Gittin 87b

גיטין פ״ז ע״ב

Learn Gittin 87b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Reading witnesses' signatures on two side-by-side גיטין, and the משנה on where and how witnesses sign a גט

Overview

The amud opens in the middle of a discussion of two גיטין written side by side, with four witnesses signing beneath them. The גמרא first shows that a father's name spilling under the second גט is part of one signature, because people neither sign with their father's name nor turn it into a signing symbol. It then asks why each pair of witnesses cannot validate its own גט. זעירי's teaching says both are valid. Our משנה disagrees because of גונדלית, the worry that the witnesses signed in reverse and really belong to a different גט. A new משנה follows. It rules that a גט may continue into a second column if the witnesses sign below. It explains which גט is valid when two are written on one sheet with signatures between them, and it allows mixed languages, a scribe plus one witness, short signatures, and nicknames. The גמרא then worries that a two-column גט might be pieced together from two cut-up גיטין. רבי אבא in the name of רב answers that there is blank space below the first column, and the discussion of this answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. ChallengeMaybe the witness signed the second גט with his father's name
2. ResolutionPeople do not sign with their father's name instead of their own
3. ChallengeMaybe he used his father's name as a signature symbol
4. ResolutionNo one would dare use his father's name as a symbol
5. ChallengeWhy not validate each גט by its own pair of witnesses?
6. ChallengeBlocking the answer of the two-line gap
7. Resolutionזעירי holds that both גיטין are valid
8. ResolutionOur תנא worries that the witnesses signed in reverse
9. ChallengeThe mixed case: why not pair up the witnesses
10. Resolutionזעירי again holds that both are valid
11. ResolutionReversed signing could leave one get with a single witness
12. StatementA get continued in a second column, and witnesses signing in the wrong place
13. StatementTwo גיטין on one sheet with the witnesses in the middle
14. StatementMixed languages, and a scribe plus one witness
15. StatementWhat a witness must write when he signs
16. StatementUsing nicknames for the husband and wife
17. ChallengeMaybe it was really two separate גיטין
18. ResolutionAnswer: there is empty space below the first column
19. ChallengeMaybe only the date of the second גט was cut off
20. ResolutionAnswer begins: bringing back רבי אבא's statement