Kesubos - Daf 23
- People sometimes are mekadesh and divorce privately, and the neighbors do not know
A Baraisa on the bottom of Daf 22b stated: שנים אומרים נתקדשה ושנים אומרים לא נתקדשה – If two witnesses say that a woman was mekudeshes, and two witnesses say she was not, this woman may not marry another man, but if she does, she does not have to leave him. If two witnesses said a woman was not divorced, and two said she was, she may not marry another man, and if she does, she must leave him. Rav Ashi explained the difference between the two cases and said the rulings must be reversed. The first case is when the two witnesses say, “ראינוה שנתקדשה” – we saw her become mekudeshes, and the second set said they did not. When the Gemara says that saying “we have not seen” is not a proof, it answers that the case was where the woman and witnesses live in the same chatzeir. One might have thought that if she was mekudeshes, קלא אית לה למילתא – there would have been a kol amongst the neighbors and it would be known. The Baraisa is coming to teach דעבדי אינשי דמקדשי בצנעא – that people sometimes are mekadesh privately and it is not known. Therefore, she must leave the second husband. But in the second case regarding divorce, one might have thought that if the woman was divorced, קלא אית ליה למילתא – it is something that would be publicized and well known to the neighbors. Therefore, the Baraisa is coming to teach that people do divorce privately, and if she marries, she does not have to leave the second husband.
- The incident when Shmuel’s daughters were taken captive
The Gemara brings an incident where captured women were brought to Nehardea to be ransomed, and Shmuel’s father placed guards over them so they should not be violated by their captors. When Shmuel asked his father what the point was, since no one was guarding them up until now, his father responded that if they were Shmuel’s daughters would he treat them so lightly? הואי "כשגגה שיצא מלפני השליט" – His retort was like an error proceeding from a ruler, meaning like a royal edict said in error that can not be revoked, and Shmuel’s daughters were captured. When they were brought from Bavel to Eretz Yisroel, the daughters had their captors stand outside while they went into the Beis Midrash, and each one proclaimed, נשביתי וטהורה אני - I was captured and I am pure. Rebbe Chanina permitted them to marry Kohanim. Afterward, their captors entered the Beis Midrash, and Rebbe Chanina said that these women are daughters of a halachic master. Rashi explains that they knew to speak to Beis Din before their captors entered. Rav Chanina said to Rav Shemen bar Abba, who was a Kohen and related to them, to go and marry one of them.
- Captive women are believed when they testify for one another that they were not violated
The next Mishnah states: שתי נשים שנשבו – If two women were captured by nochrim, and Rashi explains that there were witnesses, זאת אומרת נשביתי וטהורה אני וזאת אומרת נשביתי וטהורה אני אינן נאמנות – and this one says, “I was captured and am pure,” and this one says, “I was captured and am pure, they are not believed. ובזמן שהן מעידות זו את זו הרי אלו נאמנות – But if they testify for one another, they are believed. Rashi explains that the Rabbanon were lenient for a captive woman to believe one witness, and even a woman, that the captive was not violated.
