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Mishnayos Gittin Perek 4 Mishnah 8

גיטין פרק ד׳ משנה ח׳

8

With regard to one who divorces his wife because she is a sexually underdeveloped woman who is incapable of bearing children [ailonit], meaning that after their marriage it became clear that she was sexually underdeveloped, Rabbi Yehuda says: He may not remarry her, and the Rabbis say: He may remarry her. If, after he divorced her, this ailonit married another man and had children from him, meaning that she was not actually an ailonit, and she is demanding payment of her marriage contract from her first husband, claiming that he unlawfully divorced her without paying her marriage contract as he claimed that she was an ailonit and their marriage was a mistaken transaction, Rabbi Yehuda said that he may say to her: Your silence is preferable to your speech, meaning that it is preferable for her to withdraw her claim. If she persists, he may say that he divorced her only because he believed her to be an ailonit, casting aspersions on the validity of the divorce and the status of her children. Therefore, it would be wise of her to withdraw her claim.

הַמּוֹצִיא אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ מִשּׁוּם אַיְלוֹנִית, רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא יַחֲזִיר. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, יַחֲזִיר. נִשֵּׂאת לְאַחֵר וְהָיוּ לָהּ בָּנִים הֵימֶנּוּ, וְהִיא תוֹבַעַת כְּתֻבָּתָהּ, אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוּדָה, אוֹמְרִים לָהּ, שְׁתִיקוּתִיךְ יָפָה לִיךְ מִדִּבּוּרִיךְ:

ח׳
Bartenura

רבי יהודה אומר לא יחזיר – Lest she marry [another man] and give birth [to a child] and he (i.e., the first husband] would say: had I known that this is the case, even if they would have given me one-hundred Maneh, I would not divorce you.

וחכמים אומרים: יחזיר – for they were not concerned for her degeneracy, and in the Gemara, it explains who the Sages are: Rabbi Meir – who stated that we require a double condition and this is what we are dealing with – that he did not make a double condition, for he [i.e., the husband] did not say to her: “You should know that since you are incapable of conception, I am releasing you [from being my wife], and if you are not incapable of conception, it is not a Jewish bill of divorce, and now it is a Jewish bill of divorce even if she is not incapable of conception.

והיא תובעת כתובתה – a woman incapable of conception has no [rights regarding her] Ketubah/Jewish marriage contract , and now that she was found to not be incapable of conception, she is demanding [payment of] her Ketubah.

שתיקותיך יפה ליך מדבוריך – that he would say: If I had known that in the end, I would have to give you your Ketubah [payment], I would not have divorced you, and it is found that the Jewish bill of divorce is voided and her children are illegitimate.

רבי יהודה אומר, לא יחזיר. שמא תנשא ותלד ויאמר אילו הייתי יודע שכן, אפילו היו נותנים לי מאה מנה לא הייתי מגרשך:

וחכמים אומרים יחזיר. שלא חיישינן לקלקולא. ובגמרא מפרש מאן חכמים, ר״מ, דאמר בעינן תנאי כפול. והכי במאי עסקינן דלא כפליה לתנאיה, שלא אמר לה הוי יודעת שמשום אילונית אני מוציאך, ואם אין את אילונית לא יהא גט, דהשתא הוי גט אפילו אינה אילונית:

והיא תובעת כתובתה. שהאילונית אין לה כתובה. ועכשיו שנמצא שאינה אילונית, תובעת כתובתה:

שתיקותיך יפה ליך מדבוריך. שיאמר אילו ידעתי שסופי ליתן לך כתובה לא גרשתיך, נמצא גט בטל ובניה ממזרים: