(If he said:) "If I do not come from now until twelve months, write and give a get to my wife" — if they wrote it within twelve months and gave it after twelve months, it is not a get. (If he said:) "Write and give a get to my wife if I do not come from now until twelve months" — if they wrote it within twelve months and gave it after twelve months, it is not a get. R. Yossi says: In this instance, it is a get. (If he said:) "Write it after twelve months and give it after twelve months," and he died — if the (writing of the) get preceded his death, it is a get; and if his death preceded the (writing of the) get, it is not a get. And if it is not known (which preceded which), of such an instance they said: "She is divorced and not divorced."
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Introduction
In the last mishnah of the chapter, the mishnah discusses a husband who conditioned his get upon his return within twelve months, but unlike yesterday’s mishnah, he told agents to write and deliver the get rather than giving it directly to his wife.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
[If a husband says,] “If I do not come back within twelve months, write a get and give it to my wife”, and they wrote a get before twelve months had passed and gave it to her after, it is not a get. In this scenario, the husband stipulated that his agents should not even write the get until twelve months had passed. Even though we could have interpreted his words to mean only that they should give the get after twelve months, the rabbis were quite strict in the interpretation of the language of gittin and in instructions given to deliver a get. Therefore, the get is invalid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
[If he said,] “Write a get and give it to my wife if I do not come back within twelve months”, and they wrote it before the twelve months had passed and gave it after, it is no get. Rabbi Yose says: like this is a get. In this case, the husband was not as clear as to when he wanted the get written. He said “Write a get…” before he said “If I do not come back within twelve months.” Hence, there is room to debate the validity of the get. The first opinion is that the get is invalid, for his intention may have been the same as it was in the previous section. However, here R. Yose disputes and says that in this case, the get is valid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
If they wrote it after twelve months and delivered it after twelve months and he died, if the delivery of the get preceded his death the get is valid, but if his death preceded the delivery of the get it is not valid. If it is not known which was first, this is the woman about whom they said, “[She is] divorced and not divorced.” If the husband’s agents faithfully fulfilled his instructions and wrote and delivered the get, then the only question left is whether or not the husband died before or after twelve months. If it is doubtful, then this woman is doubtfully divorced. In other words, she might be a widow but she also might be a divorcee. Therefore, should she be in a situation which would require yibbum (her husband left no children and had a brother) she could only do halitzah (yibbum would be prohibited lest she is a divorcee, and her brother-in-law be prohibited to her as her husband’s brother). On the other hand, without halitzah she could not remarry, lest she is a widow and obligated for yibbum.
