Although in today’s parlance a get (גֶט) is a bill of divorce separating husband from wife, a get is just the generic term for any type of document. The 10th chapter of our massekhet discusses two different types of gets.
“MISHNA: In an ordinary document (גֵּט
פָּשׁוּט-get pashut), its
witnesses are to sign inside it, i.e., on the written side of the
paper. In a folded and tied document (גֵּט מְקוּשָּׁר -get
mekushar), its
witnesses are to sign on the back of it.”
(TB Baba Batra 160, Sefaria.org translation) A get mekushar is a rabbinic enactment in order to legislate
patience.
The Gemara TB
Baba Batra 160b explains why. “The
Gemara asks: And what is the reason that the Sages instituted the
tied document? The Gemara explains: There was a place where there
were many priests, and they were very quick tempered, and they would
seek to divorce their wives impetuously. The halakha is that a
priest may not marry a divorcée, even his own ex-wife. These priests, who acted
impetuously, often regretted having divorced their wives. And therefore,
the Sages instituted an ordinance that the bill of divorce for these
people should be of the tied format, which is a long, drawn-out process, hoping
that meanwhile, their composure would be regained and they would
reconsider their decision to divorce.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Nobody knows exactly what a get mekushar looks like. The Rishonim have different opinions exactly what it looks like. Tosefot ד"ה תַּקִּינוּ רַבָּנַן מְקוּשָּׁר provides three different reasons nobody uses a get mekushar today.
1.
Since
nobody is an expert how to write and bind a get mekushar, it is better to use get
pashut-the ordinary document format.
2.
The
rabbis only enacted this type of document for that particular place of
hotheaded kohanim.
3.
Rebbeinu
Yitzkhak argues that one is not obligated to use a get mekushar at all. It was only instituted so that hotheaded
kohanim wouldn’t lose their wives in the heat of a moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment