Yerushalmi Yevamot 2:11 ירושלמי יבמות ב׳:י״א

MISHNAH: If somebody brings a bill of divorce from overseas and says “it was written and signed in my presence”, he shall not marry the wife¹⁸⁰A bill of divorce brought from another country is valid only if the person who delivers the document can testify to the circumstances in which it was executed (Mishnah Giṭṭin 1:1). If the witness would marry the divorcee, his testimony would be suspect because of his interest in the validity of the divorce.. “He died¹⁸¹If the husband died far from home and somebody testifies to his death to free the widow for another marriage, he cannot marry her because of conflict of interests. The same holds for the other cases.”, “I killed him”, or “we killed him”, he shall not marry the wife. Rebbi Jehudah said, “I killed him”, the wife cannot be married¹⁸²The killer cannot testify since he declares himself to be wicked and persons officially declared wicked cannot be witnesses (Ex. 23:1). Therefore, there is no evidence of the death and the wife cannot claim to be a widow., “we killed him”, the wife can be married¹⁸³The witness only says that he was with a group containing a killer, not that he himself is a killer. His testimony is valid; cf. Mishnah 15:4..

HALAKHAH: ¹⁸⁵This paragraph is a copy of the parallel in Qiddušin 3:7 on the Mishnah quoted later, “I betrothed one of my daughters but I do not remember to whom I betrothed her. If someone comes and says, I gave her qiddushin, he is trustworthy.”“If somebody brings a bill of divorce from overseas and says”, etc. About what is he trustworthy? Samuel says, he is trusted to give a bill of divorce¹⁸⁶But without further evidence he is not allowed to marry the girl since he is testifying in his own behalf. In the Babli, Qiddušin 63b, this is the opinion of Rav; Samuel is not mentioned there.. Assi said, he is trusted to marry¹⁸⁷Without evidence to the contrary, we do not accuse him of attempted adultery.. Rav Huna said in the name of Rav: He is trusted to marry. Rebbi Joḥanan said, he is trusted to marry but one does not infer from this ruling anything for another case. What means, one does not infer from this ruling anything for another case? I sold one of my fields but I do not remember to whom I sold it. If someone comes and says, I bought it, he is not trusted in any way. In qiddushin, the same holds. “¹⁸⁸Mishnah Qiddušin 3:7. I betrothed one of my daughters but I do not remember to whom I betrothed her. If someone comes and says, I gave her qiddushin,” he is not trusted in any way¹⁸⁹To marry her; this is the point made by Samuel. The text in Qiddušin reads לא הכל ממנו “is not everything from him?”; the father’s evidence is nothing and everything depends on the word of the suitor. This seems to be the correct version even though the two mss. agree in Yebamot.. The Mishnah disagrees with Rav: “If somebody brings a bill of divorce from overseas and says, it was written and signed in my presence, he shall not marry the wife¹⁹⁰The person on whose word the woman becomes free to marry may not marry her; why should a person whose word frees the girl from being unable to marry anybody in the world be allowed to marry her?.” There, she is considered by everybody to be a married woman. Here, she is considered to be a married woman only by two persons¹⁹¹The two witnesses without whom any qiddushin are invalid. If they come and testify, there will be no doubt; the testimony of the suitor is verifiable. In the case of the divorce, everybody knows that the woman is married and the testimony is unverifiable.. One waits until these two come and say, this is the man who gave her qiddushin. The Mishnah disagrees with Rebbi Joḥanan¹⁹²In Qiddušin: Samuel. This is the correct version even though the two mss. agree in Yebamot. If one of the two suitors is permitted to marry the girl, the rest of the world is excluded and both are trustworthy even for marriage.: “¹⁸⁸Mishnah Qiddušin 3:7. This one says, I gave her qiddushin, and that one says, I gave her qiddushin. Both of them give a bill of divorce, but if they agree, one gives a bill of divorce and the other one marries.¹⁹³End of Mishnah Qiddušin 3:7, about the father who btrothed his daughter to an unknown suitor.” He explains this, if [the father] says, I did betroth her to one of these two but I do not remember which one it was. Rebbi Ze‘ira, Rebbi Yasa, in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan: If one of them jumped the gun and married her, one does remove her from him. That is, if this one says, I gave her qiddushin, and that one says. I gave her qiddushin¹⁹⁴They both came at the same time, or at least the existence of both of them was known when one of them married the girl. and one of them jumped the gun and married her. But if he said, I gave her qiddushin and married her, and another one comes¹⁹⁵He comes later; his identity was not known at the time of marriage. and says, I gave her qiddushin, he is not trusted in any way. It was stated thus: If after the marriage another man comes and says, I gave her qiddushin, he is not trusted in any way.

¹⁹⁶In both mss. the reference to the Mishnah is missing, that R. Jehudah bars the one who says, I killed the husband, from marrying the widow. It is explained here that such testimony is always invalid. As you take it, if he killed him, a suspect in a case can neither judge nor testify in it. If he did not kill him, the person is alive.

“We killed him,” she should be married to others but not to him¹⁹⁷Even though R. Jehudah says only that the woman can remarry; he will agree that she cannot marry the person upon whose testimony she becomes a widow.. ¹⁹⁸Tosephta 4:5; a somewhat different version in Babli, 25b. The Babli insists that the robber explicitly dissociated himself from the killers. This is not the position of the Yerushalmi; a possibility that he was not the killer is enough, given all the leniencies admitted in testimonies concerning women whose husbands had disappeared.“They said before Rebbi Jehudah, it happened that a robber was caught in Kappadokian Caesarea¹⁹⁹Today Kaisarie.. When he went out to be executed, he said to them, go and tell the wife of Simeon ben Cahana that I killed him when he was coming into Lydda. The case came before the Sages and they confirmed his words. Rebbi Jehudah said to them: Is that a proof? He only said, we killed him.”