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Text Excerpt
גמ׳ מאי גריעותא דפונדקית? אמר רב כהנא: פונדקית — גויה היתה, ומסיחה לפי תומה היתה: ״זה מקלו, וזה תרמילו, וזה קבר שקברתיו בו״. וכן תני אבא בריה דרב מניומי בר חייא: פונדקית גויה היתה, ומסיחה לפי תומה היתה: ״זה מקלו, וזה תרמילו, וזה קבר שקברתיו בו״.
Talmud: The Mishnah assumed that an innkeeper is less trustworthy than an ordinary woman, such that the Rabbis argued that if the innkeeper was deemed credible, it should be obvious that an ordinary woman should be deemed credible. The Talmud asks: What was unfavorable about the innkeeper that made her less trustworthy than an ordinary woman? Rav Kahana said: She was a non-Jew innkeeper, and she was therefore deemed credible only because she was speaking offhandedly when she said that the man died and this is his staff, and this is his bag, and this is the grave in which I buried him. And similarly, Abba, son of Rav Minyumi, son of Ḥiyya, taught: She was a non-Jew innkeeper, and she was speaking offhandedly, saying that this is his staff, and this is his bag, and this is the grave in which I buried him.
But didn’t they say to her: Where is our friend? This indicates that she was answering their question rather than speaking offhandedly. The Talmud explains: Once she saw them, she cried. They said to her: Where is our friend? Then she said to them: He died, and I buried him. Since she cried before being questioned, the crying was considered the beginning of her account, and she is considered to have been speaking offhandedly.
תנו רבנן: מעשה באדם אחד שבא להעיד על האשה לפני רבי טרפון. אמר לו: ״בני, היאך אתה יודע בעדות אשה זו?״ אמר: ״אני והוא היינו הולכים בדרך, ורדף אחרינו גייס, ונתלה בייחור של זית ופשחו, והחזיר את הגייס לאחוריו״.
§ A baraita states: An incident occurred involving a certain individual who came to testify before R' Tarfon with regard to a woman whose husband had died. He said to him: My son, how do you come to know testimony that the husband of this woman died? He said: He and I were traveling on the road together, and a troop of soldiers chased after us. He hung onto an olive branch, and tore it off to use as a heavy staff to intimidate the soldiers, and forced the troop to withdraw.