Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

Odysseus questions the blind seer Tiresias

Gittin 23: אֶלָּא בִּטְבִיעוּת עֵינָא דְּקָלָא

jyungar June 8, 2023

For the source text click/tap here: Gittin 23

To download, click/tap here: PDF

Anyone is fit to serve as an agent to bring a bill of divorce to a woman except for a deaf-mute, an imbecile, or a minor, or a blind person, or a gentile.

The exceptions are again those people who categorically do not have awareness. In all areas of halakhah, someone who does not have “awareness” cannot act as someone else’s agent. A blind person can also not deliver a get, even though blind people were not considered to lack “awareness”.

But why is a blind person disqualified from serving as an agent? Rav Sheishes answers: It is because he does not know from whom he is taking the get, or to whom he is giving the get. Rav Yosef asks: How, if so, will a blind person be permitted to have marital relations with his wife? And how is an ordinary person permitted to have marital relations with his wife at night (when due to the fact that he cannot see her, he might be cohabiting with a different woman)?

Rather, Rav Yosef concludes, it is permitted because he recognizes her voice. So too, here, the blind person should be qualified to serve as an agent, for he can recognize their voices (the husband and the wife)!?

We explore the notion of voice recognition and dive into the mythology of the blind prophets of yore.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​