Resources for Kesubos 86
The גמרא discusses a case of someone who sells a שטר חוב and is then מוחל it. The גמרא says that if you hold we are דאין דינא דגרמי then the purchaser of the שטר can recoup the money from the seller who was מוחל it since it is considered גרמי. We all know that we pasken גרמא is פּטור בדיני אדם. What is the level of the חיוב of גרמי and what exactly is the difference between גרמא and גרמי? This is an important מחלוקת ראשונים. The רמב"ן actually has an entire קונטרס just about this topic called קונטרס גרמי. In it he says that גרמי is a דין דאורייתא. This is also the משמעות of תוספות in בב"ב דף כ"ב ע"ב ד"ה זאת. However, תוספות also quotes there a ריצב"א who says גרמי is just a קנס so that people should not be able to go around and damage each other. There are a few important נפקא מינהs as to whether גרמי is דאורייתא or just a קנס. One נפקא מינה brought by the רמב"ן is in a case of שוגג. If גרמי is a דין דאורייתא you would be חייב even by a שוגג but if it is just a קנס then you would be פּטור because we pasken לא קנסינן שוגג אטו מזיד. Another possible נפקא מינה brought by the ש"ך inסימן שפּ"ח ס"ק נ"א in the name of the יש"ש is if a person is מודה. If you hold גרמי is a קנס then מודה בקנס פּטור but if it is a דין דאורייתא then it is חייב. However, the ש"ך himself who paskens it’s a קנס disagrees and holds you would be חייב even if you are מודה. A third נפקא מינה is brought by the קובץ שיעורים here in אות שי"ג and in בב"ב אות תק"כ as follows: תוספות here in ד"ה תיזיל brings רבינו יצחק who says that when a lady is מוחל the כתובה she sold she only has to pay the purchaser the amount he paid for the שטר and not the full value written in the שטר. The ראב"ד in his השגות על הרי"ף says this is because גרמי is only a קנס so they only made you pay the amount you made the person lose. תוספות brings the רשב"א who disagrees and says you pay the full amount of the שטר. The רשב"א fits with the שיטה that גרמי is a דין דאורייתא. The ש"ך in סימן ס"ו ס"ק קי"ז brings a related issue: what is the דין if instead of selling the שטר חוב you give it as a מתנה? The קובץ שיעורים explains that if גרמי is a דין דאורייתא then you would still need to pay the value of the שטר but if it’s just a קנס and you only pay the amount the buyer paid out then in this case the buyer paid nothing and you would not need to reimburse him at all. In fact, the מחבר paskens in סימן ס"ו סעיף ל"ב that by a מוחל שטר חוב that you need to pay the purchaser the full amount mentioned in the שטר and also paskens in סעיף ל"ו that even if it was given as a gift you are still חייב the full amount. The רמ"א in סעיף ל"ב says you only need to pay the amount the purchaser paid and the ש"ך says that לשיטתו he would he would say you are completely פּטור by a case of מתנה. A final נפקא מינה according to the ריצב"א mentioned above is that if it is a קנס then חז"ל only made their תקנה by a מילתא דשכיחא to protect people but not by something not שכיח.
As to the issue of what the difference is between גרמי and גרמא, תוספות in בב"ב דף כ"ב ע"ב ד"ה זאת says that גרמי means that you (the מזיק) did the action yourself and it happens immediately, as opposed to גרמא which either happens sometime after your act or isn’t done by you at all. Interestingly, the רמב"ן in קונטרס גרמי says that רש"י holds there is no halachic difference between גרמא and גרמי and if you hold one is חייב then both are חייב and vice versa. Interestingly, the סמ"ע in סימן שפּ"ו ס"ק א holds that the רמב"ם holds like this as well! Theרמב"ם in הלכות חובל פּרק ז הל׳ ז says “כל הגורם להזיק ממון חבירו חייב לשלם”. It sounds like גרמא and גרמי are the same and חייב. The ביאור הגר"א in סימן שצ"ו אות ח more or less agrees that the רמב"ם is מחייב in both גרמא and גרמי but says this is only if the person intended to be מזיק. If they had no intention to be מזיק then even the רמב"ם agrees you are פּטור.
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