The Gemara wonders when one witness might be sufficient to affect the outcome of a case. The first example is not only a single witness, but that witness is a woman. Rav Chisda's daughter, Rava's wife - and Rava was the judge listening to her opinion. When questioned about valuing her words as an individual witness, Rava said that he knew her well and she would not lie; he did not know another Rabbi as well and he could not comfortably trust that single witness in a case. Other examples of single witnesses are shared in the text.
When a person dies without leaving specific instructions, the rabbis debate about who should inherit specific, unclaimed items. We learn that Torah scholars are preferred possibilities, as are neighbours - business partners who are close to the deceased - and then other relatives. However, the rabbis stress the importance of using reasonable judgement in such cases. Figure out who was important to the deceased person!
Our daf ends with guidance regarding dealings with loans that might be forgiven. We are told that rabbis do not allow women to forgive loans on their own. Instead, men must be present both as witnesses and because as husbands they share equally in any one of their wives' loans.
I continue to find it fascinating that the rabbis are able to forgive some breaches of halacha when it suits their purposes. I did not find a Torah verse proving that women were able to act as individual witnesses in particular cases. However, the rabbis find ways to argue that this should be permitted.
This creativity regarding stringencies in Jewish law is critical to understand when liberal Jews are looking toward making changes to traditions. If each new interpretation is questioned and thoughtfully considered, why can we not make changes to the traditional halacha as well?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment