What constitutes a valid signature? While most people sign documents with their full name, there are others who, due to illiteracy or disability, sign with a mark such as an X or a thumb print. According to the US National Notary Association, “under the law in every state, a signature can be any mark or symbol which the signer intends to serve as her or his symbol to authenticate the document.”
Similarly, the Talmud considers signatures that are symbols or letters valid. Today’s daf includes a passage with details that we have seen already twice before (Gittin 36a and Gittin 87b), which asserts that even some of the sages (who were of course literate) used symbols and letters rather than signatures.
It is known that Rav used to draw a fish as his signature mark, and Rabbi Hanina used to draw a palm branch, and Rav Hisda used to sign just the letter samech, and Rav Hoshaya used to sign just the letter ayin, and Rava bar Rav Huna used to sign his name by drawing a ship’s mast.
We know that these halakhic luminaries were literate, so why would they sign with doodles of fish and palm fronds? The Talmud doesn’t say, but later commentators speculate. Rashbam posits that Rav liked to eat fish and Rabbi Hanina enjoyed eating dates, and that’s why they signed with drawings of those specific items. The Maharshal explains that what Rashbam really meant is that these two rabbis employed symbols alluding to special mitzvot they kept in honor of Shabbat: Rav liked to serve a very large fish, and Rabbi Hanina went out of his way to obtain beautiful dates for his Shabbat table. Rav Ya’akov Emden, commenting on the parallel passage in Gittin 36a, suggests that Rav employed a fish because, as we learned on Bava Batra 118b, fish represent a good omen. Rabbi Hanina, he says, utilized a date palm to symbolize the verse in Psalm 92:13: tzadik ka’tamar yifrach — “the righteous will bloom like a date palm.” These signatures were not a sign of illiteracy, but the opposite: Deep engagement with the tradition.
What of Rav Hisda’s use of a Hebrew letter samech, or Rav Hoshaya’s employment of the letter ayin? Rav Emden posits that the samech symbolizes the word someach, or reliance, meaning one could rely on his signature. Meanwhile, the letter ayin, which literally means eye, symbolizes Rav Hoshaya’s commitment to seeing clearly, or investigating the validity of that which he was signing.
And what meaning can we attribute to Rava bar Rav Huna’s choice of a ship’s mast? That one remains a mystery.
These explanations are all lovely, but they still don’t answer the question of why these rabbis would use pictographs rather than traditional signatures. Perhaps the answer can be found back in the parallel text on Gittin 36a, where we read:
The sages are different, as everyone is well versed in their pictorial marks.
Perhaps like the artist formerly known as Prince, who changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, the sages’ marks were instantly recognizable, obviating the need for them to employ anything as mundane as a traditional signature.
Read all of Bava Batra 161 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on December 3, 2024. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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