A woman is betrothed with a dinar [ninety-six barley-corns weight of silver] or with the worth of a dinar, according to the words of Beth Shammai. And Beth Hillel say: with a p'rutah [a half barley-corn weight of silver] or with the worth of a p'rutah. And how much is a p'rutah? One-eighth of an Italian issar [four barley-corns weight of silver, so called because it was issued in Italy.] Beth Shammai say: A man may divorce his wife with an old get [which he wrote to divorce his wife, continuing to live with her after he wrote the get. Beth Shammai hold that we do not decree against it lest people say: "Her get preceded her son," i.e., lest a year or two pass between the writing and the giving and she have children from him in the interim and then be divorced with that get — so that people, seeing the get as antedating the birth of her son, might come to think that the get were given her at the time of writing and come to cast a blemish upon the child, saying that it was born of an unmarried woman.] And Beth Hillel forbid it. Which is "an old get"? A get, after the writing of which he continued living with her. [The halachah: One may not divorce his wife with an old get. And if he divorced her and went to a different country, she may remarry by it ab initio.] If one divorced his wife, and she spent the night with him at an inn, [there being witnesses to their having been alone together, but not to their having cohabited], Beth Shammai say: She does not require a second get from him. Beth Hillel say: she requires a second get from him. [Beth Hillel hold that witnesses to their being alone together are (considered) witnesses to cohabitation. And since a man does not cohabit promiscuously when he can do so legitimately, (we assume that) he betrothed her with this cohabitation. And Beth Shammai hold that we do not consider witnesses to their being alone witnesses to cohabitation until they actually observe her in the act.] When is this so? If she were divorced from marriage. But if she were divorced from betrothal, she does not require a second get from him, for he is not that familiar with her (and is assumed not to have cohabited with her.)
Bartenura on Mishnah Eduyot
בדינר ובשוה דינר – and the weight of the Denar is ninety-six silver panicles.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
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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English Explanation of Mishnah Eduyot
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?
