Eighteen Treatises from the Mishna, by D. A. Sola and M. J. Raphall, [1843], at sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER VIII.

§ 1. When a husband throws a Get to his wife, when she is in her own house, or in the court she lives in, she is thereby divorced.

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[paragraph continues] If he threw it within his house or court, even if it lies near her on her bed, she is not divorced [thereby]; but if he threw it within her lap or her work basket, she is divorced.

§ 2. If a husband said to his wife [about to be divorced], "Take this bond," or, that she finds a document fastened to his back, which she reads, and finds to be a Get addressed to her, such a Get is void, while he does not expressly say, "Here is thy Get of divorce." If he put it into her hands whilst she is asleep, and on waking she reads it, and finds it to be a Get addressed to her, it is void, until the husband says to her, "Here is thy Get." If the wife was standing in a public place or street, and the husband throws it towards her: if it fell nearest to her, she is divorced, but not if it fell nearest to him; when it lies in the middle [between them], it is doubtful whether or not she is divorced.

§ 3. It is even so with the marriage bond, and [the payment of] a debt. If a creditor said to his debtor, "Throw me the payment of the debt due to me by you," and the latter did throw it: if it fell nearest the creditor, the debtor is free, 1 but if it fell nearest to the debtor, this latter is liable; if it fell in the middle between them, both must share the risk. When a wife was standing on her roof, and her husband threw a Get to her: if it reached within the airspace 2 of the roof, she is divorced. If the husband stood on the roof, and the wife below, and he threw the Get down to her, it is valid as soon as it arrived below the level of the roof, although it should [in its further descent] have become obliterated, or burned.

§ 4. Beth Shammai decide, "That a woman maybe divorced by an old Get;" but Beth Hillel hold it to be prohibited. What is an old Get? Every Get [is so called] after the writing of which the husband was alone with his wife.

§ 5. When a person dates a Get by a foreign reign, 3 or according to the chronology of the Median or Greek monarchies, 4 or [so many years] since the building of the Temple, or since the destruction of the Temple, or when West is written when it should be East, or the contrary, then a woman [who, upon the strength of such a Get, had remarried] must be separated from both husbands. She must receive

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a Get from both, and has no claim on either for the amount of her Ketubah, for her right of usufruct, for maintenance, and for the damage she might claim for the wear and tear of clothes belonging to her, 5 and is bound to refund whatever she may have received on that account from either husband; her child by either husband is a bastard; 6 neither of the husbands may [if they are priests] pollute themselves with her dead body, nor has either of them a right to what she may find or earn, or to annul her vows. If she is an Israelitess, she is disqualified to marry a priest; if the daughter of a Levite, she is prohibited to eat tithe; and if a priest's daughter, to eat heave; the heirs of neither husband have a right to her Ketubah, and when these husbands die, the brothers of both must have the ceremony of Chalitzah performed by her, but may not marry her by Yeboom. When his or her name, or the name of his or her city [or residence], have been written on the Get in a manner different [from the real names], she must [in case she remarried upon such a Get] be separated from both husbands, and she is subject to all the above-mentioned regulations.

§ 6. In the cases of women who are within the degree of consanguinity with whom it is forbidden to intermarry, and whose rivals it is permitted to marry; 7 should these rivals marry, and it is afterwards ascertained that the mentioned relations are unfit to bear children [‏אילונית‎], then the said rival must be separated from the husband she has married, and also from the brother-in-law, and is subject to all the mentioned regulations.

§ 7. When a person marries his sister-in-law by Yeboom, and her [former] rival married some other person, and she who married the brother-in-law was then ascertained to be an ‏אילונית‎, then the said rival must be separated from the husband she married, and from the Yabam [or brother-in-law], and is subject to all the mentioned regulations.

§ 8. When a notary writes a Get for a husband to divorce his wife, and an acquittance for the wife [acknowledging the receipt of the amount of her Ketubah], and gave by mistake the divorce to the wife, and the acquittance to the husband, who interchanged them

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with each other; and when, after a time, the mistake is discovered, by the Get being found in the husband's possession, and the acquittance in that of the wife, she must [if she had already married another husband] be separated from both, and is subject to all the above-mentioned regulations. R. Eleazar saith, "If the error is discovered in time [i.e. before she remarried], the Get is void, but if not, it is valid; because the right of the first husband is insufficient to destroy the claim the second husband bas upon her." 8 When a person wrote a Get to divorce his wife, and afterwards changed his mind, he has, according to Beth Shammai, already disqualified her to be married to the priesthood [at any time]; but, according to Beth Hillel, she is not disqualified, even in the case when he actually delivered a Get to her conditionally, which conditions were not fulfilled [and rendered the Get void].

§ 9. When a person who had divorced his wife passes the night with her at an inn, Beth Shammai decide, "She does not require another Get of him," but Beth Hillel consider it necessary. This difference of opinion is only when he divorced her after having been married, and cohabited with her; but if he divorced her when she was only betrothed to him, both schools agree that no second Get is necessary, because he has not yet been intimate with her. If a person married a woman who had been divorced with [a so called] bald Get 9 [‏גט קרח‎], she must be separated from both husbands, and is subject to all the above-mentioned regulations [§ 5].

§ 10. A bald Get may, according to ben Nanas, be made perfect by any one; but R. Akivah saith, "It may only be perfected by persons whose evidence, when tendered in other cases in her behalf, is admissible, although they should be related to her." What is a bald Get? One which has more folds than subscribing witnesses. 10

Footnotes

299:1 Of the obligation of repayment if the money so thrown was lost.

299:2 That is, within three hand-breadths of the surface or level of the roof.

299:3 That is, by a dynasty which does not reign in the place the Get was written.

299:4 Or by any other monarchy which does no longer exist.

300:5 This is explained in Treatise Yebamoth, chap. X., § 1, et seq., and also in Treatise Ketuboth.

300:6 This is according to R. Meir, hut the Halacha, or doctrinal decision, is to the contrary effect.

300:7 See Treatise Yebamoth, chap. I.

301:8 R. Eleazar apprehends that some collusion may exist between the woman and the first husband, who [to the prejudice of the second husband] may have clandestinely exchanged their documents, so as to be allowed to cohabit again.

301:9 See the next § and note.

301:10 This answer is too concise to explain the subject of the question to any one unacquainted with the passage in another part of the Mishna, to which allusion is here made. It is mentioned, in Treatise Baba Kama, that the priests were often in the habit to divorce their wives in sudden fits of passion, and repented soon after; when, as priests, it was unlawful for them to take them back, after having been once divorced. The sages, therefore, instituted this kind of Get, for the purpose and with the intention of delaying the divorce, and to facilitate a reconciliation between the parties taking place. For much time was spent in the preparation of the said Get, as, after the writing of one or two lines, it was p. 302 ordered to be folded and sewn, so that there were many folds, to each of which the signature of at least one witness was to be affixed, at the back; when any fold appeared to which no signature of a witness was attached, it was called a bare or bald Get [‏גט קרח‎], and was void in consequence; because, it is supposed, that the folds were originally made to correspond with the number of subscribing witnesses, and that the husband told every one of them to sign it, with which, apparently, one or more of them did not comply, who, therefore [as mentioned in the Mishna above], have caused the Get to become void.