Kiddushin, Daf Mem Daled, Part 4

 

Introduction

Today s sugya asks whether a na arah can appoint an agent to receive her get. We know that at least according to the rabbis she can receive a get. But is she like her father and able to appoint an agent?

 

בעא מיניה רבא מרב נחמן נערה מהו שתעשה שליח לקבל גיטה מיד בעלה כיד אביה דמיא או כחצר אביה דמיא כיד אביה דמיא מה אביה משוי שליח אף היא נמי משוי שליח או דילמא כחצר אביה דמיא ועד דמטיא גיטא לידה לא מיגרשה

 

Can a na’arah appoint an agent to receive her get from her husband? Is she similar to her father’s hand, or is she similar to her father s courtyard?

Is she similar to her father s hand: just as her father can appoint an agent, so too she appoint an agent.

Or perhaps, she is as her father’s courtyard, and [hence] she is not divorced until the get actually reaches her hand.

 

The Talmud fleshes out the two possibilities as to whether the na arah can appoint an agent. We know she can receive her get, but is this because she is like her father s hand, meaning that she has the exact same powers that he has? Or is this because she is like her father s courtyard, part of her father s property? Just as a husband can place the get in her father s courtyard and thereby divorce her, so too he can give her the get. But a courtyard cannot appoint an agent.

 

ומי מספקא ליה לרבא הא והאמר רבא כתב גט ונתנו ביד עבדה ישן ומשמרתו ה"ז גט ניעור אינו גט ניעור אמאי אינו גט דהויא לה חצר משתמרת שלא לדעתה ואי ס"ד כחצר אביה דמיא כי מטא גיטה לידה נמי לא תיגרש דהויא לה חצר המשתמרת שלא לדעת אביה

 

Now, is Rava doubtful about this? But didn t Rava say: If he [the husband] wrote a get and placed it in her slave’s hand while he is asleep and she is watching over him, it is a valid divorce; but if he is awake, it is not a valid divorce.

Now, why is it not a [valid] divorce if he is awake? [Surely] because he is like a courtyard guarded without her awareness.

And if you think that she [a na’arah] is like her father’s courtyard, then she should not be divorced even when the get reaches her hand, since she is like her father’s courtyard that is guarded without his awareness!

 

The Talmud now tries to show that Rava does not have any doubt about this question, by citing his opinion in a different law about divorce. The husband places the get in the hand of his wife s slave. If the slave is sleeping and she is watching over him, then he is fully controlled by her and she is divorced. But if he is awake, then the divorce is not valid, because he is like a courtyard that she is not watching.

Now if we consider the na arah to be like her father s courtyard, then even if the husband gives her the get, she should not be divorced, because like the slave, she is a courtyard that is guarded without his awareness.

Thus Rava must hold that the na arah is like her father just as he can appoint an agent, so can she.

 

אלא לעולם פשיטא ליה דכי יד אביה דמיא והכי קמיבעיא ליה מי אלימא כיד אביה לשויה איהי שליח או לא

א"ל אין עושה שליח

 

Rather it is obvious to him [Rava] that she is like her father’s hand, but this is what he was asking: is she as strong as her father s hand, so that she can appoint an agent, or not?

He said to him: She cannot appoint an agent.

 

The question is far simpler even if she is like her father s hand, can she appoint an agent? The answer is she cannot. We would do well to remember this is referring to a 12 year old girl. The rabbis simply did not believe that she had this great legal power.