לע"נ ידי"נ ר' יואל בן פנחס הלוי
לזכות ידי"נ כאח לי ר' אברהם יצחק בן אסתר
ידיד נפשי כאח לי ר' יוסף עזרא בן אסתר
וכל משפחותיהם
The Rashi under investigation
The gemara [Gittin 9a-b] says that all שטרות that come up in gentile courts are kosher EXCEPT for גיטין and שחרורי עבדים [documents of emancipation].
Writes Rashi:
חוץ מגיטי נשים - דלאו בני כריתות נינהו ולא שייכי בתורת גיטין וקידושין אבל על הדינין נצטוו בני נח.
Rashi explains that since Goyim are not בני כריתות - in the category of those who can divorce, they are not included in the laws of gittin and kiddushin and are thus invalid witnesses. But, adds Rashi, when it comes to other shtaros they are kosher because one of the sheva mitzvos bnei noach is establishing a court system.
Hold on tight. It might seem simple and straightforward but things are going to get THORNY!!:-) The following questions were asked by a variety of אחרונים but Ha-Gaon Hamufla ME-OD הרב דוד יצחק מן זצ"ל asks them all and also provides a brilliant response to them. This is going to be GOOOOODDDDDD. Like eating מן!!!
1] Just say that the problem with גיטי נשים in a secular court is that there is no דינא דמלכותא?
- We see from Rashi that the reason they are פסול for גיטין is not because they are not עדים. The problem is that they are not בתורת גיטין וקידושין. The Tumim [סי' כ"ח] and Ktzos [שם] both say that we see from this Rashi that he holds like the ספר החכמה cited by the מרדכי, that Goyim are kosher witnesses when we don't suspect them of lying and when שטרות go through a court we don't suspect them of lying. When the gemara [10b עיי"ש] asks that a שטר מתנה in a Gentile court is a mere clay shard [חספא בעלמא] it means that they can't create a valid שטר. So how then can we validate their שטרות? We are compelled to say as the gemara answers and Rashi quotes in our sugya: שטרות are kosher because of דינא דמלכותא דינא [which we will call דמ"ד]. Now, since it is PASHUT that דמ"ד is a category that applies only to דיני ממונות and not to דיני איסורים we are left in a quandary: Why did Rashi have to explain the disqualification of Goyim from signing a גט as a result of their not being בני כריתות - why doesn't he say more simply, that there is no דמ"ד with respect to גיטין??
AHHHHHHHH!!!
2] If the problem with גיטין in secular courts is that לאו בני כריתות - shouldn't the default be that all other שטרות are kosher??
- We also have to understand Rashi's words "אבל על הדינין נצטוו בני נח" meaning he was bothered by the fact that other שטרות are valid. On that question, he answered that they were commanded about דינין [to set up a court system]. Why does he need to say that??? The only problem with a גט is that גויים are not בני כריתות which is obviously not a problem regarding other שטרות, so the default position would be that they are valid even WITHOUT having to explain that נצטוו על הדינין.
AHHHHHHH!!!
3] Why נצטוו על הדינין when we already have דינא דמלכותא דינא??
- Also, why does he say נצטוו על הדינין when he himself said earlier that דמ"ד. Why isn't that enough?? [עי' באבן האזל בפ"ח מהלכות נז"מ שעמד על זה.]
4] Why do we need a גזירה שוה to disqualify שחרורי עבדים?
- Another question: Rashi explains in ד"ה חוץ מגיטי נשים that the reason that שחרורי עבדים are also פסול if executed in a Gentile court is that we have a גזירה שוה of לה לה from אשה. Why does he have to say that? Just say that there is no דמ"ד with respect to שחרורי עבדים [because it is not ממון but איסור] and that suffices to explain its invalidity.
5] Why not say that Gentiles are pasul for שחרורי עבדים because they can't free slaves as Jews do?
- There is more: Rashi explains that the only problem with שחרורי עבדים is that לאו בני כריתות נינהו because of the גזירה שוה of לה לה from אשה. I have a better idea [I think...] - say that they are not בני שחרור??!! Then we won't have to resort to the גזירה שוה??
STAY TUNED!! TO BE CONTINUED - I HOPE בעז"ה!!:-)
