Study Gittin folio 34A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
יתומין שבאו לחלוק בנכסי אביהן, בית דין מעמידין להן אפוטרופוס, ובוררים להן חלק יפה. הגדילו – יכולין למחות. ורב נחמן דידיה אמר: הגדילו – אין יכולין למחות; דאם כן, מה כח בית דין יפה?
with regard to the halakhot of a steward who cares for the estate of orphans: In the case of orphans who came to divide their father’s property, the court appoints a steward [apotropos] for them, and they select for them, i.e., for each of the orphans, a fine portion. When the orphans have grown up, they can protest the division and demand the redistribution of the property. And Rav Naḥman said his own statement: When they have grown up, they cannot protest, for if so, what advantage does the court have? This demonstrates that Rav Naḥman agrees with the principle of: If so, what advantage does the court have?
התם ממונא, הכא איסורא.
The Talmud answers: There is no contradiction between Rav Naḥman’s statement concerning the inheritance of orphans and his statement with regard to rendering a bill of divorce void. There, in the former case, it is in the realm of monetary matters, and the preservation of the court’s honor is more important than the accurate distribution of the property. Here, in the case of divorce, it is in the realm of matters of prohibition, and one would not permit a married woman to remarry in order to strengthen the authority of the court.
גידול בר רעילאי שדר לה גיטא לדביתהו; אזל שליחא, אשכחה דהוה יתבה ונוולה, אמר לה: הא גיטיך. אמרה ליה: זיל השתא מיהא, ותא למחר. אזל לגביה ואמר ליה. פתח ואמר: ״ברוך הטוב והמטיב״.
§ The Talmud relates: A man named Giddul bar Re’ilai sent a bill of divorce to his wife. The agent went and found that she was sitting and weaving [navla]. He said to her: This is your bill of divorce. She said to him: At least go away from here now and come tomorrow to give me the bill of divorce. The agent went to Giddul bar Re’ilai and told him what had occurred. Giddul bar Re’ilai opened his mouth and said: Blessed is He Who is good and does good, as he was happy that the bill of divorce was not delivered.