Talmud - Gittin 67b גיטין ס״ז ב׳

And there are those who reverse the attribution of the opinions of Rabba and Rav Yosef with regard to this matter.

The mishna teaches that if a man said to ten people: Write and give a bill of divorce to my wife, one of the ten writes the bill of divorce and two sign it. The Sages taught: If one said to ten people: Write a bill of divorce and give it to my wife, one writes on behalf of them all. If he said: All of you write the document, one writes it in the presence of them all. If he said: Deliver a bill of divorce to my wife, one person brings it on behalf of them all. If he said: All of you deliver a bill of divorce, then one brings it in the presence of them all.

A dilemma was raised before the Sages: If he said: Write a bill of divorce, and he enumerated them by name, what is the halakha? Can one of them write the bill of divorce on behalf of them all? Or perhaps it is comparable to a situation where one says: All of you write, when it must be written in the presence of them all. Rav Huna says: If one enumerated them by name, it is not comparable to saying: All of you write. Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Elazar of Rome: If one enumerated them by name, it is comparable to saying: All of you write.

Rav Pappa said: And they do not disagree. This is referring to a case where he enumerated them all, and that is referring to a case where he enumerated some of them. Some say that the distinction between the cases should be explained in this manner, and some say it in that manner. Some explain that the distinction is that if he enumerated them all, he insists that they all participate, but if he enumerated some of them, he does not insist that they do so. He enumerated the names that he did only to indicate that he wants the people performing the task to be chosen from those people. Others explain that if he enumerated only some of them, he thereby expressed his intent that they alone participate, but if he enumerated them all but did not say: All of you write, that is not the case.

The Gemara recounts: Rav Yehuda instituted in the case of a bill of divorce with regard to which the husband gave instructions in the presence of many people and the concern is that it will be interpreted that he said: All of you write, and if they do not all sign there will be uncertainty whether or not the woman is divorced, that he should say: Write it, either all of you or each and every one of you; sign it, either all of you or every two of you; deliver it, either all of you or each and every one of you. In that way, there is no concern that the bill of divorce will be invalid if one of them fails to participate.

Rava said: This ordinance still leaves room for a pitfall. Since Rav Yehuda instituted a formula that is that long and complex, sometimes the husband may truncate his statement and say: All of you, but he will not say: Every one of you. And the bill of divorce will be invalidated as a result.

Rather, Rava said that he must say: Each of you may write it, every two of you may sign it, each one of you may deliver it. However, he should not say: All of you, so that the bill of divorce will not be invalidated if one fails to do so.

MISHNA: In the case of one who was afflicted with temporary insanity [kordeyakos] and said: Write a bill of divorce for my wife, he said nothing, because he was not lucid at the time. If he said: Write a bill of divorce for my wife, when he was lucid, and was then afflicted with temporary insanity and he retracted his previous statement and said: Do not write it, his latter statement is considered to be nothing, i.e., it is not halakhically valid.

The mishna continues: In a case where the husband became mute, and two people said to him: Shall we write a bill of divorce for your wife, and he nodded his head indicating his agreement, they examine him with various questions three times. If he responded to questions that have a negative answer: No, and responded to questions that have a positive answer: Yes, indicating his competence, they shall write the bill of divorce and give it to his wife based on the nod of his head.

GEMARA: The Gemara asks: What is the nature of the temporary insanity mentioned in the mishna? Shmuel said: The reference is to one who was afflicted by drinking new wine that came directly from the winepress. The Gemara asks: And let the tanna of the mishna then teach explicitly: With regard to one who was afflicted by drinking new wine. The Gemara answers: This teaches us that the name of the demon that causes this insanity is Kordeyakos.

The Gemara asks: What difference is there? The Gemara answers: The difference is with regard to writing an amulet to prevent harm caused by the demon. The amulet must include the name of the demon. The Gemara asks: What is the remedy for that illness? The Gemara responds: The afflicted person should eat red meat roasted over coals and drink wine diluted [marka] with a large amount of water.

Abaye said: My mother told me that the remedy for a day-old fever, i.e., one contracted that day, is drinking a jug [kuza] of water. The remedy for a fever two days old is bloodletting [sikurei]. The remedy for a fever three days old is eating red meat roasted over coals and drinking diluted wine. For an old fever that lasts for an extended period of time, the remedy is to bring a black hen, tear it lengthwise and widthwise, shave the middle of the sufferer’s head, and place the hen upon it, and leave the hen upon him until it adheres to his head due to the blood.

And let him descend into the water and let him stand in the water up to his neck until the world appears faint for him, i.e., he feels faint. And let him submerge himself in the water, and emerge from the water and sit and rest. And if he is not able to undergo this process, let him eat leeks, and descend into the water, and stand in the water up to his neck until the world appears faint for him. And let him submerge himself in the water, and emerge from the water and sit and rest.

The remedy for a fever is eating red meat that was roasted over coals and drinking diluted wine. A remedy for the chills is eating fatty meat that was roasted over coals and drinking undiluted wine.

It was related: When the members of the Exilarch’s house would afflict Rav Amram the pious they would make him lie down to sleep all night on the snow. The next day they would say to him: What is preferable for the Master, i.e., Rav Amram, for us to bring him to eat? Rav Amram said to himself: Anything I say to them, they will do the opposite. He said to them: Bring me red meat roasted over coals and diluted wine. They brought him fatty meat roasted over coals and undiluted wine instead, which is what Rav Amram had intended, because this is the remedy for one who suffers from the chills.

Yalta, Rav Naḥman’s wife, heard what the members of the Exilarch’s house did, and that Rav Amram was suffering from the chills. And she brought him to the bathhouse, and placed him in the water of the bathhouse until the water of the bathhouse turned red like blood. And his flesh became covered with spots that looked like coins [peshitei].

It is related: When Rav Yosef suffered from the cold he would work by grinding with millstones in order to keep warm. When Rav Sheshet suffered from the cold he would work by lifting beams. He said: Great is labor, as it warms its master.

§ The Gemara relates another incident of the house of the Exilarch: The Exilarch said to Rav Sheshet: What is the reason that the Master, i.e., Rav Sheshet, does not eat with us? He said to him: Because the slaves do not act according to a high standard, as they are suspected of transgressing the prohibition against eating a limb severed from a living animal. The Exilarch said to him: Who says that this is so? Rav Sheshet said to him: I will now show you. Rav Sheshet said to his servant: Go steal one leg from the animal that the servants of the Exilarch’s house slaughtered for a meal and bring it to me.

Rav Sheshet’s servant brought one leg to him and afterward Rav Sheshet said to the servants of the Exilarch’s household: Set out the portions of the animal for me. They brought him only three legs and placed them before him, because the fourth leg had been stolen. Rav Sheshet said to them: Did this animal have only three legs? When the servants heard this they cut one leg from another living animal and they brought it and placed it before Rav Sheshet. Rav Sheshet said to his servant: Bring out this leg of yours, i.e., that you stole, as well. He placed that leg on the table and Rav Sheshet said to them: Did this animal have five legs?

The Exilarch realized that he could not rely on his servants. He said to Rav Sheshet: If so, they should prepare the meat in the presence of my Master’s servant and then you can eat without concern. Rav Sheshet said to him: Very well. They brought a table before them, and they brought the meat before him. And the servants placed a small bone in the meat before him so that it would cause Rav Sheshet to choke. Since Rav Sheshet was blind, they thought that he would be unable to notice the bone. He felt it, took the entire piece of meat and wrapped it in his scarf [sudarei] out of concern that he would be hurt by the small bones that he could not see.

After he ate, the servants realized what he had done and they wanted to show the Exilarch that Rav Sheshet did not eat the meat that was given to him. Therefore, the servants said to the Exilarch:

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Gittin 67b examines whether naming specific scribes for a divorce document requires all of them to write it together or permits just one to act on behalf of the group.