Today's daf continues the rabbis' considerations of consent and agency. They begin by considering minor girls who are betrothed and then widowed. Are their fathers permitted to marry them off a second time? The rabbis consider the process of chalitza and how that ritual plays into the process of betrothal, marriage and ending a marriage.
Next, our rabbis consider the parameters of appointing one's father as one's agent. The rabbis present cases that demonstrate a father pushing his choice of a daughter-in-law over his son's choice and over his wife's choice. Can a father take such liberties? Would a son even appoint his father as an agent? Is this possible? Perhaps the son discussed this with his father in advance of the cases presented?
We learn that it is seen as demeaning for a father to betroth a young woman on behalf of his son in the marketplace using vegetables or using money. Such statements provoke questions about what might be seen as appropriate betrothals. Is it the public, informal setting of the marketplace that is offensive? Or is it the use of something as commonplace as vegetables or money that makes such a transaction distasteful?
Our daf ends with examples that leave us questioning whether or not terumah can be eaten by the betrothed daughter. If a father betrothed a minor girl, for example, and then he dies or he leaves the country, is his daughter permitted to eat terumah? What if he is in the town but he does not agree to the marriage? Can his silence be taken as acquiescence? If her father does not eventually consent to the marriage, is she permitted to partake of terumah by Torah law?
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