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פרק ג משנה ב
הכותב טפסי גטין

One who writes forms for gittin (consisting of the boilerplate language found in every get)

צריך שיניח מקום האיש

(even if he anticipates a particular divorce prior to the husband's coming to him to have the get prepared he) must leave [blank] space for the [name of] the husband,

ומקום האשה space for the  the wife
 ומקום הזמן and space for the date;
שטרי מלוה [one who rights blank forms for] loan documents
 צריך שיניח מקום המלוה must leave space for the lender,
מקום הלוה space for the borrower,
 מקום המעות space for the [amount of] money,
 ומקום הזמן and space for the date;
שטרי מקח [one who rights blank forms for] purchase documents
צריך שיניח מקום הלוקח must leave space for the purchaser,
ומקום המוכר space for the seller,
ומקום המעות space for the money,
 ומקום השדה space for the field [being sold],
ומקום הזמן and space for the date;
מפני התקנה due to a [rabbinical] remedy.
רבי יהודה פוסל בכלן Rabbi Yehuda invalidates all [of these forms];
רבי אלעזר מכשיר בכלן Rabbi Elazar permits all [of these forms]
חוץ מגטי נשים except for women's divorces,
שנאמר  as it is written:
(וכתב לה (דברים, כד:א "and you shall write for her"
לשמה [from which we derive that it must be written] with the specific intent that it be for her.
   
פרק ג משנה ד
המביא גט ואבד הימנו   One who brings a get and loses it (in a heavily trafficked area, where we afraid that someone else may have dropped an identically written get intended for someone else)
מצאו לאלתר כשר [if] he finds it immediately it is valid,
ואם לאו פסול and if not, it is invalid (as we are afraid it is someone else's).
 מצאו בחפיסה If he finds it in a valise,
או בדלוסקמא or in a document case,
אם מכירו כשר

[*or] if he recognizes it, it is valid. (*Some say this refers to a third situation where he recognizes the get, others that it is referring to the valise or case.)

המביא גט One who brings a get
והניחו זקן או חולה and had left [when the husband was] old or ill
נותנו לה he may deliver it to [the wife]
בחזקת שהוא קים with the presumption that he is still alive.
בת ישראל הנשואה לכהן If the daughter of a non-cohen was married to a cohen
והלך בעלה למדינת הים and her husband travelled overseas,
אוכלת בתרומה she may continue to eat terumah
בחזקת שהוא קים with the presumption that he is still alive
השולח חטאתו ממדינת הים If one sends his korbon chatos from overseas
מקריבין אותה we may sacrifice it
בחזקת שהוא קים with the presumption that he is still alive.
   

NOTES

משנה ב

הכותב טפסי גטין - Even if the scribe anticipates a particular couple's divorce, he may only write the טופס, the boilerplate, non-operative language of the גט (as well as the city, according to תוספות יום טוב).  He may not write the parties' names, the date, or, the גמרא adds, the phrase הרי את מותרת לכל אדם, which is the operative language of the תורף, the part of the גט that actually effectuates the divorce.

מפני התקנה - The גמרא provides two sets of explanations of what this תקנה was.  The first assumes that the ת"ק holds like רבי אלעזר that עדי מסירה כרתי and when the תורה says "וכתב לה", it is referring to the text of the גט (as opposed to the witnesses' signature, which he holds to be less significant).  Thus, while we may ordinarily not be inclined to allow any part of the גט to be written שלא לשמה, we allow the טופס to be prewritten.  This was either (i) for the benefit of scribes, in that they would be able to quickly meet their customers' needs, or (ii) for the benefit of women, by making it easier for husbands about to travel overseas to divorce their wives, thus keeping them from becoming עגונות.  This set of פשטים also holds that the ר"א of the end of our mishna is a different opinion on what the opinion of רבי אלעזר was.  The other set of explanations assumes that the the תנא קמא follows the opinion of רבי מאיר, that עדי חתימה ברתי.  As such, there should be no need for any part of the גט other than the witnesses' signatures to be written לשמה, and the תקנה is a stringency, not a leniency.  According to רבי מאיר the reason for the stringency proscribing having the תורף of a גט written in advance is due to either (i) a desire to avoid "quickie" divorces that husbands might effect in a fit of anger if they had easy access to prewritten גטין, or (ii)  a fear of misunderstanding that could arise if a woman observes a scribe writing a גט with her name on it, leading her to assume that her husband had ordered it when he had not. 

 

 

 

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