Study Gittin folio 9B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
העולים בערכאות של גוים, אף על פי שחותמיהן גוים – כשירין, חוץ מגיטי נשים ושחרורי עבדים. וכדברי רבי מאיר – בארבעה: האומר ״תן גט זה לאשתי, ושטר שחרור זה לעבדי״, רצה לחזור בשניהם – יחזור, דברי רבי מאיר.
that are produced in non-Jew courts [arkaot], even though their signatories are non-Jews, they are valid, except for bills of divorce and bills of manumission. These documents are not valid when prepared by non-Jews. And according to the statement of R' Meir, bills of divorce and manumission are equal in 4 ways, the 3 aforementioned halakhot and also with regard to a man who says: Give this bill of divorce to my wife, or: Give this bill of manumission to my slave. They are equal in that if he desires to retract his instruction with regard to both of these documents, before they have reached the woman or slave, he can retract. This is the statement of R' Meir.
The Talmud asks: Granted, according to the opinion of the Rabbis, they state the number 3 to exclude this opinion of R' Meir, by emphasizing that there are only 3 ways, not 4. However, according to the opinion of R' Meir, what does the number 4 serve to exclude? Wouldn’t it have been enough to say that R' Meir adds another case?
למעוטי הא דתניא: עדים שאין יודעים לחתום, מקרעין להם נייר חלק, וממלאים את הקרעים דיו.
The Talmud answers: The rabbis mention this number to exclude that which is taught in a baraita: With regard to witnesses who do not know how to sign, i.e., they do not know how to write their names, one tears blank paper for them, meaning that a stencil of their names is fashioned from blank paper and placed on the bill of divorce. And the witnesses fill in the gaps with ink so that their names appear on the document.