Kiddushin, Daf Kaf Zayin, Part 6
Introduction
Today s section discusses the last clause of the mishnah. To ease understanding this, I m going to copy my explanation from there again here. The clause reads:
And it obligates the property which provides security, to take an oath concerning them.
In Mishnah Shevuoth 6:5 we learned that people do not take oaths over land. For instance, if Reuven claims that Shimon owes him land, and Shimon admits to part of the claim, he need not swear that he does not owe him the rest, as he would were Reuven to claim that Shimon owes him money or animals. However, if Shimon needs to take an oath over movable property and land, since he must take an oath over the movable property he must also take an oath over the land. This could happen if Reuven claims that Shimon owes him a piece of land and a 100 sheep. If Shimon admits that half of the land is Reuven s and half of the sheep, he must take an oath over both the land and the sheep which he claims not to owe.
וזוקקים את הנכסים וכו’: אמר עולא מנין לגלגול שבועה מן התורה שנאמר (במדבר ה, כב) ואמרה האשה אמן אמן ותנן על מה היא אומרת אמן אמן אמן על האלה אמן על השבועה אמן אם מאיש זה אמן אם מאיש אחר אמן שלא סטיתי ארוסה ונשואה ושומרת יבם וכנוסה
And it obligates the property etc. Ulla said: How do we derive [the law of] the extension of the oath from the Torah? Because it is said: And the woman shall say: Amen, Amen (Numbers 5:22). And we taught: To what does she say: Amen, Amen? Amen to the curse, Amen to the oath, Amen that [she was] not [unfaithful] by this man, Amen that [she was] not [unfaithful] by any other man. Amen that I did not stray as a betrothed wife, or a married wife, or when waiting for the yavam, or when married through levirate marriage.
At the basis of the mishnah in Kiddushin is the idea of the extension of the oath, gilgul shevuah in Hebrew. The idea is that if you are liable for an oath for one thing but not for another, since you must take the oath on one item, I can also impose on you an oath for the other thing as well.
Ulla claims that this idea comes from the repetition of the word amen when the sotah woman, suspected of adultery, responds to the oath administered to her. The second amen is an oath that she did not commit adultery with any other man. The Talmud will explore this and eventually show that one of these oaths is what we would call an extension of an oath.
האי ארוסה היכי דמי אילימא דקני לה כשהיא ארוסה וקא משקי לה כשהיא ארוסה והתנן ארוסה ושומרת יבם לא שותות ולא נוטלות כתובה מ"ט (במדבר ה, יט) תחת אישך אמר רחמנא וליכא
What is the case of this betrothed woman ? If we say that he warned her when betrothed and makes her drink [the bitter waters] as a betrothed women, but have we not learned, A betrothed woman and one who waits for the yavam neither drink nor receive their ketubah. What is the reason? [Because the Torah said,] While married to your husband (Numbers 5:19) and this condition is absent!
The woman who says Amen cannot be a betrothed woman because betrothed women do not drink the water.
אלא דקני לה כשהיא ארוסה ונסתרה כשהיא ארוסה וקא משקי לה כשהיא נשואה מי בדקי לה מיא (במדבר ה, לא) ונקה האיש מעון אמר רחמנא בזמן שהאיש מנוקה מעון מים בודקים את אשתו אין איש מנוקה מעון אין המים בודקים את אשתו
But if it means that he warned her as a betrothed woman, and she secluded herself [with the man against whom she was warned] likewise when she was betrothed, and he makes her drink when she was married, can the water test her? Surely Scripture said: And the man shall be free from iniquity (Numbers 5:31) [which means,] when the husband himself is free from sin, water tests his wife; if the husband himself is not free from sin, water cannot test his wife!
If the husband warns her when she is a betrothed woman and then she was secluded with him, he should not marry her. He must divorce her. If he does marry her then he too has sinned. If he has sinned, she does not drink the water. So a betrothed woman can never take this oath.
Hence [it is possible only] by means of the extension of an oath.
The husband cannot make his betrothed wife take an oath. But if he is making his married wife take an oath, he can at the same time make her take an oath that she did not have relations with another man while betrothed. This is the biblical proof of the technique of extension of an oath.