Eine Frau wird nach den Worten von Beth Shammai mit einem Dinar (sechsundneunzig Silber Gerstenkörner) oder mit dem Wert eines Dinar verlobt. Und Beth Hillel sagt: mit einer p'rutah [einem halben Gerstenkorngewicht aus Silber] oder mit dem Wert einer p'rutah. Und wie viel kostet eine p'rutah? Ein Achtel eines italienischen Issars [vier Gerstenkörner Silbergewicht, so genannt, weil es in Italien ausgegeben wurde.] Beth Shammai sagt: Ein Mann kann sich von seiner Frau mit einem alten Get scheiden lassen [was er schrieb, um sich von seiner Frau scheiden zu lassen, und fortfahren mit ihr zu leben, nachdem er das get geschrieben hat. Beth Shammai ist der Ansicht, dass wir nicht dagegen entscheiden, damit die Leute nicht sagen: "Ihr geht ihrem Sohn voraus", dh, dass zwischen dem Schreiben und dem Geben nicht ein oder zwei Jahre vergehen und sie in der Zwischenzeit Kinder von ihm hat und sich dann scheiden lässt das bekommen—so dass die Leute, die das Get als vor der Geburt ihres Sohnes sehen, denken könnten, dass das Get ihr zum Zeitpunkt des Schreibens gegeben wurde, und kommen, um dem Kind einen Makel zu geben und zu sagen, dass es von einer unverheirateten Frau geboren wurde. ] Und Beth Hillel verbietet es. Welches ist "ein altes Get"? Ein Get, nach dessen Schreiben er weiter bei ihr lebte. [Die Halacha: Man darf sich nicht von seiner Frau mit einem alten Get scheiden lassen. Und wenn er sich von ihr scheiden ließ und in ein anderes Land ging, konnte sie von Anfang an wieder heiraten.] Wenn man sich von seiner Frau scheiden ließ und sie die Nacht mit ihm in einem Gasthaus verbrachte, [gab es Zeugen dafür, dass sie allein zusammen waren, aber Beth Shammai sagt: Sie braucht keine Sekunde, um von ihm zu kommen. Beth Hillel sagt: Sie braucht eine Sekunde von ihm. [Beth Hillel ist der Ansicht, dass Zeugen ihres Zusammenseins (als) Zeugen des Zusammenlebens gelten. Und da ein Mann nicht promisku zusammenlebt, wenn er dies rechtmäßig kann, (wir nehmen das an), verlobte er sie mit diesem Zusammenleben. Und Beth Shammai ist der Ansicht, dass wir Zeugen ihres Alleinseins nicht als Zeugen des Zusammenlebens betrachten, bis sie sie tatsächlich auf frischer Tat beobachten.] Wann ist das so? Wenn sie von der Ehe geschieden wäre. Aber wenn sie von der Verlobung geschieden wurde, braucht sie kein zweites Mal von ihm, denn er ist nicht so vertraut mit ihr (und es wird angenommen, dass er nicht mit ihr zusammenlebt).
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בדינר ובשוה דינר – and the weight of the Denar is ninety-six silver panicles.
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Introduction
This mishnah continues listing the leniencies of Beth Shammai. The issues listed in our mishnah are from the realm of marital law.
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פרוטה – one-half of a silver panicle.
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A woman is betrothed by a denar or the value of a denar, according to the opinion of Beth Shammai. But Beth Hillel says: by a perutah or the value of a perutah. And how much is a perutah? One-eighth of an Italian issar. There are two stages in the Jewish marital process: kiddushin (betrothal) and nisuin (marriage). We will learn these laws more extensively when we learn Seder Nashim. For now I will merely mention that kiddushin creates a stronger bond than secular engagement does in our day. In order to separate from Jewish betrothal there is a need for a full divorce. One of the ways of contracting betrothal is for the man to give something of value to a woman. Today this is usually performed with a ring, a custom not mentioned in the Mishnah or even in the Talmud. According to Beth Shammai, the minimum amount that a man had to give a woman was a denar. While it is hard to know how much a denar was worth at those times, it probably was not more than a day’s wages, and maybe even less. Beth Hillel holds that a man can give a woman an even lesser amount, even one perutah, which was worth almost nothing.
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איסר – its weight is four globules of barley, and it is called Italki on account that it was coin that came from Italy.
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Beth Shammai says: one may dismiss his wife with an old bill of divorcement, But Beth Hillel forbids it. What is an old bill of divorcement? Whenever he was secluded with her after he has written it for her. This section discusses a man who writes a get (a divorce bill) for his wife but is secluded with her before he gives it to her (the divorce is not effective until she receives the get). If he had relations with her at this time, the get would nullified and in order to divorce her he would have to write a new get. Beth Shammai says that even though they were secluded we don’t suspect that they had relations and therefore, he may still give her the previously written get. Beth Hillel does suspect that they had relations, and therefore obligates the man to write a new get, if he wishes to divorce his wife.
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בגט ישן (this section of the Mishnah is also taught in Tractate Gittin, Chapter 8, Mishnah 4) – as it is explained further on that he (i.e., the husband) that wrote to divorce his wife and after the Jewish bill of divorce was written, he engaged in sexual intimacy with her. The School of Shammai holds that we do not say that it is a decree lest people say that her Jewish bill of Divorce came before her child/son, for if we delay [the delivery of the Jewish bill of divorce] a year or two [years] between the writing and the giving and that she will have children from him during this time, and afterwards he will divorce her with it (i.e., the Jewish bill of divorce), and when they would see that the time of the Jewish bill of divorce was prior to the birth of the child, [people] would think that he gave it to her from the time of its being written, and the defect that that they would say that he (i.e., the child) was born from a freed woman. And the legal decision is that a man should not divorce his wife with an “old Jewish bill of divorce,” and if he divorced her and then the husband went to another country, she can marry him ab initio.
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One who divorces his wife and she [afterwards] spends a night with him at the [same] inn: Beth Shammai says: she does not require a second bill of divorcement from him. But Beth Hillel says: she requires a second bill of divorcement from him. When [does she require a second bill of divorcement]? (4) When she was divorced after marriage. ( But if she was divorced after betrothal she does not require from him a second bill of divorcement, since he is not [yet] familiar with her. This section discusses a similar incidence, except in this case the couple was already divorced before they were secluded. The question is did they have relations while secluded? If they did they may be betrothed, since sexual relations is one of the ways in which betrothal may be contracted (see Kiddushin 1:1). According to Beth Shammai we do not suspect that they had relations, and therefore she doesn’t need a new get from her former husband (the new get would allow her to marry someone else). Beth Hillel fears that they did have relations, and therefore she needs a new get if she wishes to marry someone else. The final clause limits this ruling of Beth Hillel to a couple that was already married. Since they were already sexually familiar with each other, we suspect that they may have again had sexual relations while they were at the inn. However, if the couple had been divorced before they were married, while they were still betrothed, there had not been sexual familiarity between them and therefore Beth Hillel does not suspect that they had relations while secluded. In this case Beth Hillel would agree with Beth Shammai that they do not need a get.
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ולנה עמו בפונדקי (this section of the Mishnah is also taught in Tractate Gittin, Chapter 8, Mishnah 9) – and there are witnesses of sexual intimacy there (which generally, today, follows the wedding ceremony), but there aren’t there witnesses of sexual intercourse. The School of Hillel holds that these are both the witnesses of sexual intimacy and the witnesses of sexual intercourse, for there is a presumption that nobody wants to make his intercourse of woman one of prostitution (but wants to make her his wife thereby), when he has the ability in his hand to engage in sexual intercourse not for the sake of prostitution and that he has betrothed her through sexual intercourse. But the School of Shammai holds that we don’t say that these witnesses are both providing testimony for both sexual intimacy and sexual intercourse until they have seen that she has had sexual intercourse.
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Questions for Further Thought: Why are these leniencies of Beth Shammai? To whom is Beth Shammai lenient?
