25. StatementA board ten טפחים high is separate even if small
  26. StatementA second limit begins