| פרק ד משנה ב | |
| בראשונה | Originally, |
| היה עושה בית דין | one could form a beis din |
| במקום אחר | in another place [than the wife of messenger] |
| ומבטלו |
and nullify [a get in the presence of that beis din]; |
| התקין רבן גמליאל הזקן | Rabban Gamliel the elder enacted |
| שלא יהו עושין כן | that he may not do so |
| מפני תקון העולם | for the good of the public. |
| בראשונה | Originally, |
| היה משנה שמו ושמה | one could change his name and her name (i.e., when writing a get, use a name that he or she was not know by elsewhere) |
| שם עירו ושם עירה | the name of his city or her city |
| והתקין רבן גמליאל הזקן | and Rabban Gamliel the elder enacted |
| שיהא כותב איש פלוני | that he write "the man so-and-so" |
| וכל שם שיש לו | followed by every name he had, |
| אשה פלונית | "the woman so-and-so" |
| וכל שום שיש לה | followed by every name she had |
| מפני תקון העולם | for the good of the public. |
| פרק ד משנה ג | |
| אין אלמנה נפרעת | A widow does not collect (her kesuba) |
| מנכסי יתומים | from the orphans' assets |
| אלא בשבועה | except with an oath [she had had not already received any of it]. |
| נמנעו מלהשביע | When they refrained from allowing her to swear |
| התקין רבן גמליאל הזקן | Rabban Gamliel the elder enacted |
| שתהא נודרת ליתומים |
that she could be required to make a neder to the orphans |
| כל מה שירצו | to their satisfaction |
| וגובה כתובתה | and thereby collect from their assets. |
| העדים חותמין על הגט | The witnesses sign a get |
| מפני תקון העולם | for the good of the public. |
| הלל התקין פרוזבול | Hillel enacted the pruzbul |
| מפני תקון העולם | for the good of the public. |
NOTES
משנה ב
שלא יהו עושין כן - There is a difference of opinion in the גמרא as to consequences of breaching this rule. Some say the cancellation is still effective, but we punish the husband for it with מלקות, others hold that the marriage would be retroactively annulled, as it was entered into כדעת משה וישראל.
כותב איש פלוני וכל שם שוש לו . . . מפני תקון העולם - The fear was that, if one of the parties was known by another name elsewhere, there could be doubt cast upon whether or not the get was really for that woman.
משנה ג
נמנעו מלהשביע - This was done because of a fear that widows, rationalizing that they deserved compensation for caring for the orphans beyond the כתובה, would swear falsely.
שתהא נודרת - This was seen as a solution either because violating a נדר was not as serious , or because it was believed that widows would actually be more conscientious about keeping a נדר.
to be more effective in eliciting an honesty position from the widow.
העדים חותמין על הגט - This was not necessary, either because we hold עדי מסירה כרתי, and this measure was enacted as an additional means of validating a divorce should one of the עדי מסירה die, or, although עדי חתימה כרתי, originally they were not required to write nothing more than "אני פלוני חתמתי עד", without specifying their name. This rule added the additional measure of their writing their name on the get as well.
פרוזבול - this legal device, by which debts were assigned to בית דין for collection, prevented the debts from being cancelled by שמיטה; prior to its enactment there was a reluctance to lend money to others.