תּלמוד אויף תהילים 144:8

Rebbi Aḥa¹³⁰Later in the paragraph he is quoted as R. Jacob bar Aḥa. The latter attribution is correct since R. Jacob bar Aḥa was one of the teachers of R. Ze‘ira quoted later, while R. Aḥa lived after R. Ze‘ira. said, the acts of a Gentile court are public knowledge¹³¹If a document of indebtedness is not valid as a court document, it will be valid as being witnessed in public.. Then even if both [witnesses] are Samaritan? Did one not say that they are not conversant with the fine points in writing bills of divorce¹²⁸There could be women divorced according to Samaritan rules who would not be considered divorced by rabbinic rules and, therefore, their children in a second marriage would be bastards not eligible for marriage with Jews.? But Rebbi Simeon validates their bills of divorce! Rebbi Abba in the name of Rebbi Ze‘ira: It turns out that Rebbi Simeon agrees with Rebbi Eleazar. Just as Rebbi Eleazar said, even if no witnesses signed on it, it is valid¹³²Mishnah 9:4. R. Eleazar (the Tanna, ben Shamua‘) holds that the essence of divorce is the delivery of the bill of divorce to the wife (Deut. 24:1). Therefore, he requires that the delivery be certified by two witnesses in good standing. They have to verify that the document contains the language which makes it a bill of divorce from the specified husband to the specified wife and that it was delivered into the hands of the wife either by the husband or by his duly appointed agent. Any signatures on the document are irrelevant. By contrast, R. Meïr holds that a bill of divorce not certified by two witnesses is invalid., so Rebbi Simeon said, even if no witnesses signed on it, it is valid. But then even if it was made by private persons¹³³Why does R. Simeon in the Mishnah invalidate bills of divorce signed by Gentiles not in a court of law?? This shows that it was necessary that Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa said, the acts of a Gentile court are public knowledge. A bond¹³⁴A document of indebtedness, containing a mortgage clause. was executed in Bet Shean¹³⁵A Gentile city in Mishnaic times., whose witnesses were Gentiles. Rebbi Yose says, Rebbi Joḥanan and Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish¹³⁶ריש לקיש is the Babylonian version of ר׳ שמעון בן לקיש. disagree, one said it is invalid, the other said it is valid. Rebbi Abbahu explained: Rebbi Joḥanan said it is invalid, Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said it is valid. What is Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish’s reason? That a Jew should not lose money¹³⁷That the creditor should be able to enforce the terms of the loan in a rabbinic court.. But if that one would not lose money, the other would lose money¹³⁸Any gain of the lender is a loss for the borrower if both parties to the bond were Jewish.! Rebbi Yudan said, it must be in order not to close the door before people, for tomorrow one would look to borrow but does not succeed¹³⁹If mortgages could not be foreclosed, nobody would lend money and all economic activity would come to a standstill. Therefore, R. Joḥanan’s opinion cannot be considered even though he can point to Ps. 144:8,11 invalidating Gentile witnesses..

MISHNAH: It is sufficient even if somebody heard women say, the man X died⁹²A woman can be permitted to remarry on the basis of hearsay testimony based on statements overheard from people who themselves would not be accepted as witnesses.. Rebbi Jehudah said, even if he heard children say, we go to lament and bury X, whether intentional or unintentional. Rebbi Jehudah ben Baba said, if he is a Jew, only if he intends [to testify]⁹³Only if he knows the consequences of his testimony and is presumed to be as accurate as possible.; but if a Gentile intends to testify, it is no testimony⁹⁴He is suspected of ulterior motives; Ps. 144:8,11..

We have stated: Only that one should not bow down too much²⁶³After the digression about the text of the private prayer during modim, the discussion now returns to the statement that one has to bow twice at the beginning and the end of the Amidah.. Rebbi Jeremiah said: On condition that one should not behave like that large lizard²⁶⁴Arabic חַרְד̇וֹן, חִרְד̇וֹן “large lizard”. Tosafot Berakhot 12b in the Venice print quote this Yerushalmi as הירוגא and declares it to be the Yerushalmi translation of צָב (Lev. 11:29). In the Wilna Talmud Babli, the word was changed to הרדונא following our text. In the Targum Yerushalmi (Pseudo-Jonathan), the translation of צב is חַדְרוֹנָא. It seems that the Targum Yerushalmi takes Hebrew צב as parallel to Arabic צַ֗בּ “lizard” (of all sizes), not as “turtle” as in late Biblical and modern Hebrew.
Rebbi Jeremiah means that, while one should not bow down too much, on the other hand one should not behave like a lizard which keeps its body quiet and moves only the head when it is catching flies. He requires that one should bow down enough so that all bones of one’s spine are moved in God’s praise., but (Ps. 35:10) “All my bones should say, o Eternal, who is like You?” The word of Ḥanan bar Abba²⁶⁵Ḥanan bar Abba appears in the Babli as Rav Ḥanan bar Rava, son-in-law of Rav and father-in-law of Rav Ḥisda. He disagrees with those who bow down at modim and remain bowed to the end of their private supplication, even though he formulates his statement in terms of the first benediction of Shemone Esreh which starts and ends with “Praised are You, Hashem”, but his statement is applicable to all other situations, that one never should be bowed when mentioning the Name. disagrees since Ḥanan bar Abba said to the colleagues: I shall tell you one of the good things that I saw Rav do and, when I told it before Samuel, he got up and kissed me on my mouth. At “praised are You”, he bows down. When he comes to mention Hashem, he straightens up. Samuel said: I shall give the reason (Ps. 35:10): “The Eternal straightens the bent ones.” Rebbi Ammi²⁶⁶Since Rebbi Ammi and Rebbi Abun the first (Ravin) were contemporaries, R. Abun here is the first, not his posthumous son of the same name. Rebbi Ammi also is the contemporary of R. Ḥiyya bar Abba mentioned in the next section and, as successor of R. Yoḥanan as head of the Yeshivah of Tiberias, he is the higher authority. said: It is not reasonable, but (Mal. 2:5): “Before My Name he is low.”²⁶⁷The verse in Maleachi refers to Levi, son of Jacob, or Aharon, the High Priest. Most commentators of Psalms, including Rashi, derive נחת from the root חתת “to tremble” but the Amoraïm take it as derived from (Aramaic) נחת “to descend”. Rebbi Abun said: If it were written “at My Name he is low” then you would be right, but it is written “before My Name he is low”, before he mentions Hashem he is low.