Monday, November 21, 2016

Tnai Or Chazara

Li-zchus R' Moshe Gold and Rivka Spero who got married last night. LIMITLESS SIMCHA FOREVER AND EVER!!!:-)



A police officer jumps into his squad car and calls the station.

“I have an interesting case here,” he says. “A woman shot her husband for stepping on the floor she just mopped.”

“Have you arrested her?” asks the sergeant.

“No, not yet. The floor’s still wet.”

Marriage is COMPLICATED!!!

Lameer zein - Let's see...:-)

The Mishna in Kiddushin [59b] says that if one married a woman מעכשיו ולאחר שלשים יום  - from now and after 30 days, and in the interim another man marries her, מקודשת ואינה מקודשת - She is married and not married. That is SOOO Jewish. What does THAT mean??  

Rav and Shmuel argue about the meaning of the Mishna. According to Rav she is married to the BOTH men out of doubt. Did he mean to retract and he decided that he doesn't want to marry immediately but after 30 days in which case she is married to the second man [who took her before the 30 days expired]. Or did he mean to make a תנאי that he has the option of changing his mind for the next 30 days and if he didn't then she is married to the first man retroactively. Since we don't know what he meant, she is ספק married to both and requires a get from both men. מקודשת ואינה מקודשת! We are in doubt as to whether he means a חזרה or a תנאי. 

Shmuel asserts that she מקודשת out of doubt to the first man for thirty days. After 30 days, if the first man is still alive then the second man's kiddushin is undone and she is married to the first man. Shmuel is CERTAIN that he means תנאי and the first kiddushin takes effect after thirty days on condition that he doesn't change his mind [Rashi in ד"ה ושמואל אמר writes שמא ימות ראשון while in ד"ה לשמואל פשיטא ליה דתנאי הוי he writes שמא יחזור בו].    

There is SOOOO much to say about this sugya.... 

Two points for your consumption:

In order for a תנאי to be valid then it must be a תנאי כפול - In our instance that would mean that he expressed the following: If I am still around and haven't changed my mind after 30 days then we are married retroactively from now. If I retract or die then we are not married.. If he doesn't make a תנאי כפול then it is not a תנאי at all. 

So what are we talking about?? If he made a תנאי כפול then how can one possibly think that he means to retract. It is clear that he means a תנאי. So why is Rav not sure what he meant??

If he DIDN'T make a תנאי כפול then it CAN'T be a תנאי and the תנאי is nullified, the מעשה is upheld and they are married IMMEDIATELY. Since nobody says that they are married immediately then we can't be talking about such a case.

So either way the Gemara is difficult to understand...

Rav Yochanan has a third opinion. He holds that BOTH men are married to her. Each gets a "piece". He compares it to the laying of bricks where each brick is placed in such a way that leaves space for another brick to be placed down. So too, each man [even a hundred] leave space for other men to marry her. 

This bothered many good Jews. The Gemara on daf zayin is quite explicit that a woman may not marry more than one man at a time. Here we see that this is not the case. The Gemara here doesn't quote the Gemara there and the Gemara there doesn't quote the Gemara here. So can a woman marry more than one man or not??