013 - הִלְכוֹת גֵּרוּשִׁין פֵּרֶק יג

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 13

1. If a woman says to her husband, "You divorced me in the presence of so-and-so and so-and-so," and those witnesses come and contradict her, and afterwards she and her husband continue living together in peace, and then she comes and says, "My husband died"—she is not believed, for she has been established as a liar and is seeking to free herself from her husband. If a single witness comes and testifies for her that her husband died, she may not remarry, lest she hired him; but if she did remarry, she does not have to leave her new husband, since she does have a witness.

2. Similarly, if there was a war in the world and she comes and says, "My husband died in the war," she is not believed, even if there was peace between her and her husband. For perhaps she relies on circumstances where most people die and says he died—for example, when the first and last groups were killed and he was in the middle, she might say, "Since these and those were killed, he was killed among them." Therefore, she is not believed, even if she says, "He died in the war and I buried him." But if she says, "He died in his bed," she is believed.

3. If there was no war in the world and she comes and says, "There was a war in such-and-such a place, and my husband died in the war," she should not remarry initially; but if she did remarry, she does not have to leave her new husband.

4. Likewise, if a woman says, "My husband died under a collapsed building," she is not believed. Similarly, if there was a plague of snakes and scorpions and she says, "A snake or scorpion bit him and he died," she is not believed, for perhaps she relies on the fact that most people bitten in such a way die.

5. If she says, "A house or a cave collapsed on us; he died and I was saved," she is not believed, for just as a miracle happened for her, a miracle could have happened for him. If there was a year of famine and she says, "My husband died," she is not believed; but if she says, "He died and I buried him," she is believed.

6. If she says, "Gentiles or bandits attacked us; he was killed and I was saved," she is believed, for it is not their way to kill women, so we do not say that just as she was saved, so too he was saved.

7. If there was a plague in the world and she comes and says, "My husband died," she is believed, for it is well known to everyone that in a year of plague, some survive and some die, and it is possible that strong young people die in the plague while elderly sick people survive. Therefore, we do not suspect that she relied on the majority of those who died.

8. We have already said that testimony from a witness who heard from another witness is valid for the testimony of a woman's remarriage. In what case is this so? When he heard from a person of sound mind that so-and-so died, such as a slave or a maidservant. But if he heard from a mentally incompetent person or a minor, he does not testify and we do not rely on their words.

9. If he heard from children who say, "We have just come from the funeral of so-and-so; such-and-such eulogizers were there, and so-and-so the sage, and so-and-so went after his bier, and such-and-such was done with his bier"—he may testify based on their words in such matters, and his wife may remarry.

10. If a Jew says, "I killed so-and-so," his wife may remarry based on his statement, for a person does not make himself wicked, and he has testified that the man is dead.

11. We have already said that if a non-Jew speaks incidentally, we allow a woman to remarry based on his words. How so? If the non-Jew is speaking and says, "Woe for so-and-so who died; how handsome he was and how much good he did for me," or if he says, "When I was traveling, so-and-so who was walking with us fell and died, and we were amazed at how suddenly he died," and similar statements that show he did not intend to testify—he is believed.

12. If a Jew hears from a non-Jew who is speaking incidentally, he may testify that he heard it from him, and the woman may remarry based on his statement. In what case is this so? When there was no ulterior motive in the non-Jew's conversation, for perhaps he intended something else—for example, if he said to someone, "Do such-and-such for me or I will kill you as I killed so-and-so," this is not considered incidental speech, for his intention is to instill fear in the other person.

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 13

13. Similarly, if one hears from the courts of the gentiles who say, "We killed so-and-so," they are not believed, for they strengthen their own position with falsehood in order to instill fear. The same applies to all similar matters.

14. If a gentile began to speak incidentally, and even though he was questioned afterwards and examined until he described the entire event, he is believed, and we permit a woman to remarry based on his statement.

15. We have already explained that a witness who says, "I heard that so-and-so died," even if he heard it from a woman who heard it from a servant, is valid for testimony regarding a woman, and we permit her to remarry based on his statement. But if the witness, or the woman, or the servant says, "So-and-so died and I saw that he died," we ask him, "How did you see, and how do you know that he died?" If he testifies to something clear, he is believed; but if he testifies to matters that are mostly associated with death, we do not permit his wife to remarry—for one may only testify that a person has died if they saw that he certainly died, with no doubt.

16. How so? If they saw him fall into the sea, even if he drowned in the great sea, they do not testify that he died, for perhaps he emerged elsewhere. But if he fell into gathered waters, such as a pit or a cave, where one can see all around, and he remained there long enough for his soul to depart and did not come up, they may testify that he died, and permit his wife to remarry. Similarly, if he was thrown into the sea and a net was cast after him, and they brought up from it a limb that could not be removed from a living person and survive, they may testify that he died, and permit his wife to remarry.

17. If they saw him fall into a den of lions or leopards or the like, they do not testify about him—for it is possible they did not eat him. If he fell into a pit of snakes and scorpions, or into a fiery furnace, or into a boiling cauldron filled with wine or oil, or if both simanim or most of both simanim were slaughtered—even if he stood up and ran away, they may testify that he died, for he will certainly die in the end. The same applies to all similar cases where it is impossible for him to live, but he will die immediately or in the near future—they may testify about him.

18. If they saw him crucified, and a bird was eating him—even if he was stabbed or shot with arrows—they do not testify that he died. But if they saw the bird eating at a place where the soul departs when it is taken, such as his brain, his heart, or his intestines, they may testify that he died.

19. If a single witness says, "I saw him die in war," or "in a collapse," or "he drowned in the great sea and died," or similar matters that are mostly associated with death—if he says, "I buried him," he is believed, and she may remarry based on his statement. But if he did not say, "I buried him," she may not remarry; but if she did remarry, she does not have to leave her new husband.

20. Similarly, a woman for whom a single witness testified that her husband drowned in endless waters and did not come up, and his memory was lost and his name forgotten—she may not remarry based on this testimony, as we have explained; but if she did remarry, she does not have to leave. Even if it was a gentile who spoke incidentally and said, "So-and-so drowned in the sea," and she remarried based on his statement, she does not have to leave. But a sage who initially ruled to permit her to remarry is excommunicated.

21. If they found him killed or dead—if his forehead, nose, and facial features are intact, and they recognized him by them as so-and-so, they may testify about him. But if one of these was missing—even if there are identifying marks on his body or his belongings, or even a mole—they do not testify, for perhaps it is someone else. When does this apply? When they saw him within three days after he was killed or died. But after three days, they do not testify about him, because the facial features change.

22. If he drowned in the sea and the sea cast him onto dry land, even after several days—if they recognized his face and nose, they may testify about him, for he does not change in water except after a long time. But if he remained on dry land for hours after being cast out and became swollen, they do not testify about him, for he has changed. When examining his form to recognize him and testify about him, they inspect and observe him, even at night by candlelight or by moonlight.

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 13

23. If someone saw a man standing at a distance and said, "This is so-and-so, son of so-and-so, from such-and-such a place, and he was bitten by a snake and now he is dead," and they went and found that the body had changed and they did not recognize him—nevertheless, they permit his wife to remarry.

24. If someone came and said, "Beis Din, or some people, told me: when you go to such-and-such a place, tell them that Yitzchak son of Michael has died," and the messenger came and told us, but the messenger does not know who this person is—since we know that the person known by this name is so-and-so, his wife is permitted to remarry, and we do not say, "Perhaps it was a different Yitzchak son of Michael who died."

25. If a Jew and a non-Jew left with us to a certain place, and the non-Jew returned and, speaking innocently, said, "The man who left here with me has died," we permit his wife to remarry, even though the non-Jew does not know the man; provided that he says, "I buried him."

26. Similarly, if ten people went together from one place to another, and they were bound in chains, or leading camels, or similar circumstances, and the non-Jew, speaking innocently, said, "Ten men who traveled from such-and-such a place to such-and-such a place, and they were leading such-and-such, all died, and we buried them"—we permit their wives to remarry.

27. If a Jew said, "A Jewish man died with us in such-and-such a place; this and this was his appearance, and these and these were his identifying marks," we do not rely on estimation to say it was so-and-so, until the witness testifies that it was so-and-so and recognizes his name and the name of his city. But if he said, "Someone left with us from such-and-such a city and died," we investigate in that city: if only he left from there, his wife may remarry.

28. If they found it written in a document, "So-and-so, son of so-and-so, has died," or "So-and-so was killed," and it is known that this is the handwriting of a Jew—his wife may remarry. Similarly, if someone became mute, and they examined him as is done for gittin, and it was found that his mind is sound, and he wrote that so-and-so, son of so-and-so, has died—we rely on his writing and his wife may remarry. And we do not examine witnesses in cases of a woman's testimony with detailed inquiry and investigation, for the Sages did not require this stringency except to be lenient for the sake of permitting an agunah.

29. Do not find it difficult that the Sages permitted the severe prohibition of forbidden relations in the case of a woman's testimony, even through a maidservant, or a witness from another witness, or from a written document, and without detailed inquiry and investigation, as we have explained. For the Torah was not strict about the testimony of two witnesses and the other laws of testimony except in a matter that cannot be established except through the witnesses and their testimony, such as when they testify that one person killed another, or that one lent money to another. But in a matter that can be established without this witness, and the witness cannot evade responsibility if the matter is not true—such as when he testifies that so-and-so has died—the Torah was not strict about it, for it is unlikely that a witness would testify falsely in such a case. Therefore, the Sages were lenient in this matter and accepted the testimony of a single witness, or a maidservant, or from a document, and without detailed inquiry and investigation, so that the daughters of Israel would not remain agunos.