Kiddushin 59b

קידושין נ״ט ע״ב

Learn Kiddushin 59b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Can speech cancel earlier speech (רבי יוחנן and ריש לקיש), and קידושין 'from now and after thirty days' (רב and שמואל)

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a challenge from the laws of כלים, where a thought cannot cancel an earlier thought. The גמרא answers that thought in טומאה counts like an action, as shown by רב פפא's reading of כי יתן / כי יותן. Then רב זביד places the whole argument on a different case: a woman who made a שליח to accept קידושין for her and then took the appointment back with words alone. רבי יוחנן says words can cancel words, and ריש לקיש says they cannot. Each side challenges the other, and ריש לקיש is finally refuted by the case of a husband who cancels the גט he sent. The הלכה follows רבי יוחנן, and the גמרא shows this fits with רב נחמן's ruling, because the husband cancels the שליח but not the גט. The amud then turns to רב and שמואל on a woman betrothed 'from now and after thirty days', which comes down to whether those words are a condition or a change of mind. The amud ends as אביי begins a case of two men with overlapping time periods, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (28)

1. ChallengeThought does not even cancel thought in the laws of vessels
2. ResolutionThought in impurity counts like an action
3. Challengeרב פפא's question: written כי יתן but read כי יותן
4. ResolutionBeing pleased counts like doing it yourself
5. Statementרב זביד's version: the woman who sent an agent
6. QuestionWhat if she just takes back the appointment?
7. StatementCan words cancel earlier words?
8. ChallengeChallenge from the cancelled תרומה agent
9. Resolutionרבא: the owner cancelled by acting
10. ChallengeChallenge from thought in the laws of כלים
11. ResolutionThought in טומאה counts like an action
12. Challengeרב פפא: written one way, read another
13. ResolutionWater only counts when the owner wants it
14. ChallengeA husband can cancel a גט he sent just by speaking
15. Conclusionריש לקיש is disproven
16. ConclusionThe הלכה follows רבי יוחנן, even in the first case
17. ChallengeThis seems to clash with רב נחמן's ruling about reusing a canceled גט
18. ResolutionHe canceled the שליח, not the גט
19. Statementרב and שמואל argue about the second man's קידושין
20. ChallengeHow can the second man's קידושין just fall away?
21. ResolutionThe argument was taught on a different case
22. Statementרב יהודה's version: the 'from now and after thirty days' case
23. StatementThe root of the argument: condition or change of mind?
24. Statementרב and שמואל match an older argument about a גט
25. ChallengeWhy not just say whose view is the הלכה?
26. Resolutionרב's view had to be said directly
27. Resolutionשמואל's view had to be said directly too
28. Statementאביי sets up a case with two men, following רב's view