Gittin, Daf Yod, Part 1

Introduction

The mishnah which begins this week s daf deals with documents whose signators are Samaritans. The Samaritans were a Jewish splinter group whose history is somewhat blurry. According to the Talmud, the Samaritans descend from a group of non-Jews brought to Samaria (the north of Israel) by the Assyrians, see II Kings 17. They are called by the rabbis Cutheans because many of them came from Cuta. There is a debate in the Talmud whether or not their conversion was sincere. They seem to have partially assimilated into Israel. The main difference between Samaritans and other Israelites is that their Temple was, and remains to this day, on Mt. Gerizim. They do not recognize Jerusalem as a place of importance. Besides this difference, they observed many commandments as did the other Israelites, certainly those in the Bible but even some not mentioned in the Bible.

מַתְנִי׳ כׇּל גֵּט שֶׁיֵּשׁ עָלָיו עֵד כּוּתִי פָּסוּל חוּץ מִגִּיטֵּי נָשִׁים וְשִׁחְרוּרֵי עֲבָדִים מַעֲשֶׂה שֶׁהֵבִיאוּ לִפְנֵי רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל לִכְפַר עוֹתְנַאי גֵּט אִשָּׁה וְהָיוּ עֵדָיו עֵדֵי כוּתִים וְהִכְשִׁיר

Any document which has upon it the signature of a Samaritan is invalid, except for bills of divorce or a writ of emancipation.

It happened that a bill of divorce was once brought before Rabban Gamaliel at Kefar Otnai and its witnesses were Samaritan, and he declared it valid.

The mishnah teaches that all documents which have upon them signatures of people known to be Samaritans are invalid, except for bills of divorce or writs of emancipation. According to Albeck, Samaritans were suspected by the rabbis of lying about issues of money, and therefore they could not serve as witnesses for matters such as loans and acquisitions. However, they were evidently not suspected of lying in matters of divorce or emancipation and hence they could serve as witnesses in these matters. Furthermore, they were assumed to be knowledgeable enough in matters of divorce and emancipation. Indeed, according to the mishnah, Rabban Gamaliel once allowed even two Samaritans to serve as witnesses on a get. This occurred at Kefar Otnai, in the southern Galilee.