Gittin 8

הַזּוֹרֵק גֵּט לְאִשְׁתּוֹ וְהִיא בְתוֹךְ בֵּיתָהּ אוֹ בְתוֹךְ חֲצֵרָהּ, הֲרֵי זוֹ מְגֹרֶשֶׁת. זְרָקוֹ לָהּ בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ אוֹ בְתוֹךְ חֲצֵרוֹ, אֲפִלּוּ הוּא עִמָּהּ בַּמִּטָּה, אֵינָהּ מְגֹרֶשֶׁת. לְתוֹךְ חֵיקָהּ אוֹ לְתוֹךְ קַלְתָּהּ, הֲרֵי זוֹ מְגֹרָשֶׁת:

If one throws a get to his wife, and she is in her house or in her courtyard, she is divorced, [it being written (Deuteronomy 24:1): "And he shall place it (the get) in her hand." Since it is not written: "And in her hand shall he place it," the implication is: "And he shall place" — anywhere, whether in her courtyard, in her garden, or in her enclosure. This, on condition that she be standing by her house or by her courtyard.] If he threw it to her in his house or in his courtyard — even if it (the get) were with her in the bed, she is not divorced. (If he threw it) into her lap or into her sewing box, she is divorced, [even if she were in his house. For the space of her lap and of her sewing box acquires (objects) for her. For a man (her husband) begrudges her (for purposes of acquisition) neither the space of her lap nor of her sewing box.]

אָמַר לָהּ, כִּנְסִי שְׁטָר חוֹב זֶה, אוֹ שֶׁמְּצָאָתוֹ מֵאֲחוֹרָיו, קוֹרְאָה וַהֲרֵי הוּא גִטָּהּ, אֵינוֹ גֵט, עַד שֶׁיֹּאמַר לָהּ, הֵא גִטֵּךְ. נָתַן בְּיָדָהּ וְהִיא יְשֵׁנָה, נֵעוֹרָה, קוֹרְאָה וַהֲרֵי הוּא גִטָּהּ, אֵינוֹ גֵט, עַד שֶׁיֹּאמַר לָהּ הֵא זֶה גִטֵּךְ. הָיְתָה עוֹמֶדֶת בִּרְשׁוּת הָרַבִּים וּזְרָקוֹ לָהּ, קָרוֹב לָהּ, מְגֹרֶשֶׁת. קָרוֹב לוֹ, אֵינָהּ מְגֹרֶשֶׁת. מֶחֱצָה עַל מֶחֱצָה, מְגֹרֶשֶׁת וְאֵינָהּ מְגֹרָשֶׁת:

If he said to her: "Gather in this bill of debt," or if she found it behind him, [If the get were on his back, and he arched his back to her so that she should take it] — if she read it and it were her get, it is not a get until he says to her: "This is your get." [If he tells her "Take your get," however, it is a get. But if the get were on the ground, or on his back, or on his body, and he did not arch his back or project his body towards her so that she should take it, even if he said to her: "Take your get," it is not a get.] If he placed it in her hand while she were sleeping, and when she awoke, she read it and found it to be her get, it is not a get, until he says to her: "This is your get." If she were standing in the public domain and he threw it to her — if it were near her, she is divorced; if it were near him, she is not divorced; if it were "half and half," she is divorced and not divorced. [Whatever she can guard and he cannot guard is called "near her." Whatever she cannot guard and he can guard is called "near him." If both can guard it, or if both cannot guard it, this is called "half and half." As for the halachah, she is not divorced until the get enters her hand or her domain.]

וְכֵן לְעִנְיַן קִדּוּשִׁין. וְכֵן לְעִנְיַן הַחוֹב. אָמַר לוֹ בַּעַל חוֹבוֹ, זְרֹק לִי חוֹבִי, וּזְרָקוֹ לוֹ, קָרוֹב לַמַּלְוֶה, זָכָה הַלֹּוֶה. קָרוֹב לַלֹּוֶה, הַלֹּוֶה חַיָּב. מֶחֱצָה עַל מֶחֱצָה, שְׁנֵיהֶם יַחֲלֹקוּ. הָיְתָה עוֹמֶדֶת עַל רֹאשׁ הַגַּג וּזְרָקוֹ לָהּ, כֵּיוָן שֶׁהִגִּיעַ לַאֲוִיר הַגַּג, הֲרֵי זוֹ מְגֹרֶשֶׁת. הוּא מִלְמַעְלָה וְהִיא מִלְּמַטָּה וּזְרָקוֹ לָהּ, כֵּיוָן שֶׁיָּצָא מֵרְשׁוּת הַגַּג, נִמְחַק אוֹ נִשְׂרַף, הֲרֵי זוֹ מְגֹרָשֶׁת:

The same applies to betrothal, and the same applies to a debt. If one's creditor said to him: "Throw me my debt (i.e., what you owe me), and he threw it to him — (if it landed) near the creditor, the debtor is acquitted (of his debt); near the debtor, the debtor is (i.e., remains) liable; "half and half," they divide. [The gemara explains the instance to be one where he says: "Throw me my debt within (the framework of) the law of gittin" so that the debt has the status of a get. If the debtor threw it near the creditor, and it were lost, the debtor is acquitted and he need not pay; if near the debtor, the debtor is liable, etc. But if he said to him: "Throw my debt to me and be acquitted of it," once he throws it to him, in any circumstance, he is exempt. If she were standing on top of a roof and he threw it to her, once it reaches the "atmosphere" of the roof [less than three tefachim (handbreadths) from its surface, that space being regarded as part of the roof], she is divorced. If he were above, and she below, once it left the domain of the roof [i.e., once it left the domain of the roof (on which he were standing) and entered the domain in which she were standing], (even) if it were erased or burned, she is divorced. [This, where the throwing of the get into the courtyard preceded the outbreak of the fire in the courtyard. For if the latter preceded, then ab initio the get is "going to the fire," and she is not divorced.]

בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, פּוֹטֵר אָדָם אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ בְגֵט יָשָׁן. וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹסְרִין. וְאֵיזֶהוּ גֵט יָשָׁן, כֹּל שֶׁנִּתְיַחֵד עִמָּהּ אַחַר שֶׁכְּתָבוֹ לָהּ:

Beth Shammai say: A man may divorce his wife with an old get [which he wrote to divorce his wife, continuing to live with her after he wrote the get. Beth Shammai hold that we do not decree against it lest people say: "Her get preceded her son," i.e., lest a year or two pass between the writing and the giving and she have children from him in the interim and then be divorced with that get — so that people, seeing the get as antedating the birth of her son, might come to think that the get were given her at the time of writing and come to cast a blemish upon the child, saying that it was born of an unmarried woman.] Beth Hillel forbid it. Which is "an old get"? A get, after the writing of which he continued living with her. [The halachah: One may not divorce his wife with an old get. And if he divorced her and went to a different country, she may remarry by it ab initio.]

כָּתַב לְשׁוּם מַלְכוּת שְׁאֵינָהּ הוֹגֶנֶת, לְשׁוּם מַלְכוּת מָדַי, לְשׁוּם מַלְכוּת יָוָן, לְבִנְיַן הַבַּיִת, לְחֻרְבַּן הַבַּיִת, הָיָה בַמִּזְרָח וְכָתַב בַּמַּעֲרָב, בַּמַּעֲרָב וְכָתַב בַּמִּזְרָח, תֵּצֵא מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה, וּצְרִיכָה גֵט מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה, וְאֵין לָהּ לֹא כְתֻבָּה וְלֹא פֵרוֹת וְלֹא מְזוֹנוֹת וְלֹא בְלָאוֹת, לֹא עַל זֶה וְלֹא עַל זֶה. אִם נָטְלָה מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה, תַּחֲזִיר. וְהַוָּלָד מַמְזֵר מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה. וְלֹא זֶה וָזֶה מִטַּמְּאִין לָהּ, וְלֹא זֶה וָזֶה זַכָּאִין לֹא בִמְצִיאָתָהּ וְלֹא בְמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיהָ וְלֹא בַהֲפָרַת נְדָרֶיהָ. הָיְתָה בַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, נִפְסֶלֶת מִן הַכְּהֻנָּה. בַּת לֵוִי, מִן הַמַּעֲשֵׂר. בַּת כֹּהֵן, מִן הַתְּרוּמָה. וְאֵין יוֹרְשָׁיו שֶׁל זֶה וְיוֹרְשָׁיו שֶׁל זֶה יוֹרְשִׁין כְּתֻבָּתָהּ. וְאִם מֵתוּ, אָחִיו שֶׁל זֶה וְאָחִיו שֶׁל זֶה חוֹלְצִין וְלֹא מְיַבְּמִין. שִׁנָּה שְׁמוֹ וּשְׁמָהּ, שֵׁם עִירוֹ וְשֵׁם עִירָהּ, תֵּצֵא מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה, וְכָל הַדְּרָכִים הָאֵלּוּ בָהּ:

If he wrote it in the name of "a kingdom lacking worth" [If he were in Bavel and he wrote it according to the reckoning of the years of the kingdom of Edom (Rome), which exercised no reign in the place of the writing of the get, she leaves both (husbands). Edom is called "a kingdom lacking worth," for it is without a (distinctive) script or tongue.], in the name of Madai, or in the name of Yavan (she leaves both) [for he must write it in the name of the kingdom of the land where the get is written, for the sake of shalom malchuth ("peace with the kingdom"), so that they say: "They must hold us in high regard, for they write their documents in our name."], the building of the Temple or the destruction of the Temple; if he were in the east and wrote it in the west; in the west and wrote it in the east — she leaves both [If she married by this get, she leaves both the first and the second], and she requires a get from both, and she receives neither kethubah, nor fruit, nor belaoth from either. If she took from either one of them, she returns it [The entire Mishnah is explained in Yevamoth (91b)]; and the child of either is a mamzer [The Mishnah is in accordance with R. Meir, who says: "If one alters the 'currency coined by the sages,' the child is a mamzer." This is not the halachah.]; and neither (if he is a Cohein) may make himself unclean for her; and neither has rights in the lost objects which she finds, in her handiwork, or in the annulment of her vows. If she were the daughter of an Israelite, she is disqualified from (marriage to) Cohanim (if her husbands died before she were divorced); if she were the daughter of a Levite, from ma'aser; if the daughter of a Cohein, from terumah. And the heirs of neither inherit her kethubah; and if they died, the brothers of each give chalitzah but do not perform yibum. If he (the scribe) changed his name or her name, the name of his city or the name of her city, she leaves each, and all of the above applies.

כָּל הָעֲרָיוֹת שֶׁאָמְרוּ צָרוֹתֵיהֶן מֻתָּרוֹת, הָלְכוּ הַצָּרוֹת הָאֵלּוּ וְנִשְּׂאוּ וְנִמְצְאוּ אֵלּוּ אַיְלוֹנִיּוֹת, תֵּצֵא מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה, וְכָל הַדְּרָכִים הָאֵלּוּ בָהּ:

All the arayoth (illicit relations) about whom they said that their tzaroth (co-wives) are permitted, [the fifteen arayoth about whom the sages said that their tzaroth are permitted to marry without chalitzah (from the yavam)] — if these tzaroth went and married, and these [the arayoth] were found to be eiloniyoth (unable to bear children) [making it manifest, retroactively, that the dead man's (original) betrothal of them was mistaken, so that these were not (halachically) their tzaroth and were not exempt from yibum by the arayoth], she (the tzarah) leaves this one [the husband that she married] and (she leaves) this one [the yavam (i.e., he must give her chalitzah)], and all of the above applies. [In Yevamoth, this is stated to be in accordance with R. Akiva, who says that the child of a union interdicted by a negative commandment is a mamzer. This is not the halachah.]

הַכּוֹנֵס אֶת יְבִמְתּוֹ וְהָלְכָה צָרָתָהּ וְנִשֵּׂאת לְאַחֵר וְנִמְצְאָה זֹאת שֶׁהִיא אַיְלוֹנִית, תֵּצֵא מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה וְכָל הַדְּרָכִים הָאֵלּוּ בָהּ:

If one wed his yevamah and her tzarah went and remarried, [the ruling being that cohabitation with the one (the yevamah) exempts the tzarah (from chalitzah)], and she [the yevamah] were found to be an eilonith, [so that her yibum is not yibum, and the tzarah should not have been exempt], she leaves this one [her husband] and this one [her original yavam], and all of the above applies.

כָּתַב סוֹפֵר גֵּט לָאִישׁ וְשׁוֹבֵר לָאִשָּׁה, וְטָעָה וְנָתַן גֵּט לָאִשָּׁה וְשׁוֹבֵר לָאִישׁ, וְנָתְנוּ זֶה לָזֶה, וּלְאַחַר זְמַן הֲרֵי הַגֵּט יוֹצֵא מִיַּד הָאִישׁ, וְשׁוֹבֵר מִיַּד הָאִשָּׁה, תֵּצֵא מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה, וְכָל הַדְּרָכִים הָאֵלּוּ בָהּ. רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר, אִם לְאַלְתַּר יָצָא, אֵין זֶה גֵט. אִם לְאַחַר זְמַן יָצָא, הֲרֵי זֶה גֵט. לֹא כָל הֵימֶנּוּ מִן הָרִאשׁוֹן לְאַבֵּד זְכוּתוֹ שֶׁל שֵׁנִי. כָּתַב לְגָרֵשׁ אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ וְנִמְלַךְ, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, פְּסָלָהּ מִן הַכְּהֻנָּה. וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁנְּתָנוֹ לָהּ עַל תְּנַאי וְלֹא נַעֲשָׂה הַתְּנַאי, לֹא פְסָלָהּ מִן הַכְּהֻנָּה:

If the scribe wrote a get for the man [to divorce his wife with], and a receipt for the woman [to give to her husband upon payment of her kethubah], and he [the scribe] erred [when he gave them the writs] and gave the get to the woman and the receipt to the man, and they gave it, one to the other, [and she went and married, thinking that what her husband gave her was the get, and he thinking that what his wife gave him was the receipt (Rambam reads it: "And he gave the get to the man and the receipt to the woman," and interprets it as: "And he thought he gave the get to the man and the receipt to the woman," not having done this, but the very opposite. The interpretation is forced.] — and, subsequently, the get was found to issue from the hand of the man, and the receipt from the hand of the woman, she leaves this one and this one, and all of the above applies. R. Eliezer says: If it issued forth at once [from her husband's hand before she remarried], it is not a get, [and she requires a different get], and if it issued forth after some time, [i.e., after she remarried], it is a get. It is not entirely up to him [i.e., It is not all according to the words of the first (husband), that he be believed] to void the rights of the second, [who married her, and we posit a "conspiracy" between the two, an exchange of the writs after she remarried. The halachah is in accordance with R. Eliezer.] If one wrote (a get) to divorce his wife, and changed his mind — Beth Shammai say: He disqualifies her from (marriage to) the priesthood. Beth Hillel say: Even if he gave it to her on condition, and the condition was not satisfied, he does not disqualify her from the priesthood.

הַמְגָרֵשׁ אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ וְלָנָה עִמּוֹ בְּפֻנְדְּקִי, בֵּית שַׁמַּאי אוֹמְרִים, אֵינָהּ צְרִיכָהּ הֵימֶנּוּ גֵט שֵׁנִי. וּבֵית הִלֵּל אוֹמְרִים, צְרִיכָה הֵימֶנּוּ גֵט שֵׁנִי. אֵימָתַי, בִּזְמַן שֶׁנִּתְגָּרְשָׁה מִן הַנִּשּׂוּאִין. וּמוֹדִים בְּנִתְגָּרְשָׁה מִן הָאֵרוּסִין שֶׁאֵינָהּ צְרִיכָה הֵימֶנּוּ גֵט שֵׁנִי, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁאֵין לִבּוֹ גַס בָּהּ. כְּנָסָהּ בְּגֵט קֵרֵחַ, תֵּצֵא מִזֶּה וּמִזֶּה, וְכָל הַדְּרָכִים הָאֵלּוּ בָהּ:

If one divorced his wife, and she spent the night with him at an inn, [there being witnesses to their having been alone together, but not to their having cohabited], Beth Shammai say: She does not require a second get from him. Beth Hillel say: She requires a second get from him. [Beth Hillel hold that witnesses to their being alone together are (considered) witnesses to cohabitation. And since a man does not cohabit promiscuously, (we assume that) he betrothed her with this cohabitation. And Beth Shammai hold that we do not consider witnesses to their being alone witnesses to cohabitation until they actually observe her in the act.] When is this so? If she were divorced from marriage. They agree that if she were divorced from betrothal, she does not require a second get from him, for he is not that familiar with her (and is assumed not to have cohabited with her.) If one wed her with a "bald get," she leaves this one and this one, and all of the above applies. [A "bald get" is one whose folds are more numerous than its witnesses. The rabbis instituted a folded get (get mekushar) for Cohanim, who are quick to anger and who, in the heat of their anger, might write a get to their wives, and later regret it and not be able to take them back. They, therefore, instituted a get mekushar, which is difficult to write quickly, so that in the interim, their anger might cool. One or two lines are written and folded over on the smooth (unwritten) part and sewn, and one witness signs the fold on the outside. The process is repeated a second and third time. And if there is a fold without a witness signed on the outside, this is a "bald get," and it is not valid. For we assume that in the beginning there were as many witnesses as there are folds, and we suspect that the husband told all of them to sign and that one did not. If she weds with such a get, she leaves both, and all of the above applies. This Mishnah is in accordance with R. Meir, who says: "If one alters 'the currency minted by the sages' for gittin, the child is a mamzer." This is not the halachah.]

גֵּט קֵרֵחַ, הַכֹּל מַשְׁלִימִין עָלָיו, דִּבְרֵי בֶן נַנָּס. רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר, אֵין מַשְׁלִימִין עָלָיו אֶלָּא קְרוֹבִים הָרְאוּיִין לְהָעִיד בְּמָקוֹם אַחֵר. וְאֵיזֶהוּ גֵּט קֵרֵחַ. כֹּל שֶׁקְּשָׁרָיו מְרֻבִּין מֵעֵדָיו:

All may complete (the signing of) a "bald get" [even a bondsman; even one who is unfit to be a witness by reason of transgression]. These are the words of Ben Naness. R. Akiva says: Only kin who are acceptable as witnesses in other instances [i.e., who are not unfit as witnesses per se, but only by reason of being kin] (only those) may complete it, [but not a bondsman or a robber. A bondsman, because he might thereby come to be regarded as "pedigreed" (i.e., not a bondsman); a robber, because he might thereby be assumed to have repented (and to be acceptable as a witness in all instances.) But all recognize kin as such. The halachah is in accordance with Ben Naness, that all may complete it. In any event, only one unfit witness may sign thereon; the others must all be fit.] What is a "bald get" One whose folds are more numerous than its witnesses.