Gittin, Daf Yod Aleph, Part 4

 

Introduction

Today s sugya discusses Jews who have non-Jewish names can they sign on a get?

 

בְּעָא מִינֵּיהּ רֵישׁ לָקִישׁ מֵרַבִּי יוֹחָנָן עֵדִים הַחֲתוּמִין עַל הַגֵּט וּשְׁמוֹתָן כְּשֵׁמוֹת גּוֹיִם מַהוּ

אֲמַר לֵיהּ לָא בָּא לְיָדֵינוּ אֶלָּא לוֹקוּס וְלוּס וְהִכְשַׁרְנוּ וְדַוְקָא לוֹקוּס וְלוּס דְּלָא שְׁכִיחִי יִשְׂרָאֵל דְּמַסְּקִי בִּשְׁמָהָתַיְיהוּ אֲבָל שְׁמָהָתָא אַחֲרִינֵי דִּשְׁכִיחִי יִשְׂרָאֵל דְּמַסְּקִי בִּשְׁמָהָתַיְיהוּ לָא

 

Resh Lakish asked R. Yohanan: Witnesses who have signed on a get and their names are like the names of non-Jews, what is the rule?

He said to him: We have only had the case of Lukas and Los and we allowed them. But specifically Lukas and Los which are not common names for Jews. But other names that are common for Jews, no.

 

R. Yohanan allows Jewish witnesses who have obviously non-Jewish names to sign on a get, but not if their names are not obviously not Jewish. If the name is obviously not a Jewish name, then everyone will know that the get was valid based on the witnesses who saw the transmission of the get. They won t think that non-Jews can serve as witnesses. But if the names are ambiguous, and might be the names of non-Jews, then people might think that one can totally rely on non-Jews as witnesses.

 

אֵיתִיבֵיהּ גִּיטִּין הַבָּאִים מִמְּדִינַת הַיָּם וְעֵדִים חֲתוּמִים עֲלֵיהֶם אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁשְּׁמוֹתֵיהֶן כִּשְׁמוֹת גּוֹיִם כְּשֵׁירִין מִפְּנֵי שֶׁרוֹב יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁבְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ שְׁמוֹתֵיהֶן כִּשְׁמוֹת גּוֹיִם

 

He raised an objection: Gittin that come from abroad and which have witnesses on them, even though the witnesses names are like those of Gentiles they are valid, because most Jews outside of Israel have names like those of Gentiles.

 

Resh Lakish raises a difficulty against Rabbi Yochanan. The baraita allows divorce documents (gittin) whose signees have non-Jewish sounding names, even if those names are also used by Jews. The baraita does not seem concerned about any confusion.

 

הָתָם כִּדְקָתָנֵי טַעְמָא מִפְּנֵי שֶׁרוֹב יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁבְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ שְׁמוֹתֵיהֶן כִּשְׁמוֹת גּוֹיִם

וְאִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי כִּי מַתְנִיתָא בְּעָא מִינֵּיהּ וּפְשַׁט לֵיהּ מִמַּתְנִיתָא

 

In that case the reason is as we taught, because most Jews outside of Israel have names like those of Gentiles.

And there are those who say that Resh Lakish asked him about a case like the baraita and he answered him from the baraita.

 

The Talmud offers two resolutions that are essentially the same. The first is that the rule is different outside of Israel. There, since most Jews have non-Jewish names, there really is no choice but to validate the gittin. Furthermore, people will not assume that these are non-Jews, so there will be no confusion. The second resolution is that the question was originally about cases like the mishnah, where the get comes from abroad. R. Yohanan answered that the get is valid in such a case. But there is no implication that such gittin are always valid.