Bava Batra 176b (קעו:) — the Talmud in English

And it disagrees with Rav Naḥman, for Rav Naḥman said:

Specifically

a court-appointed guarantor,

who became a guarantor before a court,

is not required to perform a formal act of acquisition,

since, through the benefit he received from the court’s trusting him to rely upon him for this debt, he resolved in his heart to obligate himself as a guarantor.

In other cases, however,

with regard to other guarantees, which are not made before a court and in which there is not such a strong resolve,

a formal act of acquisition is required—

he must perform a formal act of acquisition in order to obligate himself as a guarantor.

And the halakha is: With regard to a guarantor

who undertook to serve as guarantor for a loan

at the time the money was given

as a loan to the borrower—

a formal act of acquisition is not required,

and even if he wrote his guarantee in the document after the witnesses had signed it, this is a fully valid guarantee, and the debt may be collected from this guarantor even from liened property.

But if he undertook to serve as guarantor

after the money had been given

as a loan to the borrower—

a formal act of acquisition is required

in order for him to obligate himself as a guarantor. Since the loan money was given beforehand, this indicates that the lender did not lend the money on the basis of the guarantor’s trustworthiness, and the guarantor does not become obligated at all without a formal act of acquisition, even if he had signed within the document. And if he signed after the witnesses had signed, he must perform a formal act of acquisition concerning the guarantee, and then the debt can be collected from unencumbered property.

A court-appointed guarantor,

who became a guarantor before a court,

is not required to perform a formal act of acquisition,

since

through the benefit of the court’s trusting him

to rely upon him for this debt,

he resolved

in his heart

and obligated himself to him

obligating himself as a guarantor.

We shall return to you, chapter “The Simple Bill of Divorce,” and the tractate Bava Batra is complete.