Gittin - Daf 16
- Connecting mikvah waters while standing in it
The Gemara explains that Ilfa’s question on Daf 15b, whether one can purify his hands half at a time, is in a case where the first half remained טופח להטפיח - moist enough to moisten something it touches enough that it can moisten something else. The Gemara asks that a Baraisa teaches such moisture is considered a connection, so what is Ilfa’s question? It answers that the Baraisa may be Rebbe Yehudah’s opinion regarding a mikvah, for we learned in a Mishnah in Mikvaos: מקוה שיש בו ארבעים סאה מכוונות – A mikvah which has precisely the minimal forty se’ah of water, וירדו שנים וטבלו בזה אחר זה – and two people went down and immersed themselves one after the other, ראשון טהור והשני טמא – the first is tahor, but the second is tamei (because some water was removed when the first person left). Rebbe Yehudah says: אם היו רגליו של ראשון נוגעות במים – If the feet of the first were touching the water during the second tevilah, אף השני טהור – even the second person is tahor, because we say גוד אחית – extend and lower, to consider the water on his body still connected to the mikvah. This reasoning does not apply to washing hands half at a time.
- Two questions of combining methods of washing one’s body regarding tumah and taharah
The Gemara brings two questions of combining methods of washing one’s body regarding tumah and taharah (1) Rebbe Yirmiyah quoted a Mishnah: הבא ראשו ורובו במים שאובין – One whose head and majority of his body was immersed in drawn water on the day he was tovel, וטהור שנפלו על ראשו ועל רובו שלשה לוגין מים שאובין – or a tahor person upon whose head and majority of his body fell three lugin of drawn water, טמא – becomes Rabbinically tamei. Rebbe Yirmiyah asked: חציו בביאה וחציו בנפילה – If one washed half his body through immersion and half through pouring, does he become tamei? (2) Rav Pappa quoted a Mishnah: בעל קרי חולה שנתנו עליו תשעה קבין מים טהור – An ill baal keri upon whom they poured nine kabim of water becomes tahor (for learning Torah), without tevilah in a mikvah. Rav Pappa asked: חציו בטבילה וחציו בנתינה – If half his body underwent tevilah and half underwent pouring nine kabim of water, does he become tahor? Both questions are left unresolved.
- If two sheluchim need to say בפני נכתב ובפ"נ, and the machlokes re: two witnesses to the writing
The Mishnah on Daf 15a taught that if one person says בפני נכתב and another says בפני נחתם, the get is not valid. Rebbe Yochanan said, according to one version, that this is only if they are not both sheluchim, אבל גט יוצא מתחת ידי שניהם כשר – but if the get comes from both their hands, it is valid. Although their testimony was not adequate, he holds two sheluchim bringing a get are not required to say בפני נכתב ובפ"נ at all. The Gemara then asks how Rebbe Yochanan explains our Mishnah’s machlokes, where two witnesses said בפני נכתב and one said בפני נחתם. This must be where only one is a shaliach, so why would Rebbe Yehudah consider it valid? The Gemara explains that although the single shaliach is believed to confirm the signatures, the Tanna Kamma was concerned that people will think a single witness is always sufficient to confirm signatures (since the distinctive feature, the additional בפני נחתם, is absent). Rebbe Yehudah was not concerned, because the testimony of two witnesses about the writing indicates its uniqueness. In a second version, Rebbe Yochanan said that even if they are both sheluchim, the get is invalid, and holds that two sheluchim are required to say בפני נכתב ובפ"נ. Accordingly, the case of the machlokes is where both witnesses are sheluchim, and the Gemara initially explains that the Tannaim argue if the purpose of בפני נכתב ובפ"נ is for לשמה, or to confirm the signatures. Rabbah explains the machlokes differently.
