Friday, August 17, 2007

Yevamos 107b - Marriage with Her Consent

The Mishna says that the only type of marriage that she need to do mi'un for is: Her mother or brother married her off (nesuah), willingly. What does l'da'atah - willingly, mean? Nemukei Yosef seems to be bothered by this, since we normally assume that a child does not have da'as and therefore therefore their "will" is never able to be determined. The nemukei yosef quotes the yerushalmi that willingly would be to get her dressed for the wedding and tell her that she will be moving in with a man, but not willingly would be to trick her by dressing her for a wedding and not telling her it is for her own wedding. Alternatively, he says that willingly means she must be at least 11 years old, where she presumably has some da'as since it is o'nas nedarim.
Another diyuk in the mishnah, found in the Ramban, is that if her mother and brother simply accepted money for kiddushin from someone, that would not require mi'un. Only if they give her over to nissuin, would there be a need for a formal mi'un.

1 comment:

Yossie Schonkopf said...

i thought maybe what's bothering the rishonim is that the chidush of mother/brothers is even without her full consent, for if she has regular full consent we call that he marrying herself off, which is also a possibility but a different din. therefor they find a middle level of her agreeing to what she is told.