If two women were taken captive, [i.e., if there are witnesses that they were abducted] — If one says: I was taken captive, but I am clean, and the other says: I was taken captive, but I am clean, they are not believed. And when they testify for each other, [each one saying: My friend is clean], they are believed. [For the sages were lenient in the case of an abducted woman, accepting the testimony of one witness — even a bondsman, even a woman, even a minor "speaking in his innocence" — so long as the witness testifies that he had not left her from the time she was taken captive until she had been released by the gentiles.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
שתי נשים שנשבו – that there are witnesses that they were taken captive.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Introduction
This mishnah continues to discuss the believability of women who were taken captive and claim that they were not raped.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
שמעידות זו את זו – each one of them says, “my companion is pure.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
Two women were taken captive: one says, “I was taken captive and I am pure”, and the other one says, “I was taken captive and I am pure”-- they are not believed. This mishnah discusses a case in which it is certain that the women were taken captive and hence they are not automatically believed according to the principle of “the mouth that forbade is the mouth that permits”. The mishnah teaches that the woman herself is not believed to state that she was not raped, and therefore in this case she will not be able to marry a kohen.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Ketubot
הרי אלו נאמנות – for with a captive woman, they were lenient to declare fit one witness, and even a slave and even a woman and even a minor who makes a statement in ignorance of its legal bearing, and as long as the witness testifies that he did not leave from her from the time that she was taken captive until the time that she left from the domain of the heathens (see also Tractate Yevamot, Chapter 16, Mishnah 7 and more crucially, the earliest of Mishnah texts, Tractate Eduyot, Chapter 6, Mishnah 1, especially the words of Rabbi Yehuda ben Baba).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Ketubot
But when they testify regarding one another, they are believed. However, if each woman testifies that the other woman was not raped, each is believed. This is true even though generally one witness is not sufficient and generally women cannot testify. The rabbis relaxed some of the laws of testimony in this case because there is no certainty that the woman was raped, it is only a likelihood. Furthermore, these women are believed even though there is a fear that each might be covering up the other’s having been raped. The rabbis were lenient in the case of captives and accepted certain types of testimony that would not have been accepted in other types of cases.
