Une veuve réclame le paiement [de sa kethubah] de la propriété des orphelins seulement avec un serment [qu'elle n'en avait rien reçu]. Ils (Beth-Din) se sont abstenus de lui prêter serment. [Car parce qu'elle se dépensait pour les orphelins, elle la rationaliserait en jurant qu'elle n'avait rien reçu même si elle avait reçu une petite somme, estimant qu'elle l'avait reçu pour ses efforts et non comme paiement de la kethubah. Par conséquent, ils s'abstiendraient de lui faire prêter serment, et elle perdrait sa kethubah.] R. Gamliel l'aînée a institué qu'elle vouait aux orphelins tout (formule de vœu) qu'ils désiraient [tels que: «Je fais vœu de jouir de ceci et cette nourriture si j'ai tiré quelque bénéfice de ma kethubah "], et elle ramasse sa kethubah. [Et si elle se remarie avant que les orphelins lui aient fait vœu pour sa kethubah, auquel cas son mari pourrait annuler son vœu, que font-ils? Ils lui prêtent, en dehors de Beth-Din, un «serment des rabbins», dont la transgression n'est pas aussi sévère (que celle d'un serment de la Torah), et elle prend sa kethubah après son mariage. Et si elle vient chercher sa kethubah avant de se remarier, les orphelins ont le choix: s'ils le souhaitent, ils font prêter serment en dehors de Beth-Din, ou ils lui font vœu en Beth-Din. Les témoins signent un get pour «l'intérêt général». [Ceci («pour le bien général») se réfère aux deux, à savoir: Une veuve est vouée par les orphelins pour «le bien général», que les veuves se remarient et ne craignent pas de perdre leur kethubah; et les témoins signent le get pour "le bien général". Car puisque les témoins de l'accouchement font prendre effet au get, les témoins de la femme ayant reçu le get étant le fondement du divorce, il n'y a vraiment pas besoin de témoins pour signer le get. Mais à cause de "l'intérêt général"—parce que nous craignons que l'un des témoins de l'accouchement meure, et que le get ne soit comme un simple éclat dans sa main, (il a été institué que les témoins signent)]. Hillel a institué le prozbol pour «l'intérêt général». [Car parce qu'il a vu les gens s'abstenir de se prêter (par crainte de la dissolution de l'emprunt par l'année de la shemitah), et (par leur indulgence) transgresser (Deutéronome 15: 9): "Prenez garde à vous de peur qu'il n'y ait dans votre le cœur est une chose de méchanceté, etc. "—il se leva et institua le prozbol. C'est le texte du prozbol: "Je vous cède, ploni et ploni, les juges, (toutes mes prétentions) pour que je puisse réclamer ce que ploni me doit quand je veux"].
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
אין אלמנה נפרעת – Her Ketubah/Jewish marriage contract
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Introduction
Today’s mishnah contains three different “takkanot”, decrees meant to remedy situations. The first was made by Rabban Gamaliel the Elder, as were those in yesterday’s mishnah. The second is anonymous and the third was made by Hillel.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
מנכסי יתומים, אלא בשבועה – she had not been made the recipient of anything
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
A widow is paid back [her kethubah] from the property of orphans only by taking an oath. [When the court] refrained from imposing an oath on her, Rabban Gamaliel the Elder established that she could take any vow which the orphans wanted and collect her kethubah. We learned this law in Ketuboth 9:7-8. If a widow wants to collect her ketubah money from her husband’s orphans, she must take an oath that she has not already collected. In our mishnah we learn that at some point courts began to refrain from imposing an oath upon her, for fear that she would swear falsely. It is not that she would lie but that she would think that the money she had collected from her husband’s estate was not really her ketubah but payment for helping take care of her husband’s children. If the court would not impose an oath upon her then she could not collect the ketubah and she would be left without any money. In order to fix this problem the rabbis said that the widow could circumvent the court by taking any vow that the orphans so choose. The vow would be something like, “Let such and such an object become forbidden to me if I have already collected my ketubah.” This change in the law also kept the court from being involved in potentially false oaths.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
נמנעו מלהשביע – because she is preoccupied before the orphans, she provides herself with a legal permission to take an oath that she had not taken anything. But even though she took a small amount, she believes that she is taking it as payment for her trouble [involved], but it is not for the paying off of the obligations [owed her] from her Jewish marriage contract.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Witnesses sign their names on a get because of tikkun olam. According to the letter of the law (contrasted with “takkanot”), a get is valid even if the witnesses had not signed on it. As long as they saw that it was written by the directive of the husband and given to the wife, the get is valid. However, without witnesses written on the get it will be more difficult to validate. Therefore the rabbis established that the get should be signed. We can see that the “tikkun olam” here was done in order to make it easier to validate a get, something that would have been in the best interests of the woman.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
התקין רבן גמליאל שתהא נודרת ליתומים כל מה שירצו – such as קונם/taking upon myself a vow of abstinence from kinds of food if I have derived benefit from my Jewish marriage contract.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Hillel instituted the prosbul because of tikkun olam. The third takkanah of our mishnah is the famous takkanah of the prozbul. I shall explain this takkanah briefly. According to the Torah all debts are remitted in the seventh year. While this may be thought of as a benefit for the borrower (and in a perfect society perhaps it would be), in reality it could work against him. If lenders see that their loans will be erased in the seventh year they might not lend money, thereby making it difficult for those in need to take out loans. In order to remedy this problem Hillel established that a creditor could write out a document through which he transmits all debts to the court. According to the rabbis’ interpretation of the Torah, debts to the court are not remitted in the seventh year. In this way the creditor’s loans are not erased and the interests of those who need to borrow money (i.e. farmers) are also served.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
וגובה כתובתה – but if she married to another [man] prior to being made by the orphans to take a vow, and if they made her take a vow after she got married, lest her husband makes her take a vow, How should do this? They make her take an oath imposed by the Rabbis outside of the court for which her punishment would not be great, and she collects her Ketubah/Jewish marriage contract after she has married. But, if she comes to collect [the value of] her Ketubah before she marries another [man], it is up to the orphans [as to what to do]: if they want, they have her take an oath outside of the court or make her take a vow in court.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
העדים חותמים על הגט מפני תיקון העולם – It refers to both [the witnesses signing on the Jewish bill of divorce as well as the widow taking a vow before the orphans before collecting the value of her Jewish marriage contract], concerning a widow who takes a vow to the orphans on whatever they want, for the sake of the social order, so that women can marry their husbands without worrying about losing the value of their Ketubah. But concerning the witnesses who sign the Jewish bill of divorce for the sake of the social order, for since it is the witnesses to the delivery [of the Jewish bill of divorce] that effect the divorce, for the witnesses in whose presence the Jewish bill of divorce is delivered to the woman are the essential [aspect] of the divorce. It would not have been necessary for witnesses to sign the Jewish bill of divorce, other than for the sake of the social order, for we are concerned lest one of the witnesses before whom the Jewish bill of divorce was delivered would die, and that the bill of divorce in her hand without witnesses would be like a mere potsherd.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
הלל התקין פרוזבול – for he [Hillel] saw that the people were prevented from making loans to one another and they violated what is written in the Torah (Deuteronomy 15:9): “Beware lest you harbor the base thought, [the seventh year, the year of remission is approaching…’],” he [Hillel] ordained the Prozbul. And this is the body of the Prozbul: “I hand over to you, so-and-so and so-and-so, the judges that every debt obligation that I have with so-and-so, I will collect it whenever I want.”
