About this episode
Different types of marriages that have/do not have validity on a rabbinic level are compared to each other. Why is marriage with a deaf-mute considered marriage while one with a minor male is not? Why can one do mi'un from a marriage when the woman is a minor but not if she is deaf? Why can a minor eat truma if she is married to a kohen while a deaf-mute cannot? Why does a woman get a ketuba when she is a minor but not if she is a deaf-mute? Why does the wife of a deaf-mute male not get a ketuba? Two opposite versions are brought of a statement of Shmuel about whether the wife of a deaf-mute could be made to bring a guilt offering of uncertainty (if for example, she has relations with another man). If she is obligated to bring, that would show that we are uncertain if the marriage has validity on a Torah level or not. If she is not obligated, that would show that the marriage is clearly not valid on a Torah level. The Gemara attempts to either provide support or raise a difficulty with Shmuel from a Mishna in Terumot 1:1 where the truma of a deaf-mute is not considered truma at all. However, this is rejected as Rabbi Elazar disagrees and Shmuel's statement could be in accordance with that opinion. Rav Ashi raises two possibilities of how to understand how Rabbi Eliezer understands the doubt of Rabbi Eliezer regarding the deaf-mute and why his truma will be considered truma l'chumra ? If one's wife became a shota , one who is not of sound mind, he can divorce her, but the rabbis forbade it so as not to allow others to take advantage of her. The Gemara establishes what type of level of shota this refers to. Rabbi Yochanan ben Nuri asked why there is a difference between a deaf-mute man and woman in the case where they were competent when they married and later one became a deaf-mute - why can he not divorce his wife but she can get divorced? Which part was clear to him and which part was not? Rabbi Yochanan ben Gudgoda testified about a marriage of a deaf-mute minor whose father enacted betrothal for her and she was able to get divorced by Torah law. Rava infers from his statement that if a man were to trick his wife when giving her a get, leading her to believe he was giving her some other document, and she accepted the get without realizing what it was, it is valid if he told witnesses as he was about to give it to her that they should witness that he is divorcing his wife with this get .