daf bit: Ketuvot 89

[cellio]

A woman who is divorced is entitled to her ketubah. What proof does she need to bring? The rabbis discuss whether she needs the ketubah (document), the bill of divorce (get), or both. The rabbis conclude that the get is sufficient to be paid the statutory amount, but they are concerned about fraud: what if she takes the get to two courts, winning two judgements, when she is only entitled to one payment? The get cannot be destroyed upon paying the first one because she needs it as proof that she may remarry. Rabbi Nachman proposes a practical solution: the court tears the get, but writes on it "we tore it up to signal payment, not because it's invalid". (89b)

(This is the last gemara before the next mishna, so if they return to the topic it won't be here. I wonder why they have to tear it at all? Why not just write on it "paid in full" and leave it at that?)

Comments

[kayre]

This is the last gemara before the next mishna, so if they return to the topic it won't be here. I wonder why they have to tear it at all? Why not just write on it "paid in full" and leave it at that?

They'd have to write it straight across the original text, to prevent simply tearing off their note?

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

This is on parchment, right?

You can scrape the surface ink off of parchment, and re-write anything you like.

But a tear, especially a shaped tear, is impossible to repair with their technology.

[geekosaur]

The husband might write "paid in full" on it himself to avoid paying the ketubah?

[sethg]

I am reminded of the practice when a husband gives a wife a get before a contemporary bet din: the court will write up a certificate saying "on such-and-such a day we witnessed Mr. X give Mrs. X a kosher get", give that certificate to the wife (and maybe keep one for their own records, I dunno) ... and shred the actual get.

That way, nobody can come back after the woman has remarried and say, "hey, I found this little technical flaw in the get, she's still married to her first husband".