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KESUVOS 22

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SUMMARY

If one of the judges dies prior to his signing on the confirmation of the Shtar, the other judges must write that "we were originally three judges, and one died." (1)
 
Shmuel: If the Beis Din consists of only two judges, it is a valid Din but they are regarded as a Beis Din Chatzuf.
 
If a woman says that she was married but now she is divorced, she is believed, because the "mouth that prohibits is the mouth that permits."
 
If there are witnesses that she was married, and she claims that she is divorced, she is not believed.
 
If a woman says that she was captured but she is Tahor, she is believed, because "the mouth that prohibits is the mouth that permits."
 
If there are witnesses that she was captured, and she claims that she is Tahor, she is not believed.
 
If a father says that he accepted Kidushin for his daughter, he is believed, and she is prohibited. (2)
 
A Yavam who is Motzi Shem Ra on the Yevamah, claiming that she does not have Besulim, is not liable to pay 100 Kesef.
 
If a woman says that she is married, and later she says that she is unmarried, she is believed only if she provides a good excuse for her original statement.
 
If two pairs of witnesses contradict each other regarding whether a woman is widowed or divorced, she may not remarry. (3)
 
Anytime the Torah believes one witness, he is regarded as though he is two witnesses, and another witness is not believed to contradict him.
 
A woman who tells her husband that he divorced her is believed, because there is a Chazakah that a woman does not have the audacity to lie in front of her husband. (4)

A BIT MORE

1. This is done so that people will not think -- when they see the signatures of only two judges on the confirmation -- that the Beis Din consisted of only two judges. If they wrote that "the Shtar came before the Beis Din of Rav Ashi, and Rav Ashi instructed us to confirm it," they do not have to write that one of them died; since Rav Ashi instructed them to confirm it, they certainly were at least three judges.
 
2. A father may accept Kidushin for his daughter while she is a Ketanah or a Na'arah. Therefore, since it is in his power to be Mekadesh her, he is believed to say that he was Mekadesh her.
 
3. Tana Kama: If she does remarry, she may stay with her husband if she says, "I am sure that my husband died," and she married one of the witnesses. Rebbi Menachem bar Yosi: She may not stay with her new husband unless the second set of witnesses testified after she already remarried.
 
4. However, if there are witnesses who support her statement, she is not believed, because in such a case she does have the audacity to lie in front of her husband.

BRIEF INSIGHT

A GOOD EXCUSE
 
The Gemara says that if a woman says that she is married and later she says that she is unmarried, she is believed only if she provides a good excuse for her original statement. The Gemara asks what the law is in a case of a woman who says that she is Tamei. Is she believed when she later says that she is Tahor? Tosfos explains that the question is whether a good excuse is enough to allow us to believe her when she changes her mind. The Tosfos ha'Rosh asks, why should we not we believe a woman who claims that she is Tamei if she has a good excuse? Why should she be less believed than a woman who said that she is married and then changed her story and claims that she is unmarried? The prohibition of a married woman is more severe than that of a Nidah! The Tosfos ha'Rosh answers that since a Nidah will anyway be permitted after seven days, perhaps we should not rely on her excuse.

QUICK HALACHAH

A WOMAN WHO CLAIMS TO BE TAMEI
 
A woman who claims to be Tamei and subsequently claims that she is Tahor is not believed unless she offers a good excuse for her original statement (for example, she says that she said that she was Tamei because she was unable to have relations at that time). However, if the husband chooses to be stringent and not to believe her when she retracts her claim, it is regarded as a Midas Chasidus. Even if she does not provide an excuse but she makes it obvious that the reason why she said that she is Tamei is because of a fight that she had with her husband, she is permitted to her husband. (Shulchan Aruch YD 185:3)
 
Even if she makes it obvious that she said that she is Tamei because of a fight that she had with her husband, he still must ask her, "Did you not say that you were Tamei"? He must wait until she speaks out the excuse to him. (Shach)

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