PEH769

Someone sent a messenger to a neighboring town to sell fruits for him. He explicitly gave him permission to eat along the way and also to give some to the poor. The messenger set off in the company of two friends. Along the way, they encountered a woman who asked the messenger for some fruits. He asked her, "If I give them to you, will you then marry me with them?" She answered yes, and he gave her fruits worth more than a prutah. When he met the woman again, he wanted to treat her as his wife. However, the woman claimed that she had only seen the incident as a joke. The messenger died before the dispute was resolved. David ben Abraham Franco Mendes rules that a marriage was not contracted. In his deliberations, he emphasizes that he does not grant the messenger the authority to use the fruits for the mentioned purpose. He strongly relies on the responses of Rabbi Moses ben Joseph di Trani (Nos. 14 and 291).

10

38

1791-06-04

1792-01-25

Acohen d'Azevedo, David