Torah Community Connections

Week 87 - Sunday - 22 July 2001

GITTEN: CHAPTER 7: MISHNAH 9

"If I do not come within twelve months, write a get and give it to my wife," they wrote a get within twelve months and gave after twelve months, it is not a get. "Write a get and give it to my wife, if I do not come within twelve months"; they wrote within twelve months and gave after twelve months, it is not a get. Rabbi Yose says, Such a get is a get. If they wrote after twelve months and gave after twelve months, and he died; if the get preceded the death, then it is a get, and if death preceded the get - it is not a get. And if it is not known, it is in such a case that they said: She is divorced and she is not divorced.

Kehati

If the husband said to two or more people, "If I do not come within twelve months, write a get and give it to my wife" - i.e., at the end of the twelve months if he does not come by then, and they wrote a get within twelve months and gave - it - after twelve months, it is not a - valid - get - because the husband meant that the writing should also take place after the twelve months, as explained above, and since they wrote the get within the twelve months, even though they gave it after the twelve months.

And similarly, if he said, "Write a get and give it to my wife, if I do not come within twelve months" - even though he mentioned the writing before the time, and it might be argued that he was only particular about the giving taking place after twelve months, and not about the writing, even so, if they wrote within twelve months and gave after twelve months, it is not a get - because this wording also implies that they should not only give but also write the get only after twelve months.

Rabbi Yose says, Such a get is a get - even though they wrote it within the twelve months, because he mentioned the writing before the time, and it is as if he had said: "write it now, and give it if I do not come within twelve months, i.e., he was particular only about the time of the giving, but not about the time of the writing. The halakhah is not in accordance with Rabbi Yose. If they wrote after twelve months and gave after twelve months - everything was done in accordance with his stipulation, and he - the husband, died; if the - giving of - the get - to his wife, preceded the death - of the husband, then it is a get - for the get took effect during the husband's lifetime, and if death preceded the get - if he died after twelve months, after the get had been written, but before they gave it to his wife (Rambam), it is not a get - because the get does not take effect before it is given, and it cannot be given posthumously. And if it is not known - whether the get preceded the death, or the death preceded the get, it is in such a case that they - the Sages - said: - she is divorced and she is not divorced - i.e., it is doubtful whether she is divorced or not (see mishnah 4, above).

GITTIN: CHAPTER 8: MISHNAH 1

If one throws a get to his wife, and she is in her house, or in her courtyard - then she is divorced. If he threw it to her in his house, or in his courtyard, even if it is with her in the bed - she is not divorced. Into her lap or into her basket, then she is divorced.

Kehati

Though the Torah states regarding a get "and gives it into her hand" (Deut. 24:1), our Sages explain that "into her hand" is not meant literally, but so long as the husband gives the get into her domain, e.g., into her courtyard, it is as if he gave it into her hand, and the expression, "and gives it into her hand," is to teach that her domain must be like her hand: just as her hand is under her conscious control, so, too, must her domain be under her conscious control. Our mishnah teaches which of her domains are regarded as her hand.

If one throws a get to his wife, and she is in her house, or in her courtyard -which are her usufruct property (which the wife brought with her from her father's home, the principal belonging to the wife, but of which the husband has the usufruct), then she is divorced - the Gemara explains that this is so only if "she stands next to her house or to her courtyard," since her house and her courtyard must be as her hand: just as her hand is in close proximity to her, so, too, her house or her courtyard must be in close proximity to her. Though the rule is that whatever the wife acquires belongs to the husband, and the get has therefore not yet left the husband's possession, in this case, however, "her get and her courtyard come together," i.e., the courtyard returns to her possession, at the same time as she receives the get. This is similar to the law of a Canaanite servant who acquires himself with his writ of emancipation (though all property which a servant acquires belongs to his master), since "his writ and his hand come together."

If he - the husband, threw it - the get, to her - his wife, in his house, or in his courtyard - when she was there, even if it - the get, is with her in the bed - she was lying in bed and he threw the get into the bed, and as the Gemara explains, the bed belongs to the husband, she is not divorced - since the get did not come into her hand.

And if he threw the get into her lap or into her basket - in which women keep their spinning accessories and needles, then she is divorced - even if she is in his house. The Gemara explains that a husband is not particular about the place occupied by the folds of her dress or by her basket and they are her domain, "as her hand," and therefore when he throws the get into these places she is divorced.

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