Today’s daf Tb Baba Batra 162 is an extremely short daf. Starting on the previous daf, we learn three halakhot about an ordinary document, a get pashut- גֵּט פָּשׁוּט.
Back in grade school we learned pencils have erasers
because all human beings make mistakes. Concerning erasures Rabbi
Yoḥanan taught:
“A document that includes a
suspended correction (above the line and we usually use an upside down V to
direct our eyes to the correction-gg)of text inserted between lines of the
document, which is verified at the end of the document, is valid;
but a document with a reference to words written over an erasure is not
valid, even if it is verified at the end of the document. At the end of a
document, before the formula: Everything is confirmed and established, is
written, any corrections made in the document are verified by adding to the
text: On line so-and-so, such and such a word has been added, or some similar
formulation. This may be done only for inserted corrections, not for erasures.
“The
Gemara clarifies this statement: And they said that an erasure on a
document renders the document not valid only if it is in a place
on the document where the declaration: Everything is confirmed and
established, should have been written, and only if the erasure is
the measure of space in which the declaration: Everything is confirmed
and established, can be written. The only concern with erasures is that the
crucial formula: Everything is confirmed and established, might have been
erased, as this would allow for unlimited forgery. If the erasure is such that
this formula could not possibly have been erased, the document is valid.”
(TB Baba Batra dappim 160b-161a, Sefaria.org
translation)
The first halakha: “Rav Yitzḥak bar Yosef says
that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: There are two halakhot with regard to
documents: For any erasures in a document, the scribe must write
at the end of the document: And this is their verification. That is, he
must list the erasures, stating that on line so-and-so there is an erasure and
a correction stating such and such, for each erasure
The second halakha: “And the second halakha
is that the scribe must review some of the details of the document in
the final line of the document. What is the reason for this second
requirement? Rav
Amram says: It is because one may not learn any new details from
the final line of a document. There is a concern that the holder of the
document may have written in an extra line of text to his advantage, between
the text and the witnesses’ signatures. Therefore, any new information
contained in the last line is disregarded. Since the final line is disregarded,
it is necessary that the final line of a document contain only a review of what
is already written in it.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Rashbam
explains since the witnesses cannot write their signature so close to the end
of the document, the scribes leave a space between the document and their signatures.
In that space a person could forge and add something on that one line.
Consequently the sages ordained that the last line reviews what is in the
document without adding anything new. If somebody tries to forge and add
something to the document afterwards, the party involved doesn’t lose anything
for we don’t learn anything from the last line of any document. Also the new
last line of the document won’t contain the very important last phrase of any
document “שָׁרִיר וְקַיָּים- Everything is confirmed
and established.”
The third halakha: There may be no more than a
space and a half between the end of the document and the witnesses’ signatures for
the document to be kosher.
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