Torah Community Connections

Week 86 - Sunday - 15 July 2001

GITTIN: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 2

If a woman said, "Receive my get on my behalf," she requires two sets of witnesses: two who say, "In our presence she said," and two who say, "In our presence he received and tore up"; even if they are the first ones and they are the latter ones, or one of the first ones and one of the latter ones and another joins with them. A betrothed girl - she and her father receive her get. Rabbi Yehudah said, Two hands cannot acquire as one, rather her father alone receives her get. And whoever is unable to guard her get, cannot be divorced.

Kehati

If a woman said - to the agent, "Receive my get on my behalf" - and the agent returns and says, "I received the get, but it is not in my possession," then - she requires two sets of witnesses: two - witnesses, i.e., one set who say, "In our presence she said" - to the agent to receive the get on her behalf, and two - witnesses, who say, "In our presence he - the agent, received - the get, from the husband, and tore up" - the get. The Gemara explains that our mishnah refers to a period of religious persecutions, when it was forbidden to receive a get; people therefore tore up the get after receiving it. According to Rambam, the mishnah means to say that if the agent tore up the get, witnesses must testify to this. According to Hameiri, "and tore up," explains, as it were, that if the get is not in his hands, he probably tore it up! The witnesses, however, need not testify to this, but only that he received the get in their presence.

The woman does not necessarily need two different sets of witnesses, i.e., four witnesses, but rather - even if they are the first ones and they are the latter ones - i.e., she has only two witnesses, and they testify that in their presence she told the agent to receive the get, and that they saw the agent receive the get, or one of the first ones - of the first set, in whose presence she told the agent to receive the get, testifies to this and one of the latter ones - in whose presence the agent received the get, testifies about the receipt, and - a third witness, in whose presence the wife instructed the agent and the agent received the get joins with - each one of - them - to testify about the wife's instructing the agent and about the agent's receiving the get.

A betrothed girl - who has not yet left her father's authority (see Ket. 4:4), is divorced by her bridegroom - she and her father receive her get - she can receive her get, even without her father's consent, or her father can receive her get without her consent, since the Torah gave the father authority over his daughter who is a na'arah (a girl between the ages of twelve years and a day and twelve years and a half), but the Torah did not abrogate her authority (Hameiri). Rabbi Yehudah said, Two hands cannot acquire as one - she and her father cannot take possession together of her get, rather her father alone receives her get - since the Torah gave the father authority over his minor daughter who is a na'arah. If, however, she has no father, then she receives her get. And whoever is unable to guard her get - e.g., a minor, who is not competent to guard her get, cannot be divorced - not even if her father receives her get, as it is written, "and sends her out of his house" (Deut. 24:1) - one who sent out and does not return, excluding one who is sent out and returns. According to another opinion, she can be divorced through her father, since her father will not let her return; our mishnah, however, deals with a minor who is an orphan, and if she is unable to guard her get, she cannot be divorced.

GITTIN: CHAPTER 6: MISHNAH 3

If a minor girl said, "Receive my get on my behalf," it is not a valid get until it comes into her hand. Therefore if the husband wants to retract - he may retract, for a minor cannot appoint an agent. But if her father said to him, "Go and receive my daughter's get on her behalf" - and he wanted to retract, he cannot retract. If one says, "Give this get to my wife in a certain place," and he gave it to her in another place - it is invalid; "She is in a certain place," and he gave it to her in another place - it is valid. If a woman said, "Receive my get on my behalf in a certain place," and he received it for her in another place - it is invalid. Rabbi Eliezer declares it valid. "Bring me my get from a certain place," and he brought it to her from another place - it is valid.

Kehati

If a minor girl said - to an agent, "Receive on my behalf my get" - she appointed him an agent of receipt. Our mishnah refers to a case in which her father died, and she is capable of guarding her get, it is not a valid get until it comes into her hand - since her appointment of an agent of receipt is not effective. Therefore if the husband wants to retract - after giving the get to the agent, before the get comes into her hand, he may retract, for a minor cannot appoint an agent - and he is therefore not her agent, and the get does not take effect until it comes into her hand.

But if her father - was alive, and said to him - to the agent, "Go - to the place of my daughter's bridegroom, and receive my daughter's get on her behalf" - in this case the agent becomes an "agent of receipt," and if he - the husband, gave the agent the get and then wanted to retract - the get he cannot retract - for the hand of the agent is regarded as the hand of the father.

If one says - to an agent, "Give this get to my wife in a certain place," and he gave it to her in another place - it - the get, is invalid - because the husband was particular, and did not want the agent to give the get to his wife in another place, lest people there should speak ill of him. But if he said to the agent, "She is in a certain place," and he gave it to her in another place - it - the get, is valid - for the husband intended only to indicate to him where he would find her, but he was not particular about the agent giving her the get there.

And similarly, If a woman said - to her agent, "Receive my get on my behalf in a certain place," and he received it for her in another place - it - the get, is invalid - because she may also be particular about her agent receiving the get in a specific place, and not elsewhere. Rabbi Eliezer declares it valid - Rabbi Eliezer holds that only the husband can stipulate that the get be given in a specific place, because he divorces her by his own decision, unilaterally, but the woman, who may divorced without her consent - her preference for the divorce location is irrelevant, and therefore when she tells the agent, "Receive my get in a certain place," she is only indicating the place where her husband is located, and is not being particular.

But if the woman said to the agent, "Bring me my get from a certain place" - she did not appoint him to be an agent of receipt, but merely told him to bring her the get from a certain place, and he brought it to her from another place, it is valid - since she is not divorced when the agent receives the get, but only when the get comes into her hand, and the get is valid according to all opinions, since in such a case she certainly is not particular if he brings her the get from another place (Ran).

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