Resources for Yevamos daf 109

1.     The משנה discusses a child whose father married her off and she then got divorced. רש"י says that the father is the one who received the גט. The ערוך לנר asks that רש"י in כתובות דף מו ע"ב says that a father is out of the picture once he marries off the קטנה and she has a full נישואין and he can no longer accept a גט for her. If so, how does רש"י say here that the father accepted the גט? He brings the מהר"ם פּאדוה who answers that רש"י in כתובות is talking about a נערה and our רש"י is talking about a קטנה. In other words, a father can still receive the גט for a קטנה but not for a נערה. The ערוך לנר points out that this is against the טור ושו"ע who say she cannot be מקבל the גט.

2.     ר"ג says in the משנה that if a קטנה and her adult sister married brothers and the husband of the גדולה dies, if the קטנה does מיאון that is fine and if not when she grows up she will be considered fully married to her husband and her sister will be פּטור from יבום because of אחות אשה. The גמרא gives two explanations of ר"ג’s שיטה. The first is that the קידושין דרבנן that she had as a child somehow grows up with her and becomes a full דאורייתא marriage when she becomes a גדולה. רש"י in explaining that שיטה sounds like the original קידושין  is חל now retroactively. The ריטב"א, רשב"א, and תוספות הרא"ש all ask how could anyone suggest that a קידושין דרבנן that was given to a קטנה could later become a קידושין דאורייתא without any action taking place when she grows up? They answer that it is like a case where a man said to a lady הרי את מקודשת לי לאחר ל׳ יום where the קידושין is חל after the 30 days even if the money is not around anymore. Similarly, when she received קידושין as a child it was as if the husband said that the marriage would be חל when she became a גדולה and that works even though the money is no longer around. According to this explanation the קידושין is not retroactive but rather only when she becomes a גדולה. The ריטב"א and others ask that the reason קידושין לאחר ל׳ יום works even when the money is already gone is because if the lady doesn’t marry him then she owes him the money. In that way it is as if the money is still around.  If so, a child doesn’t owe money based on what was given to them as a child so why does it work? They answer that when the חכמים made this קידושין they instituted  that the child is משעובד to repay the money as an adult if they don’t marry the man מדין הפקר ב"ד הפקר. There are many very important discussions based on the above ראשונים. One issue is how could a קטנה have provided דעת for the קנין at all? The קובץ הערות in סימן כ"ט ס"ק ד-ה says that we see from here that a child really does have דעת but there is a גזרת הכתוב that they can’t make a חלות קנין. Therefore, once she is a גדולה  and the חלות  can happen we are ok with the דעת  she had as a child. Another point is the assertion that the ראשונים made that a child is not responsible for money given to them as a child even once they grow up. רש"י in ב"ק דף פּ"ז on the משנה says that רפרם forced רב אשי to pay for the שטרות he destroyed when he was a kid. This seems to indicate that a person is financially responsible for things they did as a child. In ב"ף דף פּ"ז as well it says in the הגהות אשר"י on the משנה that a child must repay what he borrowed when grows up. It is possible it is a מחלוקת ראשונים. The final point is regarding the משנה למלך. In הלכות אישות פּרק ד׳ הל׳ ז, the משנה למלך says he is unsure what the הלכה is in a case where a man is מקדש a קטנה on condition that it will be חל when she becomes ‌‌גדולה. Is it חל מדאורייתא when she grows up? From the ראשונים mentioned above it should be clear that it does not work as they only made the שעבוד ממון work by a child in a case where there was a קידושין דרבנן but otherwise it would not work. רבי עקיבא איגר in משניות says that it depends: if it was a male child being מקדש a גדולה for when he grows up it would not work as the child can’t be מקנה the money to the woman, but if it is an adult man being מקדש a קטנה then it would work since she can acquire money through דעת אחרת מקנה.

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