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Week 87 - Shabbat - 28 July 2001

GITTIN: CHAPTER 9: MISHNAH 2

"You are permitted to any man, excepting my father and your father, my brother and your brother, a slave, and a non-Jew, and anyone with whom she may not contract kiddushin" - it is valid. You are permitted to any man, except a widow to a High Priest, a divorced woman or a woman who has performed halitzah to a common priest, a mamzeret or a netina to an Israelite, the daughter of an Israelite to a mamzer or to a natin, and to anyone with whom she may contract kiddushin, through transgression" - it is invalid.

Kehati

Our mishnah continues to discuss the case of a person who divorces his wife and says to her, "You are permitted to marry any man except a certain person" and teaches that if the person who was excluded from the get is one of the people who cannot have kiddushin with her (i.e., his kiddushin is not effective with her), then the get is valid since there is no residuary clause and she is in fact permitted to marry anyone. However, if the excluded person is one of the people whose kiddushin is effective with her, even though the kiddushin entails transgressing a prohibition, then the condition is considered a residuary clause, and the get is invalid.

If a person divorces his wife and says to her, "You are permitted to - marry - any man, excepting my father and your father, my brother and your brother, a slave and a non-Jew, and anyone with whom she may not contract kiddushin" - anyone whose kiddushin is not effective with her, even when she is unmarried, it - the get, is valid - for it permits her to marry any man, since those persons excluded by the get are in any event forbidden to her and even if she is unmarried their kiddushin is not effective with her.

But if he said to her, "You are permitted to any man, except - when she is - a widow to a High Priest, or except when she is - a divorced woman or a woman who has performed halitzah to a common priest, a mamzeret or a netina to an Israelite, the daughter of an Israelite to a mamzer or to a natin - a mamzer is the offspring of one of a number of unions prohibited by the Torah, about whom it is written, "A mamzer shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord" (Deut. 23:3). A natin is one of the Gibeonites who converted during the time of Joshua (they are called "netins" because of the passage, "and Joshua made them [va-yitnem] that day hewers of wood and drawers of water" [ 9:27]) and Joshua, and David after him, decreed that it is forbidden to intermarry with them, and to anyone with whom she may contract kiddushin - when she is unmarried, though transgression" - though the kiddushin constitutes the transgression of a Torah prohibition, it - the get, is invalid - since it does not permit her to every man, and is not considered a complete "separation."

The mishnah lists the cases of "a widow to a High Priest, a divorced woman and a woman who has performed halitzah to a common priest" only because this is the standard wording used by the mishnah when listing those who have transgressed Torah prohibitions, since in this case the woman is in any event prohibited to the High Priest or to a common priest because of the get which she now receives. The mishnah may be mentioning this in order to teach that even if she was a widow or a previously divorced woman, the get is considered to contain a residuary clause, since only a simple prohibition is involved.

GITTIN: CHAPTER 9: MISHNAH 3

The essence of a get: "You are permitted to any man." Rabbi Yehudah says, "And this shall be to you from me, a book of divorcement, and a letter of release and a writ of dismissal, to go to be married to whichever man you wish." The essence of a writ of emancipation: "You are a freedwoman," "You belong to yourself."

Kehati

After the previous mishnayot discussed the case of a person who divorces his wife and says to her, "You are permitted to every man except to a certain person," our mishnah teaches the text of the get, whose main phrase is, "You are permitted to any man."

The essence - the essential part of the text, of a get - is - "You are permitted to any man" - we have already mentioned (3:2, above) that this phrase is part of the toref of the get (Rambam). Rabbi Yehudah says, the following must also be written in the get: "And this shall be to you from me a book of divorcement, and a letter of release, and a writ of dismissal, to go to be married to whichever man you wish" - the Gemara explains that according to Rabbi Yehudah, if the husband only writes, "You are permitted to any man," there is no proof that he is divorcing her with this get, for people may say that he divorced her by word of mouth, and the writ serves only as proof; he therefore must write, "And this shall be to you from me...," so as to be evident from the get itself that he is divorcing her with this get. The Sages, however, hold that even if the husband does not write "And this shall be to you from me," it is a valid get, since the writing and the delivery of the get are ample proof that this is the instrument of divorce. The law is in accordance with Rabbi Yehudah (Rambam: Bartenura).

The essence - the essential part, of a writ of emancipation - which is given to servants is: "You are a freedwoman," or - "You - hereby - belong to yourself'- the mishnah cites the text of the writ of emancipation of a maidservant, since it is dealing with the get of a woman. According to another version, however, the mishnah reads, "You (at) are a freedman," "you (at) belong to yourself' since at is Aramaic for the Hebrew atah and is also masculine and can be used for both men and women.

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