Study Gittin folio 3A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
due to the possibility of desertion, i.e., that she may become like a deserted wife, the rabbis were lenient with her by saying that the agent who brought the bill of divorce is deemed credible, despite the fact that he is a single witness. This is to prevent women from becoming uncertain of their
The Talmud asks: Is this ruling a leniency? It is a stringency, since if you require two witnesses to testify with regard to the bill of divorce, her husband cannot come to contest and invalidate it, as his testimony will not be accepted against that of the two witnesses. However, if only one agent
The Talmud answers: Since the Master says: In the presence of how many people must the agent who brings the bill of divorce give it to the woman? R' Yoḥanan and R' Ḥanina disagreed with regard to this issue. One said that he must deliver it to her in the presence of at least two people, and one said
The Talmud asks: And according to the opinion of Rava, who said that the agent must say: It was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence, because there are no witnesses available to ratify it, let us require two witnesses, just as is the practice with regard to the typical case of rat
Again the Talmud asks: One can say that we say that one witness is deemed credible with regard to prohibitions in a case such as where there is a piece of fat, and it is uncertain if it is forbidden fat and uncertain if it is permitted fat. In this situation, the piece can be permitted by a single