daf bit: Bava Batra 48

[cellio]

According to a mishna cited in today's g'mara, a get [bill of divorce] extracted from the husband by pressure is valid if the pressure is applied by an Israelite, but not if it is applied by a non-Jew. (The g'mara notes, however, that the beit din may commission a non-Jew to flog the recalcitrant husband, saying "do what the Israelite tells you", and this is apparently ok.) Why is it not valid if the pressure comes from a non-Jew? Rabbi Mesharsheya says: the torah permits the pressure to come from a non-Jew, but the rabbis didn't want to give a Jewish woman a reason to keep company with a non-Jewish man and thereby gain release from her husband, so they ruled more stringently. (48a)