Here we'll talk about four different testimonies that Rabbi Yochanan ben Gudgada gave. The Mishnah says: The first testimony this rabbi gave is about a deaf-mute girl whose father married her off. A girl who is deaf-mute wouldn't have the ability to marry herself off because she doesn't have the da'at. She doesn't have the ability intellectually to make that decision. She's mentally incompetent. But when she's a ketana or a na'ara, a minor or a young teenager, her father has the right to marry her off, even if she's deaf-mute. Her father can do that. So we're saying here that if they want to end the marriage, she could accept a get (divorce document). Even though a deaf-mute girl, as we said, is not mentally all there, we would think her acceptance of a get is invalid. But what we say here is that, since a woman can be divorced even without her consent, mental competence is not required, and she can get divorced.
Number two. If there was a young orphaned girl who was the daughter of Yisrael (an Israelite), her father was a non-Kohen (non-priest), and her father died, her brother or her mother married her off. That marriage is a rabbinic marriage because she's only able to get married on a de'oraita (Biblical law) level if her father is marrying her off. But her mother or her brother married her off to a Kohen (priest). We say she's allowed to eat Terumah (priestly portion) because, bottom line, she's the wife of a Kohen. Even though she's only the wife of a Kohen on a derabbanan (rabbinic law) level, she's still allowed to eat Terumah. The Terumah she's allowed to eat would also have to be derabbanan Terumah. We would think the Hachamim (the Sages) would be strict with her and not even allow her to eat derabbanan Terumah, because they're nervous that she's eventually going to eat de'oraita Terumah. But we say no. We allow her to still have the derabbanan Terumah. And then, if she dies, her husband inherits from her. Even though they're not married on a Biblical level, Hachamim would decree that her husband still inherits from her.
The third thing that Rabbi Yochanan ben Gudgada testified about is a person who stole a beam. He took that beam, which was worth a certain amount, and built it into a building. Eventually, the thief wants to return it. He wants to make Teshuvah (repentance). We say that he doesn't actually have to take that beam and hand it back to the rightful owner, even though generally a person does have to return the stolen item. Here, returning the stolen item would cause him a major financial loss. The whole building would come down. Hachamim say he doesn't have to return the beam; he just has to give back its monetary value. That's considered enough because of the loss he's going to face. We want to incentivize him to do Teshuvah and to repent, so we're not going to make him face that major loss.
The fourth thing he testified about was a korban chatat (sin offering). In other words, somebody stole an animal and then it was sanctified as a korban chatat. The fact that it was stolen wasn't known to anybody. It wasn't known publicly. We say that it brings atonement. It's considered a valid offering, and it brings atonement for the Avera (transgression). The thief would not have to bring a second animal in its place. Why? Hachamim did this for the benefit of the Mizbeach (altar). Even though technically a stolen korban (offering) would be invalid, Hachamim were nervous that if the thief realized he had done something wrong by bringing a stolen korban, he would bring a second korban in its place. Then the Kohanim would think, “Why are you coming back? Oh, it must have been that your original korban was invalid.” They would realize that they had done something wrong. They would be so anxious about it, so off kilter because of it, that they would stop bringing korbanot (offerings), because they would continuously fear that all the korbanot were stolen. So Hachamim said, “We're not going to make this thief bring a new korban chatat because we want to make sure that we have tikkun ha-Mizbeach, that we want to make sure that the Kohanim are not going to neglect the korbanot, that they're not going to get nervous, and that they'll continue to do their holy work.”