that she should go and forgive her mother’s marriage contract for her father, and she will subsequently inherit the sum of the marriage contract from him? The marriage contract is a document of the debt owed by her father to her mother. The daughter, who has inherited the document from her mother, can forgo her father’s obligation, so rendering nugatory the right of the purchasers. The father then retains the amount owed to the purchasers of the marriage contract, and his daughter will inherit that amount when he dies. The daughter heard this, and went and forgave her father’s obligation in the marriage contract, as recommended by Rav Naḥman.
אמר רב נחמן: עשינו עצמינו כעורכי הדיינין. מעיקרא מאי סבר, ולבסוף מאי סבר? מעיקרא סבר: ״ומבשרך לא תתעלם״, ולבסוף סבר: אדם חשוב שאני.
Rav Naḥman later said in regret: We have made ourselves like advisors of judges. We have acted like lawyers who give practical advice to litigants rather than like independent judges. The Talmud asks: At the outset, what did he hold when he intended the daughter to hear his advice, and ultimately, what did he hold that made him regret his action? The Talmud explains: At the outset, he held that the verse teaches: “And you should not hide yourself from your own flesh” (Isaiah 58:7), and therefore it is correct to give help and advice to relatives. And ultimately he held that in the case of an important person who must be very careful to avoid any impression of having favored his family in judgment, the situation is different.
גופא, אמר שמואל: המוכר שטר חוב לחבירו, וחזר ומחלו — מחול, ואפילו יורש מוחל. אמר רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע: ואי פקח הוא, מקרקש ליה זוזי, וכתב ליה שטרא בשמיה.
Since the Talmud had previously mentioned a halakha stated by Shmuel, it turns its attention to the matter itself. Shmuel said: With regard to one who sells a promissory note to another, and the seller went back and forgave the debtor his debt, it is forgiven, since the debtor essentially had a non-transferable obligation to the creditor alone, and even the creditor’s heir can forgive the debt. Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said: And if the purchaser of the document is perspicacious, and is wary of such a ploy, he should jangle [mekarkesh] dinars in the debtor’s ears, i.e., he should pay the debtor or promise him money, and the debtor will write for him a new promissory note in the purchaser’s name, thereby preventing the latter from losing out.