(Mishnah): If a man betrothed a woman and then said that he thought that she was a Kohen's daughter but she was actually a Levi's daughter; or he thought that she was a Levi's daughter and she was actually a Kohen's daughter; or he thought that she was poor and she was actually rich or vice-versa, she is betrothed because she did not deceive him.

(Gemara - R. Elazar): She is betrothed, even if there are witnesses who know that this was what he was thinking.

R. Shmuel citing R. Zeira: In such a case, she is doubtfully betrothed (and if another man came and betrothed her, she would require a get from both of them).

Rebbi bar Acha citing R. Imi: If Reuven owed Shimon money and he sent Shimon to Levi to receive the payment. Levi has escaped but Reuven no longer owed Shimon. This is only true when they (Reuven and Levi) were not in cahoots; otherwise, Reuven remained obligated to pay.

This is similar to the merchants who travelled from city to city who owed money to the wax sellers and the merchants told them to collect the debt from the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper became poor and fled. (Note: This entry and the next one follow the explanation of the Pnei Moshe.)

The case was brought before R. Mana and he ruled, "If the debt is small, the wax sellers were negligent by not collecting the debt sooner. If the debt is large, the merchants must pay it, since it is normal for the shopkeeper to delay his payment.

A person was once standing with his friend in the marketplace and he told his friend, "Give me back my jug that you have''.

The friend replied - Give me the money that you owe me.

The person responded - Give me the jug and take the money. The friend denied having the jug.

The case came before R. Mana and he ruled, "You admitted to the money but he did not admit to the jug. Go and pay him the money.''

R. Yaakov bar Acha: R. Imi says that if he would have admitted to the debt in front of witnesses he would be required to pay, but since he did not, we should assume that he only 'admitted' to it in order to retrieve his jug.

A person once owed his friend 100 dinar and had written to him a document admitting to the debt. He sent his friend 50 dinar through a messenger and told the messenger not to give him the money until he received the document. (When he paid, the lender did not wish to give him the document.)

The case came before R. Imi and he told the messenger, "Give him the money and I will know (that you gave it).

Question: But what if R. Imi will die?

Answer: They will make an official Beis Din document stating that he had already paid him half.

The Rabbis of Eretz Yisrael said that if they did this it would work, but ideally it should not be done.

Once, R. Dustai bei R. Yanai and R. Yosi ben Kipar travelled from Eretz Yisrael to Nehardaa to collect debts for the Chachamim (in Eretz Yisrael). After they collected the money, the people spoke derogatorily about them, saying that they wished to be exempt if the money got lost (on the return journey). The people that had paid came to demand the money back from them. They responded to the people that they had already acquired the money on behalf of their senders and they cannot return it. The people said that they wanted them to accept responsibility for the money on the journey. They replied that they are unpaid watchmen and they are exempt if the money is stolen or lost. They sent people to R. Dustai and he (was afraid and) showed them all of the money. They then took R. Yosi ben Kipar and beat him and forced him to give them all of the money that he had collected.

When R. Dustai and R. Yosi returned to Eretz Yisrael, they went to R. Dustai's father, R. Yanai. R. Yosi said to him, "Look what your son did to me!'' R. Yanai asked him what had happened. R. Yosi said that if R. Dustai had would have agreed with my approach (and not given over the money because of fear), we would not have lost the money. R. Yanai asked R. Dustai, "Why did you not resist them?'' R. Dustai said, "I saw that the judges there approved all of their behaviour and that the people (who had given the money) wore scary clothes and that they spoke with deep (threatening) voices (as if the sound is produced from their navels). I (also) saw my brother R. Yosi tied up with their strap whipping him and I asked if my father had another son called Dustai if I die? (i.e. I did not think that I was obligated to die in order to save the money).''

R. Chagai: We only say that if the shaliach gave back the money, that he does not owe the sender, if the shaliach cannot resist the demand of the giver or if he cannot accept responsibility for the dangerous return journey; otherwise, he must pay back the sender.

If a person forgives a debt that his friend owe him, for example, if he said that your debt is forgiven, without saying that the loan document is forgiven...

R. Chananya and R. Mana disagreed - one said that it is also forgiven; the other said that it is not forgiven until the lender returns the document.

(Mishnah): If a man said to a woman, "Behold, you are betrothed to me after I convert; after you convert; after I am freed; after you are freed; after your husband dies or after your yavam performs chalitzah with you'', she is not betrothed.

Similarly, if a man said to his friend, "if your wife gives birth to a girl she is betrothed to me'', he has not said anything at all.

(Gemara) Question to R. Yochanan: Why are these cases different from when a person said, "This should be the Terumah for this attached produce, when it is detached''...?

Answer (R. Yochanan): There, he is capable of detaching them, but here, he is not capable of creating the situation that will allow kidushin.

Question (R. Fas): What if the slave-woman belongs to him?

Answer (R. Ba bar Mamal): When she becomes free, she becomes like a different person (with a different mindset).

There was once a story that R. Hoshiya Rabah and R. Yudan Nesiyah were sitting. They said - let us say something about kidushin...One who says to a woman, "Take this Perutah and be betrothed to me after I divorce you'', what is the law? They began to laugh and they left.

R. Yosi: Why did they laugh? Did R. Ba bar Mamal not say that when she becomes free, she becomes like a different person? Here also, when she becomes divorced she is like a different person (as she is no longer under the control of her husband and can now choose if she wishes to be married; therefore, the kidushin does not take effect).

If you wish to ask, you should ask the following...

Once, a person was on the way to betroth a woman. His friend preceded him and told her, "You should know that the man who is coming to betroth you is a bad person and he will divorce you. Take this Perutah and marry me after he divorces you.'' What is the law here? (Do we say that since he can betroth her now himself, the future betrothal should also take effect or since it is not in his control to betroth her after she is divorced, the kidushin cannot take effect now...?)

Source of answer: The Mishnah (in Maseches Nedarim) teaches that if a person vowed that if his saplings do not get burned, he is consecrating them, they can be redeemed like any other Hekdesh item....(the Gemara there in Perek 3, Halachah 5 states that) If he saw that the king's workers were coming (to cut his saplings for the king) or he saw a fire spreading and he said, "These saplings should be consecrated if they are not cut down'' or "This tallis should be consecrated if it does not get burnt'' and it did burn - do we say that he consecrated them immediately, so if he benefitted from them before they got burnt, he has transgressed the prohibition of Meilah or do we say that he only intended to consecrate them when they ultimately did not burn, but meanwhile, they are not consecrated?

Chizkiyah: (They latter part of that Mishnah in Nedarim teaches - If he said, "These saplings are consecrated until they are cut'' or "this talis is consecrated until it is burned'', he cannot redeem them. Chizkiyah understood that this means that) if he redeemed them, their sanctity immediately returns.

R. Yochanan: (He was only saying that he was sanctifying them only until he will redeem them) but when he redeems them, they are redeemed.

Question against R. Yochanan (Beraisa): They may not be redeemed.

Answer: This is teaching that when they were actually chopped down, they may not be redeemed.

R. Yosi: Chizkiyah made his ruling when the one who consecrated it comes to redeem it, but if someone else comes to redeem it, the sanctity can be removed.

Question: The opinion of R. Yosi seems to have been switched - there R. Yosi says that if someone else redeems it, its sanctity is removed; but here (in (h) above, when he gave a Perutah for kidushin after she will be divorced) he said that it is as if she married someone else, but the kidushin of the first one is not removed?!

Answer: The case of (h) is actually when he gave her two perutos and said, "With one be betrothed to me now and with the other one be betrothed to me after I divorce you''. Therefore, it is dissimilar to the case of when he redeems, since she enters her own control when he divorces her. It is also dissimilar to when someone else divorces her since the husband is both the one giving kidushin and also the one divorcing.

R. Yanai: Thirty Rabbis and amongst them a number of elders asked - What is the source to say that it is not possible to betroth a Yevamah?

Answer: The pasuk states (Devarim 25, 5), "...the wife of the dead man shall not marry outside to a strange man'' - there will not be marriage with her to a strange man (other than the yavam i.e. her brother-in-law).

Question (R. Yochanan): Is it not our Mishnah - " 'or after your yavam performs chalitzah with you', she is not betrothed...?

R. Yanai praised R. Yochanan for his question and ascribed to him the pesukim (Yishayahu 46, 6) "those who pour gold from the purse''; (Mishlei 4, 20-21), "My son...do not let them depart from your eyes'' and (Mishlei 1, 5), "the wise man shall hear and increase his learning''.

R. Shimon ben Lakish to R. Yanai: After all of these praises, one could actually explain that the Mishnah follows R. Akiva who says that a Mamzer is produced from a yevamah (who married another man).

Shmuel: In our humble opinion, she requires a get (if another man betrothed her).

R. Yosi bei R. Bun: The Mishnah speaks about 'after your yavam performs chalitzah with you' but if he said, 'after your yavam will die', she is betrothed.

Beraisa (R. Chiyah): A one day old girl can be betrothed with money; a three year old girl can be betrothed with marital relations.

R. Mana: Our Mishnah also teaches this - 'Similarly, if a man said to his friend, "if your wife gives birth to a girl she is betrothed to me'', he has not said anything at all - because the girl does not yet exist in the world, but if she did (even if she only one day old) she is betrothed.