NEDARIM 91 - Two weeks of study material have been dedicated by Mrs. Estanne Abraham Fawer to honor the Yahrzeit of her father, Rav Mordechai ben Eliezer Zvi (Rabbi Morton Weiner) Z'L, who passed away on 18 Teves 5760. May the merit of supporting and advancing Dafyomi study -- which was so important to him -- during the weeks of his Yahrzeit serve as an Iluy for his Neshamah.

1)

A KOHEN'S WIFE THAT WAS DEFILED

(a)

Answer (Rav Papa): The Mishnah (Rishonah, i.e. the original law) says that a woman who says that she was defiled receives a Kesuvah.

1.

Suggestion: Her husband is a Yisrael.

2.

Rejection: If she willingly committed adultery, clearly she forfeits her Kesuvah! If she says that she was raped, she is permitted to her husband!

3.

Rather, her husband is a Kohen.

4.

If she willingly committed adultery, she forfeits her Kesuvah just like a Yisrael's wife!

5.

Rather, she says that she was raped, and she receives her Kesuvah!

(b)

Question: If a woman says to her husband (in front of Beis Din) 'you divorced me', what is the law?

(c)

Answer (Rav Hamnuna - Mishnah): If she says 'I was defiled' (she is believed);

1.

Even the Mishnah Acharonah says that she is not believed only because her husband does not know, so she is brazen to lie about this;

2.

Her husband knows whether or not he divorced her. There is a Chazakah that a wife is not so brazen to lie in front of her husband like this!

(d)

Objection (Rava): Just the contrary! Even the Mishnah Rishonah believes her only because she would not lie to disgrace herself (that she was defiled);

1.

One who is angry at her husband may have the audacity to say 'you divorced me.'

(e)

Question (Rav Mesharshiya): Mishnah Rishonah believes her when she says 'Shamayim is between us', even though this is no disgrace to herself!

(f)

Answer (Rava): She needs to explain that she means that his semen does not shoot out. This is an awesome disgrace to him. She is not so brazen to lie about such a matter.

(g)

Question (Mishnah Acharonah): If she says 'Shamayim is between me and you' she is not believed.

1.

She knows that her husband knows the truth. It takes great audacity to lie about this, yet she is not believed. This refutes Rav Hamnuna!

(h)

Answer (Rav Hamnuna): The husband knows that he has Bi'ah, but does not know whether or not his semen shoots out, so she is able to lie about this.

2)

APPARENT ADULTERY

(a)

There was a woman that used to bring water for her husband to wash the morning after they would have Bi'ah. One morning she brought for him, and he remarked that they did not have Bi'ah the previous night.

1.

His wife: If so, I must have had Bi'ah with one of the Nochri spice peddlers (her husband was a Kohen; this would forbid her to him, even though she was Shogeg).

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2.

Rav Nachman: She wants to make her husband divorce her, because she desires to marry someone else. We give no credence to her words.

(b)

Once, a certain woman was not jovial with her husband as usual.

1.

The husband: What changed?

2.

The wife: Until now, you never hurt me during Bi'ah.

3.

The husband: We did not have Bi'ah now!

4.

The wife: If so, I must have had Bi'ah with one of the Nochri kerosene peddlers.

5.

Rav Nachman (to the husband): Don't be concerned for her words. She wants to make you divorce her, because she desires to marry someone else.

(c)

A man was with a married woman in her house; the house was locked. The husband came home; the man broke through the fence and fled.

1.

Rava: She is permitted to her husband. Had the man had Bi'ah with her, he would have hid himself, from fear.

(d)

An adulterer entered a woman's house. Her husband came, and the adulterer hid in the doorway. The husband was about to eat some cress from which a snake had eaten; his wife did not see that he was about to eat.

1.

The adulterer warned the husband 'don't eat from the cress, for a snake ate from it.'

2.

Rava: She is permitted to her husband. Had the man had Bi'ah with her, he would want the husband to die - "They had adultery, and blood was in their hands."

3.

Question: This is obvious!

4.

Answer: One might have thought that he had Bi'ah with her, and he wanted the husband to live, in order that the wife should be forbidden - "Stolen waters are sweeter, (stolen) bread eaten in hiding is tastier." Rava teaches that this is not so. (The adulterer does not know that stolen waters are sweeter.)

TAM V'NISHLAM, B'EZRAS HA'TZUR

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