Gittin 11 continues a discussion that commenced on Gittin 10b, regarding the efficacy of legal documents that were produced in secular courts. As part of the discussion, the gemara makes reference to a question posed by Rava as to whether a document prepared by a Persian layman which was both written in Persian and signed off by Persians can be effective if it was delivered to the creditor in front of two proper witnesses. One of the challenges raised to the use of the document was whether the document was able to be tampered with. Rashi relates that during the time of the gemara, the parchment used for documents was pretreated with gall nut extract so that if anyone attempted to erase words and change the document, the erasure would show up against the brown colored document.
Tosafos (d'h B'daftzan) asks how we can prepare documents now (about 1100 CE) when the paper used for their documents was not prepared with gall nut extract. Tosafos also asks how holy scrolls such as Torahs, Tefillin and Metzuzos are prepared without the addition of the extract. Tosafos answers on a practical basis, noting that the limestone extract added to their paper also prevents fraudulent tampering. Additionally, Tosafos bring a gemara from Menachos 31b in which it is explicitly learned that a Torah can be written with or without the gall nut extract.
Tosafos (d'h B'daftzan) asks how we can prepare documents now (about 1100 CE) when the paper used for their documents was not prepared with gall nut extract. Tosafos also asks how holy scrolls such as Torahs, Tefillin and Metzuzos are prepared without the addition of the extract. Tosafos answers on a practical basis, noting that the limestone extract added to their paper also prevents fraudulent tampering. Additionally, Tosafos bring a gemara from Menachos 31b in which it is explicitly learned that a Torah can be written with or without the gall nut extract.
The gemara then asks, but perhaps the Persian document fails for another reason as the document does not have a concluding line that sums up the document. Rashi (d'h Mayinyano) makes reference to the gemara in Bava Basra 161b that requires the use of the phrase "V'kanina" at the end of the get pashut. I recall that when my Rebbi reviewed the kesuba that was used at our wedding, he was careful to extend the kuf of the V'kanina that appears in the end of the kesuba. I wonder whether this was for the same purpose.
On the bottom of 11a (spilling over to the top of 11b) Reish Lakish asks R' Yochanan about the efficacy of a get that had come from Israel with signatures from people whose names appeared to be gentile. The question reminded me of a thought said by R' Noach Weinberg of Aish HaTorah (he should have a refuah shleima) as related to be by my father. R' Weinberg said that if a student comes to him and tells him that he wants to learn at Aish, but he has a last name that is commonly Jewish, R' Weinberg will inquire as to whether his mother is Jewish. However, if the individual has a last name that is clearly not Jewish in origin, it means that the person is probably Jewish (since in all likelihood his belief that he is Jewish comes from the fact that his mother is Jewish).
Previously on Gittin 11a, the Gemara made reference to confusion that could be caused if a document came from outside of Israel and the names of the witnesses were unclear as to whether they were Jewish or not. One other thought that I was reminded of was a conversation that Sarah and I had with the curator of the Jewish museum in Bridgetown, Barbados. As frequent readers of kosherbeers.blogspot.com may know, in January of this year, we were fortunate to win a trip to Barbados, courtesy of the Max Kellerman show and ESPN Radio. On the Friday morning of our trip, we ventured into the capital (Bridgetown) to visit the Synagogue (built originally in the 1630's, it is the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere). What we learned when we got to Bridgetown was that the Barbadian Government had opened a Jewish Museum two weeks before in a building adjacent to the Jewish cemetery which stood in the same compound as the synagogue. When we completed the tour we spoke with the curator and I asked whether he was Jewish. He replied that he wasn't Jewish, before saying that "there used to be a time when you could tell who was Jewish [in Barbados] based on the last names like D'Souza." I found this odd, since D'Souza is not what I would consider a typical Jewish name. (When I returned to the US, I did some research and found that D'Souza was a historically significant Jewish family in Barbados).
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