Tous sont aptes à écrire un get, même un sourd-muet, un imbécile et un mineur. [Ceci, à condition qu'un adulte se tienne au-dessus de lui et lui dise: "Écrivez-le au nom de cet homme." Mais un gentil ou un esclave, même si un adulte se tient au-dessus de lui, ne devrait pas écrire le get ab initio, car ils sont d'un intellect indépendant et agissent pour leur propre compte; de sorte que même si un adulte leur dit de l'écrire pour quelqu'un d'autre, ils l'écrivent eux-mêmes. Et si un gentil ou un esclave écrit le toofess of the get, et qu'un israélite averti écrit le toref— le nom de l'homme et de la femme et la date, le tout nécessitant une lishmah (intention spécifique) —le get est valide. De même, un sourd-muet, un imbécile et un mineur, qui, selon notre Mishnah, sont aptes à écrire un get, ne sont aptes qu'à l'égard du tofess, mais, en ce qui concerne le toref, il n'est valable que si écrit par un Israélite adulte averti.] La femme peut lui écrire get, et l'homme peut écrire son reçu (de paiement de la kethubah). Car le get ne prend effet que par ses signataires. Tous sont aptes à amener le get, sauf un sourd-muet, un imbécile et un mineur, [qui manquent d'intellect indépendant], un aveugle [Il n'est pas qualifié pour amener le get de l'étranger, ne pouvant pas dire: «Avant moi, c'était écrit, et avant moi, c'était signé». Mais pour amener un get à Eretz Yisrael, où il n'a pas besoin de dire: "Avant moi, c'était écrit, et avant moi c'était signé"— ou même à l'étranger, si le get est validé par ses signataires, ou d'être le messager de la femme pour le recevoir —pour tout cela, un aveugle est apte], et un gentil. [Car il n'est pas inclus dans la loi du gittin et du kiddushin (mariage). Et dans un domaine où lui-même n'est pas inclus, il ne peut pas servir de messager pour un autre.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
ואפילו חרש שוטה וקטן – [and concerning them – the deaf-mute, imbecile and minor], a Jewish adult stands over them and says to him: Write this for the sake of “so-and-so.” But a heathen and a slave, even if an adult Jew stands over them, ab initio, he should not write the Jewish bill of divorce, because they have the temperament [to write a Jewish bill of divorce], and on their personal knowledge we operate, for even if a Jewish adult says to him: “Write for the sake of “so-and-so” , he should not write other than for himself. But if a heathen or slave wrote the blank form of the document [of the Jewish bill of divorce] and a Jew possessing awareness wrote the part of the document that makes it binding; which is the name of the man and the woman and the time (i.e., date), for all of these require [being written] for their sake (i.e., the man, the woman and the Jewish bill of divorce), the Jewish bill of divorce is valid. And similarly, a when we say in our Mishnah that a deaf-mute, imbecile and/or minor are fit to write a Jewish bill of divorce, these words refer to the blank form of the document, but not the part of the document that makes it binding, is not valid, other than if it is written by an adult Jew who possesses awareness.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Introduction
The first section of this mishnah deals with who may write a get, and the second section with who may deliver a get.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
חוץ מחרש שוטה וקטן – who all lack awareness.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
All are qualified to write a get, even a deaf-mute, an imbecile and a minor. A woman may write her own get and a man his own receipt [for the ketubah], since the document is upheld only by its signatures. Anyone can write a get including people who were categorically considered not to have “awareness”. These people can write a get even though they would not even understand what they are doing (remember that in the ancient world deaf people were wrongly considered to lack intelligence), because as we see below, the critical issue with the get is that it is signed by valid witnesses. Similarly, a woman may write her own get (this would make for an interesting scenario), and a man may write his own receipt for having paid the ketubah to his wife. Since the get is upheld not by checking who wrote it but who signed it, it matters not who does the writing. Although the woman has written her own get, the witnesses will not sign it unless they are sure that it was written upon the husband’s directive. Similarly, witnesses will not sign a receipt for payment unless they know that the husband paid the money to the wife.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
וסומא – [A blind person] is prohibited from bring a Jewish bill of divorce from outside the land of Israel, because he is unable to say, “it was written in my presence and signed in my presence.” But, to bring a Jewish bill of divorce in the land of Israel, where it is not necessary to say, “it was written in my presence and signed in my presence,” or even in the Diaspora, if the Jewish bill of divorce is verified through its signatories, or to serve as the agent of the woman to receive her Jewish bill of divorce, for all of these, the blind person is considered valid.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
All are qualified to bring a get except a deaf-mute, an imbecile, a minor, a blind person and a non-Jew. Almost anybody can deliver a get from a husband to his wife. The exceptions are again those people who categorically do not have awareness. In all areas of halakhah, someone who does not have “awareness” cannot act as someone else’s agent. A blind person can also not deliver a get, even though blind people were not considered to lack “awareness”. The Talmud explains this to mean that he cannot deliver a get from abroad to Israel because he cannot say “In my presence it was written and in my presence it was signed.” Note that blind people were considered to have “awareness”, unlike deaf-mutes who could not really communicate. Non-Jews cannot marry or divorce Jews and therefore cannot serve as agents for delivering a get.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
ונכרי – he is not [included] in laws of Divorce and Kiddushin/betrothal for the sake of marriage, and anything of his own person is not worthy, he cannot perform the act of agency for another.
