The Talmud is a famously pluralistic text. Though its subject is law, it doesn’t lay down the law; rather, it records a variety of traditions and interpretations about what the law is supposed to be. When different tannaim, the rabbis of the Mishna, have different understandings of the law, all the versions are recorded, since each is taken to represent a sacred tradition. Usually, the Gemara will decide to follow just one tanna—indeed, deciding which authority is most authoritative is one of the Talmud’s regular preoccupations. But the rival interpretations do not always exclude one another, and it regularly happens that legal disputes are raised but not resolved. That is one reason why Jewish law is a living organism, inspiring generation after generation of codes and commentaries.
In practice, however, it’s easy to imagine that this open-ended legal system could present some problems. If two sages followed different legal traditions, rival litigants could easily engage in “sage-shopping,” finding the one who would be most sympathetic to their claim. And if rabbis of equal sanctity made opposite rulings in a case, whose view would prevail? Exactly this problem came up in this week’s Daf Yomi reading, in Ketubot 94b. Chapter 10 of Ketubot deals with complex issues of inheritance and debt, one of which is how to cope with rival deeds to the same property that were issued on the same date. Say that Yaakov owns a house, and he signs a deed giving it to Reuven, but later the same day he signs another deed giving it to Shimon. Who gets the house?
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