For the source text click/tap here: Kiddushin 58
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The third Perek of Kiddushin begins with the following scenario:
A person who sends an agent out to betroth a woman on his behalf and then the agent betroths the woman to himself. The second section deals with a man who betroths a woman but sets the betrothal date to occur in thirty days. The question is, if someone else betroths her within those thirty days, is she betrothed to the first man or to the second?
The Gemara relates: Ravin the Pious was appointed an agent and went to betroth a woman to his son, but in the end he betrothed her to himself. The Gemara raises a difficulty: But isn’t it taught in the aforementioned baraita: What he did is done, but he has treated him in a deceitful manner? שֶׁנָּהַג בּוֹ מִנְהַג רַמָּאוּת How could a pious individual act in this fashion?
We explore the limits of halachic deceit שֶׁנָּהַג בּוֹ מִנְהַג רַמָּאוּת and the conflict between the letter and spirit of the law with Prof Daniel Statman’s analysis.