Ketubot 55b (נה:) — the Talmud in English

b.

And with regard to the terumat ma'aser of demai

which is explicitly discussed in the Mishna in Demai [chapter 4, Mishna 1].

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

And

if

Rav,

who disagrees with Rav Natan,

does not follow an assessment of intent—is this indeed the basis of the disagreement between Rav and Rabbi Natan!?

This is in fact the basis of their disagreement.

a. The Sages instituted that a gift of a shikhiv mera does not require an act of acquisition, lest his mind become unsettled; therefore, they said that his words are considered as though written and delivered.

b. Although a healthy person cannot transfer to another the loan that he lent, a gift of a shikhiv mera acquires even a loan.

c. A gift of a shikhiv mera takes effect only after death.

d. If a shikhiv mera recovers from his illness, he thereby retracts his gift.

And it was stated: With regard to a gift of a shikhiv mera

which does not require either a document or an act of acquisition, and in which it is written, “When he was ill and lying in his bed,” and all the other expressions used by a shikhiv mera—

in which an act of acquisition is written,

meaning, it is written in the document that a kinyan sudar was performed in order to transfer it to the recipient of the gift—the amoraim disagreed:

In the academy of Rav, they said in Rav’s name

the giver

in Rav’s academy they would say in Rav’s name: He mounted it

the donor

on two steeds

And Shmuel said: I do not know how to rule in this matter

he placed the gift upon two mounts; that is, he endowed it with two powers, as the Gemara proceeds to explain. And Shmuel said: I do not know how to adjudicate it

I do not know how to rule with regard to it!

The Gemara explains:

In the academy of Rav, they said in Rav’s name: He mounted it on two steeds:

It is like a gift from a healthy person, and it is also

also

like a gift of a shikhiv mera!

It is like a gift from a healthy person:

with regard to

the fact that if he recovers, he cannot retract it,

and it is not like a gift of a shikhiv mera, from which he can retract if he recovers from his illness.

And

it is like a gift of a shikhiv mera: If he said, “My loan

that I lent to another is hereby given

to so-and-so”

is acquired

by so-and-so,

because it is a gift of a shikhiv mera. But by virtue of the act of acquisition, he cannot acquire it for him, since a kinyan sudar is not effective for transferring a loan to another.

And Shmuel said: I do not know how to adjudicate it:

For

perhaps he did not complete the transfer to him

through the gift of a shikhiv mera, which does not require an act of acquisition or a document,

but only through a document

and an act of acquisition that is how he completed the transfer to him; and he completed the transfer to him only after death, as with any gift of a shikhiv mera. But

a document

and an act of acquisition do not effect acquisition

after death,

and therefore it is possible that he acquires nothing at all.

Thus, even Rav follows an assessment of intent: He understood that the donor intended to place the gift upon two powers, and although he did not explicitly state that this was his intention, Rav transfers the money.