פירוש על גיטין 9:1

המגרש...רבי אליעזר מתיר – The reason of Rabbi Eliezer, as is written (concerning the laws of the Kohanim) (Leviticus 21:7): “nor shall they marry one divorced from her husband. [For they are holy to their God].” Even if they were not divorced from other than their husband, since he said to her: You are divorced from me, but you are not permitted to all [other] men, is for she is forbidden to the priesthood. So we see that it is a Jewish bill of divorce, and here she is permitted to any men except from this, she is permitted to others.

Introduction This mishnah deals with a man who tried to divorce his wife but at the same time restrict her from subsequently marrying a certain man. Generally speaking divorce frees a woman to marry almost anyone who she wishes to marry (except priests and anyone related to her previous husband). The background to this case is probably that the husband is divorcing his wife because he suspects that she has committed adultery with a certain man. By divorcing her, he does not want to allow her to go marry the very man whom he suspects.

וחכמים אוסרים – since they say that the prohibition of the priesthood is different. For the Biblical verse has increased for them (i.e., the priesthood) additional commandments, and even though that the Jewish bill of divorce would make her ineligible to the priesthood, it would not be a Jewish bill of divorce that would permit her to others. And the Halakah is according to the Sages. But the Rabbis did not forbid other than when he said: “You are permitted to all other men other than so-and-so.” The Rabbis admit that it is a Jewish bill of divorce in that it permitted her to all men through the delivery of the Jewish bill of divorce, but that he made a condition with her that she would not marry that particular individual, for it would be like other kinds of conditions in general. But the Rabbis forbade the one who divorces to say: “Behold, this is your Jewish bill of divorce on the condition that you should marry so-and-so,” so that they would not say that they give their wives to one another as gifts. And every condition that a person makes with regard to a Jewish bill of divorce prior to the writing of the Jewish bill of divorce, even though the condition is not written within it, the Jewish bill of divorce is invalid, but after it was given to her in her hand, he can make whatever condition he wishes to make.

If a man divorces his wife and said to her, “You are free to marry any man but so-and-so”, Rabbi Eliezer permits her [to marry on the strength of this get], but the rabbis forbid her. Rabbi Eliezer allows the woman to remarry on the strength of this get. She can marry anyone save the person whom her husband stated she was not allowed to marry. The remainder of the sages declared this get to be invalid. In the Talmud, there is recorded a story of four sages who gathered together to refute Rabbi Eliezer after his death. Indeed the opposition to this opinion of Rabbi Eliezer is among the most vehement in the Talmud. Evidently, the rabbis believed that for divorce to work it must totally sever the legal relationship between the man and woman. Any retention of his control over her undermines the entire validity of divorce.

What should he do? He should take it back from her and give it to her again saying, “You are free to marry any man.” If he wrote [the restriction] in the get, even though he went back and erased it, it is invalid. In this section we learn how the husband can fix the situation so that his wife is legally divorced. If he has not written the words “but so-and-so” in the get, he need merely take the get back from her and restate the divorce formula correctly. However, if he has written the invalidating words in the get, the document itself is irreparably invalid.