One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
גֵּרוּשִׁין
Divorce 2
Sefer Nashim · Why the husband's instruction cannot travel through one extra pair of hands, which phrases accomplish nothing at all, and how a man beaten until he consents is held to have divorced willingly
2
Men in one city sharing a name whose wives share a name, neither of whom may divorce except in the other's presence
5
Phrases that accomplish nothing, so a get written on them is void, among them do as the law requires and do unto her as she deserves
100
Gittin they may write one after another, where the husband charged them with the divorce itself, until she holds one that is valid
3
Questions with differing answers put to a husband who has lost his speech, to establish that his mind is sound before a get is written
Part 1The instruction has to be his own
- Two verbs, read twice. He shall write covers a husband writing the get himself or telling another to write it, and he shall place covers handing it over himself or sending an agent, while he shall write also teaches that divorce happens only through a document and he shall place teaches that she may not take it herself. (2:1)
- Agency is fine, relay is not. Two colleagues told to write, sign and deliver may serve as both agents and witnesses, but the husband himself must tell the scribe to write and the witnesses to sign, so where a court he instructed passes the charge on to a scribe the get is void, even if it is handed to the husband and he gives it to her before witnesses, and where he instructs them to tell a scribe it is unacceptable and close to void. (2:2, 2:5, 2:6)
- Void and unacceptable are not the same. Void means void by Scriptural law and unacceptable means disqualified by Rabbinic decree; a get may be written for a husband without his wife present so long as scribe and witnesses know both identities, and in a time of danger it may be written even without knowing them, with the scribe's fee always paid by the woman. (2:3, 2:4, 2:7)
- How far a mandate reaches. Where he charged them with the divorce itself and the get proves void or unacceptable they write another, or a hundred, until she holds a valid one, but where he charged them only to write and hand it to an agent, that mandate is spent on delivery to the agent, they may not write again without consulting him, and a second get given anyway leaves the divorce in doubt. (2:8, 2:9)
RememberThe words can arrive intact while the man does not arrive with them, and the law can tell the difference.
Part 2Which words work, and how far they reach
- Language that effects a divorce. Write a get and give it to her, divorce her, send her away, release her, discharge her, or write a letter and give it to her, said to two or more, produce an acceptable get. (2:10)
- Language that produces nothing. Dismiss her, give her what she needs, do as our faith requires, do as the law requires, and do unto her as she deserves are of no consequence, and a get written on them is void, because none of them contains a decision. (2:10)
- Language the law will not resolve. Get her out, let her go, permit her, let her be and assist her may or may not mean divorce, so no get should be written on them, and one written anyway leaves her status in doubt. (2:11)
- The situation reads the scope. A healthy man who asks only that a get be written has asked for a document and it is given to him, not to her, but the same words from a man suddenly and severely ill, led away in chains even over money, boarding a ship or leaving with a caravan are written and given straight to her, since his intent is clear. (2:12)
RememberDo as the law requires is the most responsible sounding sentence in the chapter, and it is void. A formula that hands off the decision never carried one.
Part 3A settled mind, and the will underneath the refusal
- The act after the words interprets them. A man who orders a get written and then throws himself from a roof or into the sea has given a valid get, while one blown from a roof by the wind has not, since he was only a healthy man asking for a document, and where it is unclear the get stands unless the wind is established; a man calling from a pit is obeyed, valid even if he cannot be identified afterwards, and a man whose throat is mostly severed is obeyed because he is alive at this time. (2:13)
- Thoughts not organized and settled. Words spoken as an evil spirit takes hold, or by a man as drunk as Lot, are of no consequence, and lesser drunkenness leaves the matter in doubt. (2:14)
- A sound instruction waits out the illness. Where a healthy man instructs and then becomes mentally disturbed, they wait until he recovers and write it without asking him again, and a get written during the illness is unacceptable. (2:15)
- Meeting a man at his own level. One who has lost speech but is of sound mind nods and is then tested with three questions of differing answers, or writes the instruction by hand; a man who married while hearing and speaking and then became a deaf-mute cannot divorce until he recovers and his gestures are not relied on, while a deaf-mute who married by gesture may divorce by gesture; a father receives the get of his consecrated minor daughter, a na'arah by her own hand or his, and an orphaned minor only once she can tell a get from another object. (2:16, 2:17, 2:18, 2:19)
- Beaten until he consents. Where the law requires a man to divorce and he refuses, the court has him beaten until he agrees and the get is valid, in every time and place, because compulsion means being forced to do what the Torah does not obligate; he wants to keep the mitzvot and only his inclination presses him, so weakening that pressure lets his own will speak, while a get compelled where the law did not require it is unacceptable from a Jewish court and void from gentiles. (2:20)
RememberNineteen rulings insist the word be the man's own, and the twentieth defines his own as what he wants underneath what he says.