Yerushalmi Gittin 8:3 ירושלמי גיטין ח׳:ג׳

MISHNAH: The same applies for preliminary marriages³⁷Cf. Mishnah Yebamot 3:9, Note 120. and for [liquidation of] debts. If he³⁸The creditor (who is explicitly mentioned in most Mishnah and Babli mss.) said to him, throw to me³⁹In the public domain. what you owe me and he threw it close to the lender⁴⁰The borrower threw it in the public domain close to the lender. The borrower is free even if the creditor is unable to pick up the money., the borrower is acquitted, close to the borrower, the borrower remains obligated, in the middle both of them must share it⁴¹If the money is lost, the borrower and the creditor each have to cover half the loss.. If she was standing on top of her roof and he threw it to her⁴²The flat roof has the same standing as a courtyard; delivery to the roof is legal delivery (Mishnah 1)., as soon as it reached the roof’s airspace⁴³Even if the wife never could pick it up since, as explained in the next sentence, it might have landed in a puddle and become illegible or landed in a fire and be destroyed. she is divorced. If he was on top and she below⁴⁴In her own domain., once it left the domain of the roof she is divorced even if it was blotted out or burned.

HALAKHAH: “The same applies for preliminary marriages”, etc. ⁴⁶The following is from Peah 4:2, Notes 30–58. (Variant readings פ). Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish in the name of Abba Cohen Bar Dalaia: A person acquires a find within four cubits of himself. What is the reason? (1Chr. 22:14) “Look, in my poverty I prepared for the House of the Eternal 100’000 kikkar of gold, 1’000’000 kikkar of silver, bronze and iron unweighed because it was so much; I prepared wood and stones, and you should add to them.”

Rebbi Jonah said that Rebbi Hoshaiah asked: What are we talking about? If this was within four cubits from him, he was rich. If it was outside of four cubits, may anybody dedicate anything that is not his? We confirmed it if he dedicated it piece by piece.

Rebbi Abun said, what means “in my poverty?” That there is no wealth before Him Who commanded and the world came into existence! Another explanation: בְּעוֹנְיִי “in my deprivation,” because he fasted and donated the price of his meal to Heaven.

Rebbi Jacob bar Idi objected before Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish. Did we not state: (Mishnah Baba Meẓi‘a 1:4) “If somebody saw a find and fell on it, when another person came and grabbed it, he who grabbed it had the rights to it?” He answered him: Explain it if the first one did not say that his four cubits should acquire it for him. But did we not state: “If he fell on it or spread his talith on it, one removes him from it?” He said to him, that is the same, if he did not say that his four cubits should acquire it for him. But did not Rebbi Ḥiyya state: (Tosephta Peah 2:2) “If two were pushing one another because of a sheaf and another person came and grabbed it from before them, the one who grabbed is entitled to it. He said to him, it is the same, they did not say that our four cubits should acquire it for us.

Rebbi Yasa said in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: That refers to divorce documents, but it does not apply to a gift. Rebbi Joḥanan adds something, Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish adds something. Rebbi Joḥanan adds something. Since a find which cannot be acquired by the knowledge of another person can be acquired within four cubits, should this rule not apply a fortiori to a gift that is acquired by the knowledge of another person? Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish adds something. Since a gift which could only be acquired within four cubits by the knowledge of another person, should this not a fortiori apply to a find?

Rebbi Zeïra objected before Rebbi Yasa: But did we not state: The same applies to marriage? He answered him, divorce documents and marriage contracts have the same rules. But did we not state: The same applies to debt? He said to him, because if he said to him: Throw it into the sea and your debt will be forgiven, it would be forgiven. But if that is true, even if it fell down close to the debtor, the debtor should have the benefit! But we have stated, if it falls down close to the debtor, the debtor is still obligated. For he said to him, throw it so that it will enter my domain, but it did not yet enter his domain. Rebbi Abbahu said, all those objections that Rebbi Zeïra raised before Rebbi Yasa, Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish raised before Rebbi Joḥanan. Did he accept them from him? He solved them with those same solutions.

Rebbi Abin in the name of Ḥizqiah: The second scribe earns money⁴⁷Even though the Mishnah stated that the woman is divorced if the bill reached the airspace of her property, the practice explained in Note 33 forces the parties to have a second document written since otherwise the woman could not remarry and, consequently, the husband could not escape his obligation to support her. {The corrector added a word: נשכר הלבלר שיני שנו “they taught that the second scribe earns money”. The attempts of the classical commentators to replace שיני by שנו are most unconvincing.}.

Rebbi Eleazar said, the Mishnah speaks of a roof with a parapet when it descended lower than the parapet⁴⁸The Mishnah in which the bill of divorce is considered as delivered if it arrived at the wife’s roof must consider a roof shielded from the wind by a parapet (which by biblical standard must be at least 10 handbreadths high; Deut. 22:8)., or one without a parapet when it descended lower than within three handbreadths of the roof, since anything within three handbreadths of the roof is as if it were part of the roof⁴⁹Any opening which is less than 3 handbreadths wide can be disregarded. [In the terminology of the Babli, this is called לְבוּד “glued (to the wall or the ground)”, Šabbat 97a, Erubin 16b.] This explanation is also quoted in Erubin 10 (26b 1. 39).. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa, Rebbi Abba bar Hamnuna in the name of Rav Ada bar Aḥawa: This refers to the rules of the Sabbath, where anything within three handbreadths of a partition is considered part of the partition⁵⁰It is forbidden on the Sabbath to move anything from a private (enclosed) domain to the public domain. The corresponding rules have nothing to do with property rights.. Rebbi Yasa said, they are not comparable, for bills of divorce are about the top, the rules of the Sabbath about the below⁵¹The bill of divorce is delivered as soon as it enters the roof space defined by the parapet from the top; the rules of “gluing” a hanging wall to the ground refer to the three handbreadths closest to the ground.. For bills of divorce even if it never came to rest⁵²As the Mishnah explains, even if the bill was burned in a fire on the top, the delivery is valid., for the Sabbath only if it rested⁵³In the rules of the Sabbath, moving an object has three stages: Lifting the object from a state of rest, transporting it from one domain to another, and depositing it (Mishnah Šabbat 1:1). If any of the three stages is missing, the biblical law was not violated. Therefore, if a document was moved from one domain to another (as from the husband’s courtyard to the wife’s roof) and burned while still flying, it was delivered as a bill of divorce but not moved by the laws of the Sabbath. (Cf. Kilaim 1:9, Note 188).. Rebbi Immi in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: Only if it descended to within the partitions⁵⁴This refers to the last sentence in the Mishnah. If the husband throws the bill from his roof to her courtyard, it is possible to say that the bill was delivered the moment it cleared the roof only if the walls of the wife’s courtyard are higher than the husband’s roof. Otherwise it would be delivered only if the bill fell below the level of the courtyard walls. (The same argument is quoted in Samuel’s name in the Babli, 79a.). Rebbi Immi asked before Rebbi Joḥanan: Does the Mishnah follow Rebbi, since Rebbi considers partitions as solidly filled up⁵⁵Rebbi considers it a violation of the Sabbath if the object was brought within the walls of the domain for which it was intended; he does not require it actually to come to rest (Šabbat 1:1 2c 1. 63, 11:1 12c 1. 59; Babli 4a, 5a, Giṭṭin 79a).? He said to him, here in the matter of bills of divorce it is everybody’s opinion⁵⁶The Babli agrees, 79a, that the delivery of bills of divorce is governed by the rules of property rights, not those of the Sabbath.. Could one not object that Rebbi said, if it is roofed? And you say, it is not roofed?⁵⁷This refers to Mishnah and Halakhah Šabbat 11:1: “If somebody throws an object from a private domain to the public domain or from the public domain to a private domain, he is guilty. From a private to a private domain across the public domain, R. Aqiba declares him guilty but the Sages declare him not prosecutable.” It is then explained that throwing from the public to a private domain is prosecutable only if the object came to rest. On that it is noted that Rebbi does not require it to come to rest (only to be received within the walls), but R. Abba bar Huna in the name of Rav said that “Rebbi did only find him guilty if the private domain was roofed.” It is noted there that R. Joḥanan objected to the latter statement, which explains that no answer is given to the question raised. What is the difference between bills of divorce and the Sabbath? Rebbi Abba said, about the Sabbath it is written: “You shall not do any work;” it may make itself automatically⁵⁸As long as it was not intended that the object should come to rest by the force of the thrower (but it was moved along by some mechanical contraption not directly controlled by the thrower), no violation of the Sabbath occured. But for delivery of a bill of divorce, it is the fact of delivery rather than its mode which counts.. But here “he shall deliver into her hand,” into her domain.