Study Gittin folio 15B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הוא ואחר מעידין על חתימת יד שני – פסול. מאי טעמא? אתו לאיחלופי בקיום שטרות דעלמא, וקא נפיק נכי ריבעא דממונא אפומא דחד סהדא.
he, i.e., the agent, and another person testify with regard to the signature of the second witness, the bill of divorce is invalid. What is the reason for this? Perhaps people will come to confuse it with the typical case of ratification of legal documents, and will rely on one witness who testifies about his own signature and that of the other signatory, while another witness joins with him to testify with regard to the other signature. And as a result of this, the full sum of money, minus 1/4th, will be extracted based upon the testimony of one witness. In order to ratify legal documents in general, two witnesses must testify as to the validity of each of the signatures. If the rabbis were to allow one witness to testify about his own signature and another witness to join him in testifying about the other signature in the case of a bill of divorce, it may lead to the same method being employed with regard to other legal documents.
מתקיף לה רב אשי: מי איכא מידי, דאילו מסיק ליה איהו לכוליה דיבורא, כשר; השתא דאיכא חד בהדיה, פסול?!
Rav Ashi objects to this: Is there any situation in which if he himself would complete his entire statement by saying: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence, the document would be valid, and now that there is another one who testifies with him, the bill of divorce is invalid?
אלא אמר רב אשי: אפילו אומר ״אני הוא עד שני״ – פסול. מאי טעמא? או כולו בקיום הגט, או כולו בתקנת חכמים.
Rather, Rav Ashi says that even if the agent says: I am the second witness who signed the bill of divorce, it is invalid. What is the reason for this? A bill of divorce cannot be validated by a combination of two types of credibility. It must be authenticated either entirely through the ratification of the bill of divorce, in the manner that other documents are ratified, or it must be entirely ratified via the rabbinic decree, in which case the testimony of the agent is considered equivalent to that of two people who ratify the signatures.