Kiddushin, Daf Samekh Gimmel, Part 3

 

 

מתני׳ על מנת שירצה אבא רצה האב מקודשת ואם לאו אינה מקודשת מת האב הרי זו מקודשת מת הבן מלמדין האב לומר שאינו רוצה

 

[If he says,] Behold you are betrothed to me] on condition that [my] father consents, if his father consents, she is betrothed; if not, she is not betrothed.

If his father dies, she is betrothed;

If the son dies, the father is instructed to say that he does not consent.

 

The first part of this mishnah is straightforward. Slightly more complicated is the second part. If the father dies, he cannot consent to the betrothal. Nevertheless, the mishnah rules that she is betrothed. The assumption is that when the man said on condition that my father consents he really meant to say, on condition that my father does not disapprove. Since after his death the father cannot disapprove, the betrothal is valid. If the son dies, the mishnah finds a convenient way for the woman to avoid the need for yibbum (levirate marriage to her husband s brother). The court would instruct the father to state that he did not approve of the marriage and he would thereby annul the betrothal. If the betrothal was annulled, the woman would not be liable for yibbum.

 

גמ׳ מאי על מנת שירצה אבא אילימא עד דאמר אבא אין אימא מציעתא מת האב הרי זו מקודשת והא לא אמר אין

אלא על מנת שישתוק אבא אימא סיפא מת הבן מלמדין את האב לומר שאינו רוצה אמאי והא שתיק

אלא אמר לה על מנת שלא ימחה אבא רישא בחד טעמא ומציעתא וסיפא בחד טעמא

 

GEMARA. What does it mean by On condition that [my] father consents? If we say, providing that my father [explicitly] says yes ? Then what about the middle clause: if his father dies, she is betrothed. Surely he did not say yes!

Rather [it must mean], on condition that my father is silent.

Then what about the last clause: If the son dies. They instruct the father to say that he does not consent yet why, seeing that he was silent?

Hence [it must mean that] he said to her, on condition that my father does not [explicitly] object : thus the first clause has one meaning, while the middle and the last clauses have a different meaning?

 

This is the problem with the mishnah what does it mean when he says on condition that my father consents. The first clause seems to mean that the father says yes. If he is silent, she is not betrothed.

The second clause implies that consent means the father did not protest. Silence is acquiescence.

The last clause implies that to undo the kiddushin, the father must actively protest. His earlier silence is not sufficient. Thus the three clauses of the mishnah do not all seem to agree one with the other.

 

א"ר ינאי אין אמר ריש לקיש ש"מ לדרבי ינאי דחקינן ומוקמינן מתני’ בתרי טעמא ואליבא דחד תנא ולא מוקמינן בתרי תנאי ובחד טעמא

 

R. Yannai said: Yes.

Resh Lakish said: This proves that in R. Yannai’s opinion we strain to contextualize the Mishnah in two different meanings, so that it agrees with one Tanna, rather than give it one context and saying that it reflect [the views of] two Tannaim.

 

R. Yannai indeed agrees, the mishnah refers to two different contexts. In the first clause, the meaning of the statement is that the father must say yes, whereas in the last two clauses, the meaning of the statement is that my father not object. To Resh Lakish, it is preferable to say the mishnah refers to two different circumstances, i.e. the betrother said two different things, rather than attribute the mishnah to two different tannaim.

 

רב יוסף בר אמי אמר לעולם חד טעמא הוא ומאי על מנת שירצה אבא ע"מ שלא ימחה אבא מכאן ועד שלשים יום

 

R. Joseph b. Ammi said: In the end [the mishnah] has one reasoning. What does it mean by on condition that [my] father consents ? On condition that he does not protest within thirty days from now.

 

R. Joseph b. Ammi finds one reasoning for the whole mishnah. If the father does not protest within thirty days, she is betrothed. If the father dies before protesting, she is betrothed because he will not protest. It is not his silence that causes the betrothal to be effective, it is his lack of protest. If the son dies within thirty days, the father must protest to undo the betrothal. Thus we can successfully provide one explanation for the whole mishnah.