Gittin - Daf 70
- Various lists of potentially harmful things or activities
The Gemara presents several lists of things or activities which are potentially harmful. Among those lists: - שלשה דברים מכחישים כחו של אדם – Three things weaken a person’s strength, ואלו הן – and they are: פחד דרך ועון – fear, travel, and sin. Fear, as it says: "לבי סחרחר עזבני כחי" – My heart is surrounded (by fear), my strength has abandoned me. Travel, as it says: "ענה בדרך כחי" – He has afflicted my strength on the way. Sin, as it says: "כשל בעוני כחי" – My strength has failed because of my sin. Another list: שמונה רובן קשה ומיעוטן יפה – Eight things are harmful in abundance, and beneficial in moderation, and they are: דרך – Travel, ודרך ארץ – relations, עושר – wealth, ומלאכה – labor, יין – wine, ושינה – sleep, חמין – hot water, והקזת דם – and bloodletting.
- If a get may be written for a husband while he is seized by kurdiakos
The Mishnah on Daf 67b taught that one who requested a get, and was seized by kurdiakos and retracted, his retraction is ignored because his mind was not settled at the time. Reish Lakish says: כותבין ונותנין גט לאלתר – We write and give the get immediately, even while he is seized by kurdiakos. Rebbe Yochanan says we do not write the get until he recovers (but his retraction is ignored such that the get may be written without consulting him). The machlokes is explained: ר"ל מדמי ליה לישן – Reish Lakish likens him to a sleeping person, for whom a get may be written and delivered while he sleeps, ור' יוחנן מדמי ליה לשוטה – and Rebbe Yochanan likens him to an insane person, for whom a get cannot be written or delivered. Rebbe Yochanan says he cannot be compared to one sleeping because: ישן לא מחוסר מעשה – a sleeping person does not require an action to awaken him; since he will awaken on his own, he is considered mentally competent even now, האי מחוסר מעשה – but this husband seized by kurdiakos requires an action to cure him (and he is therefore incompetent until his recovery). Reish Lakish says he cannot be compared to an insane person because: שוטה לא סמיה בידן – an insane person’s cure is not in our hands, and he is thus fundamentally incompetent, האי סמיה בידן – but this one’s cure is in our hands [i.e., one afflicted by kurdiakos], and he is thus fundamentally competent.
- The status of שחט בו שנים re: requesting a get, assuming his death, and galus for the murderer
Shmuel says: שחט בו שנים או רוב שנים – One who cut someone’s throat, severing the two passages (trachea and esophagus) or the majority of the two passages, ורמז ואמר כתבו גט לאשתי – and [the dying man] gestured to say, “Write a get for my wife,” הרי אלו יכתבו ויתנו – they write and give it. The Gemara clarifies that although he is considered alive, we assume he will later die, and Shmuel therefore says we may testify to his death after such injuries (to permit his wife to remarry). The Gemara then asks, if this injury results in death, then one who cuts someone’s passages accidentally should be exiled to an עיר מקלט, yet a Baraisa states: שחט בו שנים או רוב שנים ה"ז אינו גולה – If one cut someone’s two passages or most of them, he is not exiled!? Two answers are given: (1) חיישינן שמא הרוח בלבלתו – We suspect the wind worsened the injury and contributed to his death, or (2) הוא קירב את מיתתו – he hastened his own death through writhing. Either way, the killer is exempt from galus (which is only for a murder caused solely by the murderer). Practical differences would emerge if the injury took place in a marble house (without wind) and the victim writhed, or if it occurred outdoors and he did not writhe.
