Gittin 87 - Group Divorce

If two men sent two identical Get documents to their wives through an agent (the names of the husbands and their wives being identical), and the Get documents were confused by the agent, he must give both Get documents to both women.

If five men wrote a common text in the Get, namely, "I, so-and-so, am divorcing my wife, so-and-so, etc.," the Get is valid for all five couples, and it should be given to every one of the women named in it to effect her divorce.

Art: Two sisters by Theodore Chasseriau

Gittin 86 - Three Gittin are Invalid

Three types of Get documents are invalid, but if she married on their basis anyway, the child she has from the second marriage is legitimate: a Get that the husband wrote in his own handwriting but there are no witnesses signed on it; a Get that has no date recorded on it; a Get that has only one witness signed on it.

Rabbi Elazar says, “Even though there are no witnesses signed on the Get, but he gave it to her in the presence of witnesses, it is valid, for witnesses sign on the Get only for the benefit of society.”

Art: Peace with Honour - Queen Victoria (1819-1901) with Benjamin Disraeli (1804-81) following the signing of the Berlin Treaty in 1878 by THEODORE BLAKE WIRGMAN

Gittin 85 - Get with Unusual Conditions

If one gives his wife a Get and says, "You are hereby permitted to any man except to my father or your father," or “to a slave or an idolater,” the divorce is valid since her marriage to any of these men would not be binding.

But what if the husband makes a condition that she can not marry a particular minor? At present, the minor can not marry, but eventually, he will become an adult. By comparison with a minor girl who can divorce, because eventually she will marry as an adult, the Get above is declared not complete separation, thus void.

Art: Eleanor of Toledo. Portrait by Agnolo Bronzino.

Gittin 84 - Giving Wives as Gifts

If a man gives his wife a Get on condition that she marries so-and-so, she should not marry so-and-so because it looks like giving wives as gifts. If she does marry, she need not divorce. She should not marry others because this may invalidate the Get.

"On condition that you have relations with so-and-so" is valid because she can bribe him to marry her for a time. "On condition that you have relations with my father, or your father" is invalid because she can not bribe the father, so it is to vex her, and the Get is valid.

Art: An Elegant Woman at St. Malo by Vittorio Matteo Corcos 

Gittin 83 - No Strings Attached to the Get!

Rabbi Eliezer validated a Get with a condition "You are permitted to marry any man but so-and-so." Rabbi Eliezer's learning was supreme, but many Rabbis reunited to disprove his teaching after his death. However, all but one of their rebuttals had potential flaws.

The indisputable proof came from Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria. He deduced the requirement of complete severance from the term that the Torah used, "Kritut," instead of a possible shorter word, "Karet." According to Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaria, this teaches that temporary conditions in the Get are valid but not permanent ones.

Art: Portrait of an Old Man by Rembrandt

Gittin 82 - Get is Complete Severance

To be effective, a Get must completely sever the marital relationship between the husband and the wife.

If one divorces his wife and says to her, "You are hereby permitted to any man but so-and-so," she is not divorced. What should he do? He should take the Get from her, give it to her again, and say, "You are hereby permitted to any man."

But if he wrote this restriction into the Get itself, although he later erased it, the Get is invalid since it never was a "document of severance."

Art: A Seated Woman in an Interior Gazing out of the Window by Thomas Wyck

Gittin 81 - Change of Mind about the Get

If one wrote a Get for his wife and then changed his mind before delivering the Get, Beit Shammai says she is somewhat like a divorcee and can not marry a Kohen later.

However, Beit Hillel says that even if he gave her a Get conditionally and the condition was never met, she can still marry a Kohen if her husband dies.

Art: A Jewish Wedding by Joseph Israels