Kiddushin, Daf Ayin Tet, Part 6

 

Introduction

This mishnah and tomorrow s mishnah deal with establishing the identity of the wife of a man and children who come from overseas. In order to marry them to other Jews, he would need to establish their identities.

 

מתני׳ מי שיצא הוא ואשתו למד"ה ובא הוא ואשתו ובניו ואמר אשה שיצאת עמי למדינת הים הרי היא זו ואלו בניה אין צריך להביא ראיה לא על האשה ולא על הבנים

 

If a man went overseas together with his wife, and then he, his wife, and his children returned, and he said, Behold, this is she [who went with me overseas,] and these are her children , he need not bring proof with regard to the woman or the children.

 

The mishnah rules that if the man went overseas with his wife and now returns with children he need not bring proof of the lineage of any of them. He need not bring proof of his wife s lineage because he already checked it when he married her. He need not bring proof of the children s lineage because it can be assumed that they are the children of his wife. The Talmud adds that the children must be hanging on her , meaning acting as if they are his children. [I ll add that every time I return with my family from overseas, our children are certainly hanging all over us.] If the children are not treating her as their mother, we might suspect that they are not her children.

 

מתה ואלו בניה מביא ראיה על הבנים ואינו מביא ראיה על האשה

[If he declares,] She died [abroad] and these are her children, he must bring proof with regard to the children, but not with regard to the woman.

 

If the woman with whom he went abroad died there and then he returns with children, claiming they are her children, he must bring proof that this is so. However, once he does so, he need not prove the fitness of the woman, because he already did so when they were married. It seems that he would need to have witnesses who would testify that these are his (deceased) wife s children.

 

אשה נשאתי במדינת הים הרי היא זו ואלו בניה מביא ראיה על האשה ואין צריך להביא ראיה על הבנים

 

[If he says,] I married a woman overseas, and behold, this is she, and these are her children , he must bring proof about the woman, but not about the children.

 

In this case, he goes abroad without a wife and returns with a wife and children. He must prove the lineage of the wife, because they were not married when he went abroad. However, once he proves her lineage, he need not prove the fitness of the children s lineage, since it can be assumed that the two of them are the parents.

 

 

מתה ואלו בניה צריך להביא ראיה על האשה ועל הבנים

[If he says,] She died, and these are her children , he must bring proof about the woman and about the children.

 

If he returns with children but no wife, he must prove two things. First he must prove that the woman he was married was not prohibited to him and that she had proper lineage. Once he proves that, he must prove that the children are her children.