If a minor said: "Receive my get for me," it is not a get until it reaches her hand. Therefore, if the husband wishes to rescind it, he may do so; for a minor cannot appoint a messenger. But if her father told him: "Go and receive my daughter's get," if he (the husband) wished to take it back, he may not do so. If one said: "Give a get to my wife in this and this place," and he gave it to her in a different place, it is void, [the husband being particular (about the place), not wishing to be gossiped about (in other places)]. (If he said:) "She is in this and this place," [in which instance, he simply points out where she can be found], and he gave it to her in a different place, it is valid. If a woman said: "Receive my get in this and this place," and he received it in a different place, it is void. R. Eliezer rules it to be valid, [holding that with the husband, who divorces her of his will, there is insistence (upon a particular place); but with the woman, who is divorced perforce, there is (only) the pointing out of a place. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Eliezer.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
במקום אחר פסול – for the husband is strict that it is not his desire that they should cast suspicion upon him there.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Introduction
The first part of this mishnah deals with a minor girl’s legal ability to receive a get and to be divorced. The second section deals with instructions that a wife or husband might give to an agent who is to bring or receive the get and the implications that those instructions can have on the validity of the get.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
הרי היא במקום פלומי – he [i.e., the husband] is doing nothing more than showing him the place, for there she can be found.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
If a young girl says, “Receive my get for me”, it is not a get until the get reaches her hand. Therefore, if [the husband] wishes to retract, he may retract, since a minor cannot appoint an agent. But if her father said to him, “Go and receive a get for my daughter”, the husband may not retract. A minor may be divorced since divorce does not require her consent, consent which she would statutorily lack. However, she cannot appoint an agent since minors do not have such legal authority. Hence, even if she says “Receive my get for me”, the agent is not authorized to receive it on her behalf. She is not divorced until the get reaches her hand. In such a case the husband is able to retract until she receives the get. In contrast, the father has the ability to appoint an agent to act on his daughter’s behalf, as long as she is still a minor and was never fully married. This mishnah refers to a case where she was only betrothed (see yesterday’s mishnah). If the father appoints an agent to receive the get on behalf of his daughter, she is divorced from the moment the agent receives the get. If she had been fully married, the father may no longer receive her get or appoint an agent to do so.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
רבי אליעזר מכשיר – for he holds that he [i.e., the husband] is divorcing [her] of his own free will, there is an intimation that you care for a thing to be exactly as you want it, for she is divorced against her will, and she is merely showing him the place. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
If a man says, “Give this get to my wife in such-and-such a place” and he gives it to her in another place, [the get is] invalid. [If he says,] “She is in such-and-such a place”, and he gives it to her in another place, [it is] valid. In the following two sections, a husband or a wife appoints an agent and gives the agent instructions as to where to deliver/receive the get. If the husband tells the agent to give his wife the get in a certain place, she is not divorced if the agent gives the get to her in another place. In such a case we can assume that the husband wanted the get delivered specifically in that place. However, if the husband merely tells the agent where to find his wife, the husband does not necessarily care if she is really somewhere else. He was only helping the agent locate her. Therefore the get is valid no matter where the gives it to her.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
If a woman says, “Receive my get in such-and-such a place” and he receives it for her in another place, [it is] invalid. Rabbi Elazar says it valid. [If she says,] “Bring me my get from such-and-such a place” and he brings it from somewhere else, [it is] valid. The same is true if the woman tells her agent to receive the get in a certain place. The get is not valid unless he receives it in that place. However, in this case Rabbi Elazar disagrees. He holds that since the woman can be divorced without her consent, even when she said, “Receive it for me in such-and-such a place” she only meant to tell the agent where her husband was. If she appoints an agent to bring her a get and not to receive it on her behalf, she doesn’t care where he gets the document. Even if she tells him to bring it from a certain place and he brings it from somewhere else, she is divorced.