For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 107
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Our daf begins Perek XIII with a new Mishna. We learn about a debate between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai regarding the right of refusal of a minor girl who has been betrothed through her mother or brothers to an adult male. Beit Hillel argues that she should be allowed to refuse that marriage whether she is
· betrothed or fully married
· in the presence of her husband or in his absence
· refusing her husband or her yavam
· without witnesses or the presence of a court
· refusing many times as a minor
§ It is taught in the mishna: Beit Shammai say: The refusal must take place specifically in the presence of the husband, but Beit Hillel say: Either in his presence or in his absence. It is taught in a baraita: Beit Hillel said to Beit Shammai: But didn’t the wife of Pishon the camel driver refuse him in his absence? Beit Shammai said to Beit Hillel: Pishon the camel driver measured using a defective standard, as he did not properly take care of the property she brought into the marriage, and therefore the Sages measured him with a defective standard [midda kefusha]. The marriage in that case was annulled by the Sages and the refusal was not treated as a standard refusal.
We explore the attitude to camel driving in the talmud as well as this curious fellow Pishon the camel driver, and the fake scholarship of his identity as possibly the writer of the NT!