Gittin, Daf Vav, Part 1

 

Introduction

The Talmud continues with stories and halakhot concerning someone who brings a get to Israel from abroad.

 

רַבָּה בַּר בַּר חָנָה אַיְיתִי גִּיטָּא פַּלְגָא אִיכְּתַב קַמֵּיהּ וּפַלְגָא לָא אִיכְּתַב קַמֵּיהּ

אֲתָא לְקַמֵּיהּ דְּרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אֲמַר לֵיהּ אֲפִילּוּ לֹא כָּתַב בּוֹ אֶלָּא שִׁיטָה אַחַת לִשְׁמָהּ שׁוּב אֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ

רַב אָשֵׁי אָמַר אֲפִילּוּ קַן קוּלְמוֹסָא וְקַן מְגִילְּתָא

 

Rabbah bar bar Hannah brought a get. Half of it was written in his presence and half was not written in his presence.

He came in front of Rabbi Elazar. He said to him: Even if only one line was written with her in mind, you don t need any more.

Rav Ashi said: Even if he [heard the sound] of the quill or the sound of the scroll.

 

The rabbis here are lenient with regard to how much of the get must be written with her in mind. According to Rabbi Elazar, only one line needs to be written with her in mind. According to Rav Ashi, the agent needs only to hear the sound of the quill or scroll. There are different interpretations in Rashi as to what this line means. According to one interpretation, this refers to the preparing of the quill and scroll for use. According to the second interpretation, this refers to the sound of the quill and scroll while the get is being written.

תַּנְיָא כְּווֹתֵיהּ דְּרַב אָשֵׁי הַמֵּבִיא גֵּט מִמְּדִינַת הַיָּם אֲפִילּוּ הוּא בַּבַּיִת וְסוֹפֵר בָּעֲלִיָּיה הוּא בָּעֲלִיָּיה וְסוֹפֵר בַּבַּיִת אֲפִילּוּ נִכְנָס וְיוֹצֵא כָּל הַיּוֹם כּוּלּוֹ כָּשֵׁר

הוּא בַּבַּיִת וְסוֹפֵר בָּעֲלִיָּיה הָא לָא קָא חָזֵי לֵיהּ אֶלָּא לָאו כְּגוֹן דִּשְׁמַע קַן קוּלְמוֹסָא וְקַן מְגִילְּתָא

 

It was taught in accordance with Rav Ashi: One who brings a get from abroad, even if he is in the house and the scribe in the upper chamber, or he is in the upper chamber and the scribe is in the house, even if he comes in and out all day, it is valid.

If he is in the house and scribe in the upper chamber behold he will not see him? Rather, is this not a case where he heard the sound of the quill or the sound of the scroll.

 

The baraita here allows the agent to testify as to the validity of the get even if he and the scribe are not in the same part of the house. The get is valid because the agent can testify that he heard the sound of the quill or scroll, as Rav Ashi said above.

 

אָמַר מָר אֲפִילּוּ נִכְנָס וְיוֹצֵא כָּל הַיּוֹם כּוּלּוֹ כָּשֵׁר מַאן אִילֵימָא שָׁלִיחַ הַשְׁתָּא הוּא בַּבַּיִת וְסוֹפֵר בָּעֲלִיָּיה דְּלָא חָזֵי לֵיהּ אָמְרַתְּ כָּשֵׁר נִכְנָס וְיוֹצֵא מִיבַּעְיָא

אֶלָּא סוֹפֵר

 

The master said: Even if he comes in and out all day, it is valid. Who? If we say that this is the agent, now that you said it is valid even if he is in the house and the scribe is in the upper chamber, where he would not see him at all, do we need to say [that it is valid] if he comes in and out.

Rather, it refers to the scribe.

 

The question is who is going in and out of the house? The scribe or the agent? It can t be the agent, because this would be overly obvious. We already said that the agent does not even need to see the scribe.

Rather it must be the scribe who goes in and out.

 

פְּשִׁיטָא מִשּׁוּם דְּנִכְנָס וְיוֹצֵא נִפְסְלִינֵּיהּ

לָא צְרִיכָא דִּנְפַק לְשׁוּקָא וַאֲתָא מַהוּ דְּתֵימָא אִינִישׁ אַחֲרִינָא אַשְׁכְּחֵיהּ וַאֲמַר לֵיהּ קָא מַשְׁמַע לַן

 

This is obvious! Why should we disqualify the get just because he is going in and out.

It is necessary only when he goes out to the marketplace and then comes back. What might you have said? Perhaps he found another person who told him [to write a get]. Therefore it teaches us [that we are not concerned about this].

 

Why should it matter that the scribe is going in and out? Why would that potentially invalidate the get?

The Talmud answers that this could refer to a case where the scribe goes to the marketplace. We might have been concerned that he would find another person there who would tell him to write a get and that now the scribe is writing a get for a different woman. The baraita teaches us that we do not have to be concerned about this scenario.

While this scenario does admittedly sound very unlikely, it might have been a bit more plausible given the fact that one of the major jobs of scribes might have been to write out divorce documents.