Rebbe Rebukes His Son Over Yehudah Chayata

The Gemara (Bava Basra 164b) relates that Rebbe was examining a sh’tar mekushar—a “bound” legal document. This particular type of document is difficult to draft properly. It was instituted for use by kohanim to ensure that they could not divorce their wives quickly in the heat of an argument. A kohen is not permitted to remarry his divorced wife, so this situation was of particular concern to the Sages.

The top of a sh’tar mekushar looks like a Chinese fan with the folds sewn together. Rebbe was inspecting one such document and failed to find the date. His son Rebbe Shimon said that perhaps the date was on the crease of the fold and would become visible when the knots were loosened. The date was indeed there. Rebbe then looked at his son disapprovingly. Apparently he was upset that his son had written the document in such a manner, not being careful that the date should be plainly visible. Whereupon Rebbe Shimon exclaimed, “I didn’t write it; R’ Yehudah Chayata wrote it.” Rebbe retorted, “Desist from this lashon ha’ra.” (Rebbe Shimon could have deflected blame from himself without identifying exactly who wrote the document.)