001 - הִלְכוֹת גֵּרוּשִׁין פֵּרֶק א

Laws of Divorce

The laws of divorce include two commandments: one positive commandment, which is that a man who divorces must do so with a written document; and one negative commandment, which is that he must not remarry his divorced wife after she has married another.

1. A woman is divorced only through a written document that reaches her, and this document is called a get. There are ten matters that are essential to divorce according to the Torah, and they are as follows: that a man may divorce only of his own will; that he must divorce with a written document and not by any other means; that the content of the writing must be that he has divorced her and removed her from his possession; that its content must be something that severs the bond between him and her; that it must be written for her sake; that after it is written, nothing else should be required except giving it to her; that he must give it to her; that he must give it to her in the presence of witnesses; that he must give it to her as an act of divorce; and that the husband or his agent is the one who gives it to her. All other matters in the get—such as the date, the signatures of the witnesses, and similar things—are all by rabbinic decree.

2. From where do we know that these ten matters are from the Torah? As it is stated: "And it will be, if she does not find favor in his eyes... and he writes her a bill of severance and places it in her hand, and sends her from his house" (Devarim 24:1): "If she does not find favor in his eyes"—this teaches that he may divorce only of his own will; and if she was divorced not of his will, she is not divorced. But a woman may be divorced whether with her consent or without her consent.

3. "And he writes" (Devarim 24:1, 24:3)—this teaches that she is divorced only with a written document. "To her" (ibid.)—for her sake. "A bill of severance" (ibid.)—something that severs the bond between him and her, so that he retains no authority over her; and if the bond between them is not yet severed, she is not divorced, as will be explained. "And he places it in her hand" (Devarim 24:1, 24:3)—this teaches that she is not divorced until the get is placed in her hand, or in the hand of her agent who is like her, or in her property, for all these are like her, as will be explained. "And sends her" (ibid.)—that the content of the get should be that he is sending her away, not that he is sending himself away from her.

4. How so? If he wrote for her: "Behold, you are sent away," "Behold, you are divorced," "Behold, you are on your own," "Behold, you are permitted to any man," or anything similar in this sense—she is divorced. The essential wording of the get is: "Behold, you are permitted to any man." But if he wrote for her: "I am not your husband," "I am not your betrothed," "I am not your man"—this is not a get, as it is stated, "and sends her" (Devarim 24:1, 24:3), not that he sends himself away. Similarly, if one writes to his wife, "Behold, you are a free woman"—this is not a get.

5. That which is stated in the Torah, "and sends her from his house" (Devarim 24:1, 24:3), does not mean that her divorce is not complete until she leaves his house; rather, once the get reaches her hand, her divorce is complete, even if she is still in his house, as will be explained. "And sends her" is stated only to teach that if he divorced her but did not remove her from his house, it is as if he divorced her and then took back his divorced wife; therefore, she requires a second get from him, as will be explained.

6. From where do we know that nothing else should be required after the writing except giving it to her? As it is stated, "and he writes... and gives" (Devarim 24:1, 24:3)—the valid get is one that lacks only writing and giving. This excludes a case where something else must be done after the writing. Therefore, if he wrote the get on the horn of a cow and gave her the cow, and if he cut the horn after writing and then gave it to her—it is not a get. Similarly, if he wrote it on something attached to the ground—even if the witnesses signed it after it was detached and he gave it to her—it is not a get.

7. One may not write on something attached to the ground, even the standard text of the get. If he wrote the standard text on something attached, then detached it and afterward wrote the name of the man, the name of the woman, the date, "Behold, you are permitted to any man," and had it signed and gave it to her—it is valid.

8. If he wrote the entire get on a leaf growing in a perforated flowerpot—even if he gave her the entire flowerpot—the get is invalid, as a decree lest he cut it off. But he may write on a shard from the flowerpot and give it to her.

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 1

9. And from where do we know that he gives it to her only as an act of divorce? As it is stated: "A bill of severance, and he gives it into her hand" (Devarim 24:1; Devarim 24:3), meaning that he gives it to her as a bill of severance. But if he gave it to her as if it were a promissory note or a mezuzah, or if he placed it in her hand while she was asleep and she awoke and it was in her hand, it is not a get; but if he said to her afterwards, "This is your get," then it is a get.

10. If he said to the witnesses, "See the get that I am giving her," and then said to her, "Take this promissory note," it is valid, for he has informed the witnesses that he is giving it as an act of divorce, and the reason he called it a promissory note to her was because he was embarrassed before her.

11. One who divorces must say to her, when he gives her the get, "This is your get," or "This is your bill of divorce," or something similar. If he gave it to her and said nothing, it is invalid. In what case is this said? When he was not speaking with her about matters of her get. But if he was speaking with her about matters of her get, and he took the get and gave it to her and said nothing, it is a valid get.

12. If a get was lying on the ground and he said to her, "Take your get from upon the ground," and she took it, or if it was tied to his hand or thigh and she pulled it from him—even if he said to her after it came into her hand, "This is your get"—it is not a get, as it is stated: "And he gives it into her hand" (Devarim 24:1; Devarim 24:3), not that she should take it herself; and he did not give it to her, neither he nor his agent. But if he bent his body toward her, or extended his hand until she pulled the get from upon him, and he said to her, "This is your get," it is a get.

13. And from where do we know that it must be given to her in the presence of witnesses? For it says, "By the testimony of two witnesses... a matter shall be established" (see Devarim 17:6; Devarim 19:15), and it is not possible that today she is forbidden and one who is with her is liable to death by Beis Din, and tomorrow she should be permitted without witnesses. Therefore, if he gave her the get privately, even in the presence of one witness, it is not a get.

14. In what case is this said? When the get was written by a scribe. But if the husband wrote the get in his own handwriting and one witness signed it, and he gave it to her, it is an invalid get.

15. It is a decree of the Sages that the witnesses should sign the get, lest he give her the get in the presence of two witnesses and they die, and the get in her hand would be like a shard of pottery, for there would be no witnesses. Therefore, they decreed that the testimony should be from within the get itself. And even though the witnesses are inside it, he gives it to her in the presence of two, whether those who signed it or two others, for the main aspect of divorce is with the witnesses of delivery.

16. If two signed it, and he gave it to her privately, or if the witnesses of delivery were invalid, it is valid, since the witnesses in the get are valid and the get is in her possession; but there are those among the Geonim who ruled that it is invalid.

17. If the witnesses inside the get were invalid—even if one was invalid and one was valid—and he gave it to her in the presence of two valid witnesses, it is invalid, for it is considered as if it is forged from within.

18. If he distanced the witnesses' signatures from the text by the space of two lines, it is invalid. How much may he distance the witnesses from the text? Less than the space of two lines, so that they are read together with it. In what case is this said? When the get is in her possession and there were no witnesses to the delivery. But if it was delivered to her in the presence of witnesses—even if the signatures are very far and not read together with it, and even if there are no signatures at all—it is valid, for the main aspect of divorce is with the witnesses of delivery.

19. The witnesses before whom the get is given must read it, and only afterwards should it be given to her. If he gave it to her before them first, they should go back and read it after he gave it to her. If they read it while it was in the husband's hand or in the hand of his agent, and returned it to him, and he then placed it in his own hand and gave it to her, they must go back and read it again.

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 1

20. They only called it "reading" when it is taken and thrown into the sea or into fire; in such a case, she is divorced—since it was read at first, we do not suspect that it was switched. Moreover, even if the husband says, "It was a different document, and not the get that you read," he is not believed, and she is divorced.

21. If the get was not read at first, and he gave her a get in their presence, and she threw it into the fire or into the sea—even if the husband says, "It was a valid get," she is in a state of doubtful divorce.

22. If he threw the get into her courtyard, among barrels, in the presence of witnesses, and they searched and found a mezuzah or another document—we do not suspect anything, for what was found is what he threw. But if they found two or three mezuzos or documents, we are concerned that perhaps the get he threw was dragged away by mice, and she is in a state of doubtful divorce.

23. The witnesses who sign the get must be able to read and sign. If they cannot read, it is read before them and they sign—provided they recognize the language of the get. If they do not know how to sign, the paper is marked for them with saliva or something similar whose mark does not last, and they write over the mark. This is not done with other documents—there is a leniency with bills of divorce for women, so that Jewish women should not remain agunos, since the signatures of the witnesses on the get are by rabbinic decree, as we have explained.

24. Even though the signatures of the witnesses on the get are by rabbinic decree, they instituted that the witnesses should specify their names in the get. Likewise, they instituted regarding the witnesses of the get that they may only sign in each other's presence; if they signed not in each other's presence, the get is invalid. Similarly, the sages instituted that the date and place of writing should be recorded in the get, as with other documents—lest his wife is his relative and commits adultery while still married to him, and he writes her a get after the adultery and gives it to her, and if there is no date in it, she could claim, "I was divorced before the adultery." Therefore, they instituted that a date be included in bills of divorce.

25. A get that has witnesses but no date, or that is antedated or postdated, or was written during the day and signed at night even though they were occupied with that matter, or if the get was written in Yerushalayim and by mistake the place was written as Lud—all these are invalid, until it is signed with the date and place of its writing.

26. If the date was cut off from it and it was given to her, or if only the day of the week was written, such as "the first Shabbos" or "the second Shabbos of such-and-such month," or "in such-and-such month," or "in such-and-such year" without mentioning the month, even if it was written "in such-and-such week"—it is valid. Likewise, if it was written in it, "Today I divorced her"—it is valid, for its meaning is the day on which the get was delivered.

27. Likewise, they instituted that the dating in bills of divorce should be according to the reign of the current kingdom, for the sake of peace with the government. If it was dated according to a kingdom that is not the kingdom of that country, or according to the building of the Beis Hamikdash, or its destruction—if it is the custom of the people of that place to count by that system, it is valid; but if it is not their custom, it is invalid. All of Israel has already adopted the practice of dating bills of divorce either to Creation or to the reign of Alexander the Macedonian, which is the dating of legal documents. If it was dated according to the kingdom of that time in a country where that kingdom has authority, it is valid.

28. If one says to two people, "Write, sign, and give a get to my wife," and the matter was delayed for days or years, or the get was found to be void and they needed to write her another valid get after several years, as will be explained—they write the date and place of the writing, not the date when the husband told them "write," nor that place. How so? If they were in Yerushalayim when he told them, and it was Tishrei, and they delayed until Nissan and were then in Lud—they write the date of the get as Nissan, and Lud as the place where the get was written, as with other documents.