Sources Through Srugim, Session 15: Delivering A Get

(1) A man takes a wife and possesses her. She fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, and he writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house;

MISHNA: If he said to his wife: Take this promissory note, and it was a bill of divorce, or she found it behind him and he did not tell her what it was but she reads what is written in it and discovers that it is her bill of divorce, it is not a valid bill of divorce until he says to her: This is your bill of divorce. If he gave it to her in her hand and she was sleeping, and he then woke her, and when she reads what is written in it, she finds that it is her bill of divorce, it is not a valid bill of divorce until he says to her: This is your bill of divorce. GEMARA: Apropos the mishna’s statement that if she found the bill of divorce behind him, it is not a valid bill of divorce until he says: This is your bill of divorce, the Gemara asks: And when he says to her: This is your bill of divorce, what of it? Why is it considered to be a valid bill of divorce if it was not given to her in the proper manner, being that it is as though he told her: Take your bill of divorce from where it is placed on the ground? And Rava says that if one says to his wife: Take your bill of divorce from where it is placed on the ground, it is as though he didn’t say anything and it is not a valid bill of divorce, since a woman is divorced only when the bill of divorce is given to her by her husband. The Gemara answers: Say that the bill of divorce was not placed on the ground behind him, but rather she pulled it out from behind him. In other words, the bill of divorce was tucked into his belt and she pulled it out. Consequently, she received the bill of divorce from him. The Gemara challenges this: If she pulled it out, it is also not a valid bill of divorce, since it is required that the directive: “And gives it in her hand” (Deuteronomy 24:1), be fulfilled, and in this case it is not fulfilled, since he did not give it to her; rather, she took it. The Gemara answers: No, it is necessary in a case where he bent [da’arak] his waist over toward her and she pulled it out, and by extending his waist to her, it is as though he gave the bill of divorce to her.

(1) The wife can be divorced only with a written document that comes into her possession; such a document is called get (letter of divorce). There are ten basic things prescribed by the Torah in the divorce proceedings, namely: 1) The get must come from the husband voluntarily. 2) He must prepare it in writing only. 3) The subject of the letter must unfold that he has divorced and removed her from his possession. 4) It must express the idea of separation between him and her. 5) It must be especially written for her. 6) It must not require any other act except delivery. 7) He must hand it to her. 8) He must hand it to her in the presence of witnesses. 9) He must give it to her as a letter of divorce. 10) Only the husband, or his agent, must be the one handing it to her. The rest of the features of a get, such as the date and the signature of the witnesses, and the like, are all rabbinic in origin.

(2) How do we know that these ten essentials are prescribed by the Torah? It is written: "If she fails to please him … and he writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house…" (Deuteronomy 24:1). If she fails to please him denotes that he divorces her only voluntarily; if his divorce has been involuntary it is invalid. The wife, however, is divorced whether or not she has been willing.

(3) And he writes denotes that she can be divorced only with a written document; her, especially for her; a bill of divorcement, something that separates between him and her, leaving him no right of possessing her; if this separation between him and her is not stated, her divorce is invalid, as it will be explained. Hands it to her denotes that she is not divorced until the get is given into her hand, or the hand of her agent that means the same as her own, or into her courtyard, all of which is legally regarded as her own hand, as it will be explained. And sends her away, the context of the get must convey that he sends her away and not that he sends himself away from her.