Major and minor mistakes in a get TB Gittin 80

Choosing a knowledgeable scribe (sofer-סוֹפֵר) to write a get is crucial. The second Mishna on daf TB Gittin 79b which continues on today’s daf TB Gittin 80 lists mistakes that invalidate a get and if a woman remarries based on this get, suffers catastrophic consequences. “If he divorced her with this bill of divorce and she remarried, she must leave both this first husband and that second husband, and she needs a bill of divorce from this husband and that husband.

“And she does not receive payment of her marriage contract, and not the profits from her properties that her husband consumed, and she does not have a claim to receive sustenance, and she does not have a claim to worn clothes that belonged to her, but which her husband used. She cannot demand these items, not of this husband and not of that husband.

“If she took any of these items from this husband or from that husband, she must return what was taken. And the child that was born from this husband or from that husband that was conceived after she married the second husband is a son born from an adulterous relationship [mamzer] (according to Jewish law a mamzer is only a child out of forbidden relationship and not a child born out of wedlock-gg). And neither this husband nor that husband, if they are priests, is permitted to become ritually impure by her when she dies, which a husband may ordinarily do for his wife. And neither this husband nor that husband have the rights to objects she finds, or to her earnings, or to the annulment of her vows.” (Sefaria.org translation)

Analyzing the Mishna we can discern two types of mistakes. We can call the first kind of mistake a minor mistake. The first example in our Mishna is using a date of a nonlocal kingdom. An example of this minor mistake is the couple lived in Babylonia, but the scribe used a date of the Roman empire. An egregious mistake get is when the scribe does not use the couple’s correct names or their cities in the get.

Rabbi Meir holds a stringent position. Any mistake in the get invalidates the get. “Rabbi Meir conforms to his line of reasoning. As Rav Hamnuna says in the name of Ulla: Rabbi Meir would say that anyone deviating from the formula coined by the Sages for bills of divorce, even if it is only a minor deviation, the bill of divorce is invalid, and if the woman remarried on the basis of this bill of divorce, then the offspring from that marriage is a mamzer.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The sages disagree with Rabbi Meir. Only egregious mistakes invalidates the get and results with all the above penalties. “But the Rabbis say: The lineage of the offspring is unflawed. And the Rabbis concede to Rabbi Meir, that if he changed his name or her name, the name of his city or the name of her city, the offspring is a mamzer.” (Sefaria.org translation) Nevertheless a priori, the sages agree that all mistakes should be avoided at all costs.

Today we date all gittin according to the Hebrew year going back to the creation of the world. Any get dated today will be dated in the year 5783.

Bottom line, consult your local rabbi to find a knowledgeable sofer to write your get.