MISHNAH: A deaf-mute man who married a hearing woman or a hearing man who married a deaf-mute woman may divorce or stay married at will; just as he marries with sign language so he divorces with sign language¹. A hearing man who married a hearing woman who then became deaf-mute may divorce or stay married at will². If she became insane he shall not divorce³. If he became deaf-mute or insane, he can never divorce⁴.

footnotes: ¹ The marriage is only valid by rabbinic standards; a divorce is possible by rabbinic standards. ² As explained in the next Mishnah, a divorce is effective by the action of the husband alone; the divorce is possible even if the wife is not able to act in law. ³ By rabbinic decree. ⁴ He is married under biblical standards. Even if he were able to communicate in sign language as a deaf-mute, he cannot execute acts under biblical standards.

HALAKHAH: “A deaf-mute who married a hearing woman”, etc. How does he do it⁵ 5:8 that he may communicate by lip reading.? He communicates in sign language and gives her the bill of divorce. In the same way he communicates with others, others communicate with him.

footnotes: ⁵ How can he divorce? He has to tell the clerk to write the bill and the witnesses to sign and to witness the delivery of the documents. If the woman is deaf-mute, she has to be instructed to receive the documents in her hands. There is an opinion in Mishnah Giṭṭin

The Mishnah applies if he⁶ 24:1). The marriage then can be undone only by an act valid by biblical standards, outside the reach of a deaf-mute. became betrothed to her by money. But if he became betrothed to her by copulation, his betrothal is an action but his divorce is not an action.

footnotes: ⁶ If the deaf-mute became betrothed to a woman by giving her an object of value, he is imitating an act reserved for competent adults. His marriage is deemed valid only by special rabbinic enactment. If an underage (otherwise normal) boy became betrothed by money’s worth, his act does not have even a shadow of validity. But the betrothal of a woman by the sex act of a man, while impractical, is valid by biblical standards (Deut.

Rebbi Eleazar asked Rebbi Joḥanan: The wife of a deaf-mute or an insane? He said to him, that does not even need a reparation sacrifice for a possible sin⁷. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan, Rebbi Hila in the name of Rebbi Eleazar: It does not even need a reparation sacrifice for a possible sin. Since you say, it does not even need a reparation sacrifice for a possible sin; if another man came and gave her qiddušin, they take hold of her⁸. If he divorced, is she permitted to remarry the first [husband]? That is what Rebbi Ḥiyya stated: About the wife of a deaf-mute who after being divorced by the deaf-mute went and married a deaf-mute or a hearing person, I am reading: “Her first husband who sent her away cannot come to take her back.”¹¹⁰ About the wife of a hearing person who after being divorced went and married a deaf-mute or a hearing person, I am reading: “Her first husband who sent her away cannot … ” If a deaf-mute’s husband went overseas and they came and told his wife, your husband has died, and she went and married a deaf- mute or a hearing person, and then her husband returned, she has to leave both of them¹¹. If the husband of a hearing wife went overseas and they came and told her, your husband has died, and she went and married a deaf-mute, and then her hearing [husband] returned, we would think that the deaf-mute should divorce her but the hearing person can keep her¹². She is still under these disabilities¹³.

footnotes: ⁷ Since the marriage has no biblical validity, adultery by the wife cannot be a biblical crime. There cannot be a sacrifice to atone for any transgression of rabbinic rules. The Babli agrees, 113a in the name of Samuel. ⁸ Cf. Chapter 5, Note 43. If the woman is not married by biblical standards, betrothal to another man needs a divorce. ¹ Deut. 24:4. ¹⁰ This is a rabbinic decree. ¹¹ Under the rules of Mishnah 10:1. ¹² Since she was not really married and unmarried sex in the erroneous belief that she was a widow does not prevent the woman to return to her husband. ¹³ The long list of disabilities of Mishnah 10:1 is rabbinic and the rabbis enforce them for marriages concluded under rabbinic rules only.

“If she became insane he shall not divorce.” In the House of Rebbi Yannai they said, because of the fence¹⁴ 113b s. v. יצתה, Rašba 113b, Roš 14:3, from where all later sources are derived) the reading is גְּרִירָה “towing, dragging”. According to that reading, R. Yannai says that the divorce is rabbinically prohibited because on her own the insane could not defend herself and might be dragged away by any man for sexual abuse. According to the reading of the ms. and editio princeps גְּדֵירָה, R. Yannai asserts only that it is a rabbinic decree that the husband is forbidden to divorce her (cf. Demai Chapter 1, Note 89 for the equality גזירה = גדירה). The cases quoted by R. Nehemiah bar Mar Uqban support the ms. reading unequivocally. In the Babli, 113b, R. Yannai is quoted as author of the statement attributed here to R. Ze‘ira and R. Hila.. Rebbi Ze‘ira and Rebbi Hila both say, because she cannot preserve her bill of divorce¹⁵ 24:1 requires that the divorce document be in the hand of the wife, a wife without a legal hand cannot be divorced. The Babli, 113b, agrees that a bill of divorce that cannot be delivered either to the woman or her representative is inactive.. Rebbi Nehemiah bar Mar Uqban (the son) [in the name]¹⁶,l. c. The reading of the ms. is impossible. of Rebbi Yose explained three cases. If he transgressed and divorced her. According to him who said because of a fence, he divorced¹⁷. According to him who said because she cannot preserve her bill of divorce, it is forbidden¹⁸. If she has a son, or a father, or a brother. According to him who said because of a fence, it is forbidden. According to him who said because she cannot preserve her bill of divorce, she has a father and can preserve her bill of divorce. Sometimes she is insane and sometimes of lucid mind. According to him who said because of a fence, it is forbidden. According to him who said because she cannot preserve her bill of divorce, sometimes she can preserve her bill of divorce¹⁹ 1:1 (Notes 52–55), Giṭṭin 7:1, fol. 48c; Babli Roš Haššanah28a] a sporadically insane person is treated as a normal person in his intervals of lucidity..

footnotes: ¹⁴ In the rabbinic literature (Tosaphot ¹⁵ Since Deut. ¹⁶ Reading of Roš ¹⁷ His action was a transgression but is valid. ¹⁸ Unless the woman understands that she is divorced, she is not divorced. ¹⁹ According to both Talmudim [Yerushalmi Terumot

MISHNAH: Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri said, why can a deaf-mute woman be divorced but a deaf-mute man cannot divorce? They told him, a divorcing man is not comparable to a divorced woman since a woman can be divorced with or against her will²⁰ but a man divorces only by his own will²¹. Rebbi Joḥanan ben Gudgada²² 7:9, Giṭṭin 5:5. testified about a deaf-mute girl who was married off by her father²³ that she could be divorced by a bill of divorce. They said to him²⁴, that is an example.

footnotes: ²⁰ By talmudic standards. By an institution of R. Gershon ben Jehudah (Mayence, about the year 1000), European Jews were forbidden to divorce without the wife’s consent (except in cases where the law forces the husband to divorce). ²¹ If the court coerces a recalcitrant husband to give a divorce, they have to coerce him “until he says, I want to do it.” ²² A Tanna, about one generation older than R. Joḥanan ben Nuri. His testimony is also in Mishnah Idiut ²³ When she was a minor and was passive in the marriage. She is married by biblical standards. ²⁴ To R. Joḥanan ben Nuri, that in principle, the biblical marriage of an incompetent person can be dissolved by divorce.

HALAKHAH: “Rebbi Joḥanan ben Nuri²⁵ testified,” etc. Rebbi Ḥananiah asked before Rebbi Hila. The matters seem reasonable for a hearing woman of sound mind, that she is divorced with or without her acquiescence. But a deaf-mute woman who has no will should not be divorced except with her acquiescence. But is it not testimony “that is an example”; does one add to a testimony²⁶ it is proof that the testimony was checked and found truly to reflect old practice.? But Rebbi Ḥanania is of the opinion that this deals with a hearing girl who was married off by her father and became deaf-and-dumb²⁷. Rebbi Yose is of the opinion that this deals with an underage girl²⁸ who was married off by her father and became divorced.

footnotes: ²⁵ A scribal error. ²⁶ If the Mishnah was included in Idiut ²⁷ Since the marriage was valid by biblical standards, the divorce follows biblical rules. ²⁸ Already deaf-mute. Since she is not an orphan, she can be married off legally, not only if deaf-mute but even if insane.

Rebbi Joḥanan said²⁹, there is nothing to be learned from the beginning, but there is something to be learned from the end. What is there at the beginning? If the deaf-mute [brother] was the husband of the deaf-mute [woman] and the hearing the husband of the hearing. But if the deaf-mute [brother] was the husband of the hearing [woman] and the hearing the husband of the deaf-mute, that should have been stated at the very end.

footnotes: ²⁹ That is a note only on the order of the following Mishnaiot. R. Joḥanan notes that it would have been more reasonable to start in both series (sisters or unrelated women) with the totally unproblematic case and to introduce the complications later.

MISHNAH: Two deaf-mute brothers married to two deaf-mute sisters, or two hearing sisters, or two sisters of whom one is deaf-mute, the other hearing; or two deaf-mute sisters married to two deaf-mute brothers, or two hearing brothers, or two brothers of whom one is deaf-mute, these are free from ḥalîṣah and levirate³⁰. If the women are unrelated, they must marry them, and, if they want to, they may send them away³¹ if one of the parties at least is deaf-mute, and the two marriages are of equal status, they must marry in levirate. But after the marriage, there is no general obstacle to a divorce.. Two brothers, one deaf-mute and one hearing, married to two hearing sisters. If the deaf-mute married to the hearing wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to the hearing wife do? [The widow] has to leave as the wife’s sister. If the hearing [brother] married to the hearing wife died, what shall the deaf-mute married to the hearing wife do? He divorces his wife by a bill of divorce; his brother’s widow is permanently forbidden³⁴..

footnotes: ³⁰ A sister cannot become the co-wife of a sister, Mishnah 1:1. ³¹ Since they cannot perform a valid ḥalîṣah ³⁴ The widow was married by biblical standards. She now is a candidate for levirate with the deaf- mute brother by biblical standards. Her biblical claim to the levir is stronger than the rabbinic claim of her deaf-mute sister. Therefore, from the moment of the hearing brother’s death, the deaf-mute sister is forbidden to her husband as sister of a quasi-wife. The widow herself cannot be helped. She cannot be married in levirate since her levir is incapable of marrying by biblical standards. She cannot be freed to marry another man since her levir is incapable of performing ḥalîṣah

HALAKHAH: “Two deaf-mute brothers,” etc. What about her co-wife³² ? Let us hear from the following: If his hearing daughter was married to his deaf-mute brother, her co-wife is free from ḥalîṣah and levirate³³.

footnotes: ³² Since at least one party is deaf-mute, none of the marriages described in the Mishnah is of biblical validity (it is assumed throughout these Mishnaiot that the deaf-mute woman was not married to her hearing husband by her father during her minority.) It therefore is not self-evident that the exemptions of Mishnah 1:1 apply in these cases. ³³ If the marriage was valid, then the co-wife of the daughter is free according to the House of Hillel (Mishnah 1–4). If the marriage was invalid, then there is no place for levirate. In the latter case, the co-wife is forbidden to the hearing brother by rabbinic decree.

MISHNAH: Two hearing brothers married to two sisters, one deaf-mute and one hearing. If the hearing [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to a hearing wife do? [The widow] has to leave as the wife’s sister. If the hearing [brother] married to the hearing wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife do? He removes his wife by a bill of divorce and his brother’s widow by ḥalîṣah³⁵.

footnotes: ³⁵ Here again, the claim of the biblically married widow is stronger than that of the rabbinically married wife; but since he had rabbinically married the sister, the widow is rabbinically forbidden to him.

HALAKHAH: “Two hearing brothers,” etc. What about her co-wife³⁶? Let us hear from the following: If his deaf-mute daughter was married to his hearing brother, her co-wife performs ḥalîṣah but not levirate³⁷.

footnotes: ³⁶ This refers to a co-wife of the deaf-mute sister married to a hearing brother. ³⁷ She cannot be freed automatically since her co-wife’s marriage was not valid by biblical standards.

MISHNAH: Two brothers, one deaf-mute and one hearing, married to two sisters, one deaf-mute and one hearing. If the deaf-mute [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to a hearing wife do? [The widow] has to leave as the wife’s sister. If the hearing [brother] married to the hearing wife died, what shall the deaf-mute [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife do? He removes his wife by a bill of divorce; his brother’s wife is permanently forbidden³⁴..

footnotes: ³⁴ The widow was married by biblical standards. She now is a candidate for levirate with the deaf- mute brother by biblical standards. Her biblical claim to the levir is stronger than the rabbinic claim of her deaf-mute sister. Therefore, from the moment of the hearing brother’s death, the deaf-mute sister is forbidden to her husband as sister of a quasi-wife. The widow herself cannot be helped. She cannot be married in levirate since her levir is incapable of marrying by biblical standards. She cannot be freed to marry another man since her levir is incapable of performing ḥalîṣah

HALAKHAH: “Two deaf-mute brothers,” etc. What about her co-wife³⁸? Let us hear from the following: If his deaf-mute daughter was married to his deaf-mute brother, her co-wife is free from ḥalîṣah and levirate.

footnotes: ³⁸ The co-wife of the deaf-mute wife of the deaf-mute brother. She has no claim on the hearing brother married to a hearing wife.

MISHNAH: Two brothers, one deaf-mute and one hearing, married to two unrelated hearing women. If the deaf-mute [brother] married to a hearing wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to a hearing wife do? He performs either ḥalîṣah or levirate. If the hearing [brother] married to a hearing wife died, what shall the deaf-mute [brother] married to a hearing wife do? He marries [the widow] and never can divorce her³⁹.

footnotes: ³⁹ His levirate is valid by biblical standards but his divorce would only be rabbinical.

HALAKHAH: “Two brothers, one deaf-mute,” etc. May she eat heave? Let us her from the following⁴⁰: “A hearing daughter of an Israel who married a deaf-mute Cohen does not eat heave. If he died and she came before the levir, if he is hearing, she eats, deaf-mute does not eat.”

footnotes: ⁴⁰ Chapter 6, Halakhah 1, Notes 31–32.

MISHNAH: Two hearing brothers, married to two unrelated women, one deaf-mute and one hearing. If the hearing [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to a hearing wife do? He marries [the widow]⁴¹. He may later divorce her since in that she is passive., and if he wants to divorce, he divorces. If the hearing [brother] married to the hearing wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife do? He performs either ḥalîṣah or levirate. Two brothers, one deaf-mute and one hearing, married to two unrelated women, one deaf-mute and one hearing. If the deaf-mute [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife died, what shall the hearing [brother] married to the hearing wife do? He marries, and if he wants to divorce, he divorces⁴¹. He may later divorce her since in that she is passive.. If the hearing [brother] married to the hearing wife died, what shall the deaf-mute [brother] married to the deaf-mute wife do? He marries and can never divorce³⁹.

footnotes: ⁴¹ Since the widow is unable to perform ḥalîṣah ⁴¹ Since the widow is unable to perform ḥalîṣah ³⁹ His levirate is valid by biblical standards but his divorce would only be rabbinical.

HALAKHAH: “Two hearing brothers,” etc. “Two brothers, one of them deaf-mute,” etc. May she eat heave? ⁴² Let us hear from the following: “A hearing daughter of an Israel who became engaged to a hearing Cohen, who did not manage to bring her to the bridal chamber before he became deaf-mute or before she became deaf-mute, does not eat heave. If he died and she came before a levir she eats even if he is deaf-mute. In this He increased the power of the levir over that of the husband since the deaf-mute levir enables her to eat, but the deaf-mute husband does not enable her to eat.”

footnotes: ⁴² Chapter 6, Halakhah 1, Notes 34–35.