- What is considered קטטה?
The Mishnah on Daf 114b stated: קטטה בינו לבינה ושלום בעולם...אינה נאמנת – If there was conflict between him and her and peace in the world, the wife is not believed to say her husband died when they were overseas. The Gemara here asks, היכי דמי קטטה בינו לבינה – what is considered conflict between him and her? Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmuel, באומרת לבעלה גרשיני – When it comes to a point at which she says to her husband, “Divorce me!” When the Gemara objects and says that all women say this when they are angry, it revises Shmuel’s statement באומרת לבעלה גרישתני – when she says to her husband, “You have divorced me.” This means that the fighting had become so intense that she attempted to free herself from him by falsely claiming they were divorced. When the Gemara challenges this based on what Rav Hamnuna taught that a woman who said her husband divorced her is believed, because it is a חזקה אין אשה מעיזה פניה בפני בעלה – it is a chazakah that a woman would not be so brazen to say before husband falsely that he divorced her, it once again revises what Shmuel said to be when she says, “You have divorced me in the presence of Ploni and Ploni,” and when the witnesses are asked, they say it never happened.
- Rebbe Yehudah holds that a woman is not believed unless she displays signs of mourning
In the Mishnah Rebbe Yehudah said regarding a woman testifying that her husband died overseas: לעולם אינה נאמנת אלא אם כן באתה בוכה ובגדיה קרועין – She is never believed unless she comes weeping with her clothing torn. The Chochomim responded: אחת זו ואחת זו תנשא – Whether one woman displays signs of mourning and another one does not, they are both believed, and are permitted to marry. The Gemara cites an incident with a woman who came to Rebbe Yehudah’s Beis Din to testify that her husband had died. Some Rabbis there at the Beis Din told her to show signs of mourning by crying over her husband, tearing her clothing and disheveling her hair. When the Gemara asks, אלפוה שיקרא – did they teach her to lie, it then answers that these Rabbanon held like the Chochomim that she is believed without showing signs of mourning. But they knew Rebbe Yehudah would not permit her to marry unless she showed such signs. Therefore, they said, “Let her do so, so that Rebbe Yehudah will permit her to marry.” The Meiri derives from here the principle that if one knows that a superior court permits a certain matter, but there is a lower court that has a dissenting opinion, it is permitted to advise the relevant party on how to meet the requirements under which the lower court will also grant a permit.
- Beis Hillel originally ruled that a wife must testify in the place her husband died
The next Mishnah states the Beis Hillel said regarding believing a woman who testifies about her husband’s death: לא שמענו אלא בבאה מן הקציר ובאותה מדינה – We have not heard this tradition except in a case where she comes from the grain harvest and in the same country, וכמעשה שהיה – as were the circumstances in the case which is the basis of this ruling. The Gemara explains that before Beis Hillel retracted this ruling, their rationale was that a woman would be afraid to lie in a place where the incident occurred because her testimony could be contradicted by others. Beis Shammai’s reply would be she would still be afraid to lie even where she testifies that he died in a different country, because caravans bringing people from that country are common.