תלמוד על נדה 3:3

MISHNAH: “This is your bill of divorce if I should die, this is your bill of divorce if I should die from this illness, this is your bill of divorce after my death,” he did not say anything⁴⁵Nobody can be divorced after his death. The next sentence makes it clear that a bill of divorce would be valid if given on condition to become activated one hour before the husband’s death. But from that moment he can no longer live with his wife without invalidating the divorce.. “From today if I should die, from now if I should die,” that is a bill of divorce. “From today after my death” is no bill of divorce⁴⁶The husband’s intent cannot be determined from this language. Does he want to say that the divorce shall be valid from the moment the bill was handed to his wife if he should die (either from the illness he is currently suffering from, or on a trip overseas he is just starting, or any other foreseeable dangerous situation which causes him to write the bill), or does he really mean that the divorce should become effective only at the time of his death? In the first case, the wife becomes a divorcee after his death, in the second case she becomes a widow.
In some Bablylonian sources, the wording is “it is and is not a bill of divorce.”; if he dies⁴⁷If he dies childless and has a brother, the wife cannot enter levirate marriage since she might be a divorcee; she cannot marry outside the family without ḥalîṣah since she might be a widow; cf. Introduction to Tractate Yebamot. she must receive ḥalîṣah but is barred from levirate marriage.

And who permitted it? Rebbi permitted it and his court³⁷⁵Babli36a.. At three places is Rebbi Jehudah the Prince called “our teachers,” in divorce documents³⁷⁶Giṭtin7:3, Notes 49–64. The essence of the controversy is whether a divorce document subject to a certain condition is only valid after the condition has been satisfied or is valid immediately but not actionable unless the condition be satisfied. The simplest example is that of a sick childless man who wants to shield his wife from levirate marriage (or prevent her from marrying his brother) by writing a bill of divorce valid if he should die from his disease. If he stipulates that divorce be “from today if I shall die”, the divorce is unquestionably valid. If he omits “from today” then for Rebbi it is valid, for the rabbis it is invalid since a dead person cannot divorce., oil, and a sole³⁷⁷Niddah3:4, Notes 93–98. The “sole” is the result of a miscarriage where no features are recognizable in the aborted fetus. For the rabbis, the woman is subject to all disabilities of a woman who gave birth to a male and a female (Lev. 12:1–8), for Rebbi and his court only if human features were recognizable.. They called him “the court which permitted oil.³⁷⁸In the other two sources: Should he not be called “a permissive court” (a pejorative term) since …“” Any court which permits three [previously forbidden] things is called “permissive court.” Rebbi Yudan said, his court disagreed with him about the bills of divorce. ³⁷⁹These two sentences really do not belong here; they are copied from the text in Giṭtin(Note 54) which thereby is shown to be the source of the preceding sentences, and refer to Mishnah Giṭtin7:10 about a man who gave his wife a bill of divorce valid if he should not return within 12 months, and notice was received of his death. Does she have to wait the full 12 months or not? May she be allowed to remarry? Rebbi Ḥaggai said, she is allowed to remarry. Rebbi Yose said, she is forbidden to remarry.