Tout get qui n'a pas été écrit spécifiquement pour cette femme est invalide. Comment? S'il passait par le marché et entendait les voix des scribes appelant [à leurs apprentis: Quand quelqu'un vient chercher, écrivez-le ainsi:] "Cet homme et cet homme divorcent de ceci et de cette femme, de ceci et de cet endroit", et il a dit: «C'est mon nom, et c'est le nom de ma femme», il est invalide comme divorce. Plus encore: s'il l'a écrit pour divorcer avec sa femme [c'est-à-dire, non seulement un get n'est pas écrit pour le divorce mais pour la pratique invalide; mais même un écrit pour le divorce], s'il a changé d'avis, et qu'un de ses citadins l'a trouvé, et a dit: "Mon nom est le même que le vôtre, et le nom de ma femme, le même que le nom de votre femme," il est invalide en tant que divorce. Plus encore, s'il avait deux femmes avec le même nom, et qu'il l'a écrit pour divorcer de l'aîné, il ne peut pas divorcer de la plus jeune avec lui. [Non seulement il est invalide s'il n'a pas été écrit pour le divorce de cet homme, mais même si l'on avait deux femmes, auquel cas il a été écrit pour le divorce de cet homme, il est invalide, car il était pas écrit pour le divorce de cette femme en particulier. (aîné, plus jeune :) pas forcément.] Encore plus, s'il dit au scribe: "Ecris-le pour que je divorce quelle que soit la femme que je choisis", il est invalide comme divorce. [Nous sommes informés par la présente que nous ne disons pas qu'il est établi rétroactivement que lorsqu'il l'a rédigé aussi, c'était cette femme qu'il avait l'intention, de sorte qu'il y ait (un bona fide) divorce entre lui et elle. .]
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
כל גט – קול סופרים מקרין – The adults read [the Jewish bill of divorce] to their students, and when the Jewish bill of divorce comes before you, write it as such, and they mentioned the name of any person.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Introduction
This mishnah teaches that a get must be written with the express intention to divorce the specific woman to whom it will eventually be given. This rule is derived from a midrash on Deuteronomy 24:1, “And he writes for her”. The words “for her” are interpreted to mean that the get must be written specifically for her. Our mishnah will illustrate this principle.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
יותר מכן – and not only this – that the Jewish bill of divorce that was not written for the sake of Jewish divorce but only for practice (see Gittin 24b), but even that which was written for the sake of Jewish divorce completely, but he [i.e., the husband], changed his mind, it is invalid.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Any get which is not written [expressly] for the woman [for whom it is intended] is invalid. How is this so? This mishnah introduces the halakhah mentioned in the introduction, according to which a get must be expressly written for the woman who will be divorced with it. The rest of this mishnah will illustrate this principle.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
יתר מכאן היו לו ב' נשים כו' – and not only this alone that it (i.e., the Jewish bill of divorce) was written not for the sake of divorce of this person, it is invalid. But even if he had two wives and it was written for the sake of [the] divorce of this man, it is invalid, since it was not written for the sake of divorce of that woman.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
If a man was passing through the street and heard the voice of a scribe dictating “So-and-so divorces so-and-so from such and such a place” and he says “that is my name and that is the name of my wife”, it is not a valid [document] with which to divorce his wife. In this scenario, a scribe was teaching his students to practice writing divorce documents. These documents were probably always written by scribes, as they require great skill and precision. A man walking by heard the scribe and noticed that the names being used matched those of his and his wife. It dawned on him, wow, I could use this to divorce my wife (I believe that this is intentionally humorous, so you are permitted to chuckle.) The document was only for practice and was not written to be used at all, and therefore certainly cannot be considered as having been written for a specific woman.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
גדולה וקטנה – not exactly.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Moreover: if he wrote [a get] with which to divorce his wife and changed his mind and a person found him and said to him, “My name is the same as yours and my wife’s name the same as your wife's”, it is not a valid [document with which the second] may divorce his wife. In this case, the document was written to be used to divorce, but not to be used by this husband to divorce this wife, but rather for different people who happen to have the same name. Since it was not written for this man’s wife, he may not use it, even though the names are appropriate.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin
יתר מכאן – it comes to teach us that we do not say that the matter is clear retroactively, for at the time it is written, it was also his intention for this one, and there is a divorce for him and her.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Moreover: if he had two wives with the same name and wrote a get with which to divorce the elder, he may not use it to divorce the younger. In this case, the correct husband wrote the get, but he wrote it with the intention to divorce one of his wives and now he wants to divorce the other. Since the get was not written to be given to the younger wife, he may not use it to divorce her. As an aside, you can imagine how interesting family life must have been for the family in which a husband married to two women with the same name! If you think Jacob had problems with Leah and Rachel, think of this family. (Again, I think this is supposed to make you crack a smile, so feel free).
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Gittin
Moreover: if he said to the scribe, “Write [a get] and I will divorce whichever I choose,” it is not a valid [document] with which to divorce his wife. Finally, a husband cannot tell a scribe to write out a get, leave the name of the woman blank, and then the husband will later decide which wife he wishes to divorce. In this case, the “correct” husband wrote the get, and he did not actively intend to give it to a different wife. Nevertheless, the positive intention to give it to a specific wife is lacking and hence the get is invalid.
