Gittin 9: Bills of Divorce and Bills of Manumission

The rabbis compare the documents that free women from marriage to the documents that free slaves from ownership.   Beginning with a discussion of bills of manumission declared upon a slave-owner's deathbed, the Gemara walks us through witnesses reading and signing these documents if those witnesses cannot read nor write.  One particularly interesting point is that the slave who has been emancipated erroneously (while on his deathbed the owner has freed his slave through a process that should only take place after his death), retains his status as a free man, though he might not receive any property given to him at that time.  This is because people now know him as a free man.  Interesting, for the former slave has not been free for long!  Was this an excuse to keep a person emancipated?  Or a legal trick?

A new Mishna focuses in on the comparison above.  If an agent brings a document from oversees and cannot attest to seeing it written and/or signed, the witnesses ratify the document.  Bills of divorce and of manumission are similar in that they are accepted without the signatures of witnesses if brought from overseas.  This stands as long as the agent delivering the bill attests that it was written and signed in his presence. 

The Gemara wonders if the agent or if witnesses might have been or become deaf and mute to warrant such leniency.  We then learn that there are three ways that these documents are similar.  

• Delivery overseas and testimony of witness are the same
• A Gentile/Samaritan is permitted to act as one witness on these documents
• These documents can be prepared in Gentile courts

Rabbi Meir had suggested a fourth similarity: witnesses were free to sign within a stencil - a paper with the shapes of the letters in their names ripped out.  However, this was not included by the other rabbis.  

The Gemara points out that other similarities exist: both documents cannot be attached to the ground when written.  The rabbis also discuss further what can be done with a deed before or after the death of an owner/husband.