Traité Gittin

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : and these people are learned with regard to this halakha, as a bill of divorce sent from Eretz Yisrael was certainly written in the correct manner. And one Sage, the Rabbis, holds: The reason for the testimony is because there are no witnesses available to ratify it, and these witnesses who travel from Eretz Yisrael overseas are also not frequently available.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara again rejects the suggestion: One cannot prove that this issue is a dispute of the tanna’im, as Rabba resolves the different opinions in the mishna according to his line of reasoning, and Rava resolves them according to his line of reasoning. Rabba resolves them according to his line of reasoning, as follows: It may be that everyone agrees that the reason is because they are not experts in writing a bill of divorce for her sake, and here they disagree with regard to a decree applied in the case of one who delivers a bill of divorce to Eretz Yisrael due to the concern that it will be confused with the case of one who brings a bill of divorce from Eretz Yisrael.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara explains that the first tanna holds: The Sages do not decree with regard to one who delivers due to one who brings. In other words, although one who delivers a bill of divorce from overseas to Eretz Yisrael must say: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence, one who brings a bill of divorce from Eretz Yisrael to a country overseas need not state this declaration.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And the later Rabbis hold: The Sages do decree with regard to one who delivers due to one who brings the bill of divorce from overseas. The reason for this decree is that one might err and think that just as an agent who delivers a bill of divorce from Eretz Yisrael to a country overseas is not required to testify that it was written and signed in his presence, so too, one who brings a bill of divorce from a country overseas to Eretz Yisrael need not state this declaration. Consequently, the Sages decreed that even one who delivers a bill of divorce from Eretz Yisrael to a country overseas must declare: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And Rava also resolves the different opinions in the mishna according to his line of reasoning. How so? He maintains that everyone agrees that the reason for the declaration: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence, is because there are no witnesses available to ratify it, and the later Rabbis do not disagree with the previous opinion. Rather, they come to explain the reasoning of the first tanna. In other words, the first tanna agrees that one who takes a bill of divorce from Eretz Yisrael to a country overseas must state the declaration, and he simply taught the halakha in a concise manner.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : § The Gemara attempts to cite another proof: We learned in the mishna: One who brings a bill of divorce from one region to another region within a country overseas must also say: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence. The Gemara infers: But if he brought a bill of divorce within one region in a country overseas he is not required to state this declaration. This works out well according to the opinion of Rava, as witnesses are available in the same region. However, according to the opinion of Rabba, the matter is difficult, as overseas residents are not experts in the halakha and therefore it does not matter how closely they are located to each other.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara answers: According to the opinion of Rabba, do not say that the correct inference is: Within one region in a country overseas, he is not required to state the declaration. Rather, say that one should infer from the mishna: From region to region within Eretz Yisrael, he is not required to do so.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara raises a difficulty with regard to this answer: But that halakha need not be derived by inference, as the mishna is teaching it explicitly: One who brings a bill of divorce from one place to another within Eretz Yisrael is not required to say: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence. The Gemara answers: If this halakha were to be derived from that statement alone, I would say: This applies only after the fact, i.e., if someone acted in this manner then the bill of divorce is not invalidated. However, it might have been thought that one should not act in this manner ab initio; rather, the agent should state the declaration. Therefore, the mishna teaches us by means of this inference from its first section that he need not state the declaration even ab initio.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara offers an alternate version of this discussion: And some raise this objection like this, by inferring differently from that ruling of the mishna. The mishna teaches: One who brings a bill of divorce from one region to another region within a country overseas must also say: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence. The Gemara infers from here that if he brings the document from region to region within Eretz Yisrael, he is not required to state the declaration.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : This works out well according to the opinion of Rabba, as the residents of Eretz Yisrael are aware of the halakha that a bill of divorce must be written for the woman’s sake. However, it is difficult according to the opinion of Rava. The Gemara rejects this inference: Do not say that the mishna is teaching that from one region to another region within Eretz Yisrael, he is not required. Rather, say: Within one region in a country overseas he is not required to state the declaration.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara questions this interpretation: However, if that is so, with regard to an agent who brings a bill of divorce from region to region within Eretz Yisrael, what is the halakha? Is he required to state the declaration? If so, let the mishna teach simply: One who brings a bill of divorce from one region to another region must state the declaration, without specification, and this would apply both overseas and in Eretz Yisrael.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara answers: Actually, one who brings from region to region within Eretz Yisrael is also not required to state the declaration even according to the opinion of Rava, for the following reason: Since there are those who ascend to Jerusalem for the pilgrimage Festival, witnesses are frequently available and they can come even from one region to another.