Gittin - Daf 18
- At which stage of collection does a kesubah become subject to shemittah
The Gemara asks: מאימתי כתובה משמטת – From when is a kesubah like an ordinary obligation to be canceled by shemittah? Rav says: משתפגום ותזקוף – From when she receives partial payment and establishes the balance as a loan. Receiving payment indicates she is ready to collect her kesubah, and establishing the balance as a loan reduces it from an obligation imposed by Beis Din (which is exempt from shemittah-cancelation) to an ordinary obligation. Shmuel says: פגמה אף על פי שלא זקפה – If she received partial payment, even if she did not establish the balance as a loan, זקפה אף על פי שלא פגמה – or if she established it as a loan, even if she did not receive partial payment, it is canceled by shemittah. Baraisos are brought in support of both opinions.
- Predating allowances for kesubah and עסוקין באותו ענין
Shmuel said: כתובה כמעשה ב"ד דמיא – A kesubah is like an obligation imposed by an act of Beis Din. מה מעשה ב"ד נכתבין ביום ונחתמין בלילה – Just as an act of Beis Din may be written by day and signed by night and is not considered predated, because their verdict takes effect with its writing even before it is signed, אף כתובה נכתבת ביום ונחתמת בלילה – so too, a kesubah may be written by day and signed by night and is not considered predated, because the obligation takes effect at the time of its writing. The Gemara reports that Rebbe Chiya’s kesubah was written in this manner, and Rav, who was present, did not protest. This does not necessarily prove that Rav agrees with Shmuel’s ruling, because they were occupied with its writing continuously until its signing that night, and a Baraisa states: לא שנו אלא כשאין עסוקין באותו ענין – they only taught that a predated document is invalid when they were not occupied in that matter of the document’s production, אבל עסוקין באותו ענין כשר – but if they were continuously involved in that matter of the document’s production until it was signed, it is valid (because it becomes public knowledge during its writing).
- If multiple witnesses instructed to write a get all sign as witnesses, or a mere תנאי
If one said to ten people, “כתבו גט לאשתי” - “Write a get for my wife,” and instructed all of them explicitly to sign (as the Gemara later explains), Rebbe Yochanan says: שנים משום עדים וכולם משום תנאי – two sign as witnesses, and the rest sign as a condition attached to its writing. In order to publicly humiliate her, he stipulated that ten people must sign it. Reish Lakish says: כולם משום עדים – all of them sign as witnesses. Two practical differences emerge from this machlokes: (1) דחתום בי תרי מינייהו ביומיה ואינך מכאן ועד עשרה ימים – where two of them signed that day, and the rest over the next ten days. If the remaining signers are merely fulfilling a condition, the get is valid, but if they are all required as witnesses, the testimony is not complete until they all sign, and the get is predated and invalid. (2) A second practical difference: כגון שנמצא אחד מהם קרוב או פסול – where one of [the signers] was found to be a relative or invalid witness. If this invalid signer is merely fulfilling a condition and not a witness, the get remains valid based on the other witnesses. But if they all sign as witnesses, this invalid witness disqualifies the entire testimony.
