Gittin can be written with all things: with ink, with paint, with sikra [a red dye], with gum resin, with vitriol, and with all (other) things whose impression remains. They are not written with juices or with fruit-liquid, or with any (other) thing whose impression does not remain. Gittin are written on all things: on a [torn-off] olive leaf, on the horn of a cow (and he gives her the cow) [for he cannot cut the horn off after he writes it, it being written (Deuteronomy 24:1): "And he shall write her a scroll of divorce, and he shall place it in her hand" — that which lacks only writing and giving; to exclude that which lacks writing, cutting and giving]; on the hand of a bondsman, and he gives her the bondsman. R. Yossi Haglili says: Gittin are not written on things which have a spirit of life, and not on foods. [For the Torah called a get "sefer" (a scroll). Just as a scroll is characterized by not having a spirit of life and not being edible, so, all that does not have a spirit of life and is not edible. And the rabbis say: if it were written: "in a sefer," it would be as you say. But now that it is written "sefer," sefirath devarim ("relating details" of the get) is the intent. The halachah is in accordance with the sages.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
בדיו – “Almidar” in Arabic
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Introduction
The first section of this mishnah discusses what can be used to write a get. The second section deals with what gittin may be written on.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
סיקרא – Red color
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
They write [a get] with any material, with ink, with arsenic, with red chalk, with gum or with sulfate of copper or with anything which is lasting. It may not be written with liquids or with fruit juice or with anything that is not lasting. The writing materials in the first part of this section are lasting and those in the second part are not lasting. The get should not be written with something that can easily be erased. We should note that since parchment and paper were scarce and expensive in the ancient world, people often reused paper, scratching off the previous layer and starting afresh.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
קומוס – resin/sap of the tree
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
They write [a get] on anything: on an olive leaf, on the horn of an ox and he must give her the ox, or on the hand of a slave--and he must give her the slave. Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: they do not write [a get] on anything living or on food. The get need not be written only on a scroll, as seems to be prescribed in the Deuteronomy 24:1. Rather it can be written on nearly any material. The one condition is that there must be no step between the writing of the get and its being given to the woman. This is the reason that if the get is written on the horn of an ox, he must give her the ox, or if on the hand of the slave, he must give her the slave. He cannot cut the ox’s horn off and give it to her, for that would be an added step. This halakhah is derived from the verse “And he writes her a bill of divorcement and puts it in her hand” (Deuteronomy 24:1). The writing must lead directly to the giving. Rabbi Yose the Galilean says it may not be written on anything that is still alive (like the horn of an ox or the hand of a slave) or is food. The Torah says it should be written on a scroll. While Rabbi Yose the Galilean does not require it to be written on a scroll, he says that it must be somewhat similar to a scroll, which is neither alive nor serves as food.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
קנקנתום – Vidriolov in foreign tongue
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
על העלה של זית – detached
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
ונותן לה את הפרה – as he is not able to cut it after it is written, as it is written (Deuteronomy 24:3); “[then this latter man rejects her,] writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her [and sends her away from his house;…” which is not requiring other than writing and giving [the Jewish bill of divorce], excluding the situation which is requiring the writing [of the Jewish bill of divorce], cutting it [from where it was written] and giving it [to the woman].
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
רבי יוסי הגלילי אומר וכו' – Since the All-Merciful (i.e., the Torah) refers to a Jewish bill of a divorce as a ספר/bill [of divorcement] (Deuteronomy 25:1, 3); just as a bill (book) is unique and has no life-spirit in it and does not eat, so too everything which has no life-spirit in it and does not eat. And the Rabbis state that if he wrote it [the Jewish bill of divorce] in a document as you stated, here where it the word "ספר"/bill – it comes [to refer not to the writing material but merely to] the act of writing the words (formula of divorce (see Gittin 21b). And the Halakha is according to the Sages.
