daf bit: Gittin 74

[cellio]

The talmud discusses the practice of a conditional get, a divorce document that becomes effective only if a stated condition occurs. (I have heard that this was sometimes used by men going off to sea, to avoid leaving their wives stranded if the ship was lost and bodies were not recovered.) The mishna talks about the case where he says "this is your get on condition that I die from this illness". In the intervening time, what is her status? R' Yehudah says she is married in every respect; R' Yose says she is both divorced and not divorced. What does that mean? In the g'mara R' Meir says that if she has relations with another man then judgement is suspended: if he dies then she was divorced and all is well, and if he doesn't die he has to bring a sin-offering (but she is not guilty of adultery). (73-74a)

I don't see a discussion here about why somebody would want to divorce on condition of dying from an illness -- what benefit does that provide? It's not an agunah problem (the trapped woman) like in the lost-at-sea case. I can imagine in modern times somebody whose illness precludes marital relations wanting his wife to be able to get satisfaction outside the marriage (and that "not adultery" ruling would help), but that sounds like a very modern sensibility, not one I would expect from mishnaic times.

Comments

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Huh. Interesting.