Mishnayos Gittin Perek 9 Mishnah 4
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גיטין פרק ט׳ משנה ד׳
Three bills of divorce are invalid ab initio, but if the woman marries another man on the basis of one of these bills of divorce the lineage of the offspring from this marriage is unflawed. In other words, she is not considered to be a married woman who engaged in sexual intercourse with another man, which would impair the lineage of their child. These three bills are: A bill of divorce that the husband wrote in his handwriting but has no signatures of witnesses on the document at all, a case where there are signatures of witnesses on the document but there is no date written on it, and a case where there is a date written on it, but it contains only one witness. These are the three invalid bills of divorce with regard to which the Sages said: And if she marries, the lineage of the offspring is unflawed. Rabbi Eliezer says: Even though there are no signatures of witnesses on the document, but he handed it to her in the presence of two witnesses, it is a valid bill of divorce. And on the basis of this bill of divorce the woman can collect the amount written for her in her marriage contract even from liened property, as Rabbi Eliezer maintains that the witnesses sign the bill of divorce only for the betterment of the world. If no witnesses sign a bill of divorce the husband can contest its validity at any time by denying that he wrote it. Nevertheless, the witnesses’ signatures are not an essential part of a bill of divorce.
שְׁלֹשָׁה גִטִּין פְּסוּלִין, וְאִם נִשֵּׂאת, הַוָּלָד כָּשֵׁר. כָּתַב בִּכְתַב יָדוֹ וְאֵין עָלָיו עֵדִים, יֵשׁ עָלָיו עֵדִים וְאֵין בּוֹ זְמַן, יֶשׁ בּוֹ זְמַן וְאֵין בּוֹ אֶלָּא עֵד אֶחָד, הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ שְׁלֹשָׁה גִטִּין פְּסוּלִין. וְאִם נִשֵּׂאת, הַוָּלָד כָּשֵׁר. רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר אוֹמֵר, אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵין עָלָיו עֵדִים אֶלָּא שֶׁנְּתָנוֹ לָהּ בִּפְנֵי עֵדִים, כָּשֵׁר וְגוֹבָה מִנְּכָסִים מְשֻׁעְבָּדִים, שֶׁאֵין הָעֵדִים חוֹתְמִין עַל הַגֵּט אֶלָּא מִפְּנֵי תִקּוּן הָעוֹלָם:
Bartenura
כתב בכתב ידו ואין עליו עדים. לרבי מאיר דאמר עדי חתימה כרתי, כתב ידו כמאה עדים דמי. ולר׳ אלעזר דאמר עדי מסירה כרתי, הואיל וכתב ידו הוא, וכתב ונתן קרינן ביה, ואע״ג דליכא עדי מסירה כשר מדאורייתאש וחכמים פסלוהו דלמא אתי לאכשורי בכתב סופר:
ואין בו זמן. דזמן תקנתא דרבנן הוא. אי משום פירות, אי משום שמא יחפה על בת אחותו, כדאמרינן בפרק שני:
ואין בו אלא עד אחד. איכא למ״ד אכתב ידו קאי, ורישא אשמעינן דאפילו אין בו עד, הולד כשר. והכא אשמעינן דאפילו יש בו עד אחד לכתחלה לא. ואיכא למ״ד אכתב סופר קאי, ואפ״ה הולו. כשר, דסופר הוה ליה במקום עד שני:
תקון העולם. שמא ימותו עדי מסירה ויבא הבעל ויערער לומר לא גרשתיה. והלכה כרבי אלעזר:
כתב בכתב ידו ואין עליו עדים – For Rabbi Meir who said that the witnesses who affix their signatures [to the Jewish bill of divorce] make the divorce final, one’s signature is considered like one-hundred witnesses. But for Rabbi Eliezer who says that the witnesses who deliver [the Jewish bill of divorce] make the divorce final, since it is his handwriting, and the Biblical text reads (Deuteronomy 24:1): “and he writes [her a bill of divorcement, hands it [to her]…,” and even though the witnesses who deliver the [Jewish bill of divorce] are not valid from the Torah and the Sages invalidated it lest they come to make it fit through the writing of the scribe.
ואין בו זמן – for the date is an ordinance of the Rabbis, whether because of the usufruct or because lest he is partial over his sister’s daughter, as we said in the second chapter.
ואין בו אלא עד אחד – there is, according to the one who says that it refers to his handwriting, and the first part of our Mishnah comes to teach us that even if there is no witnesses [that has signed the Jewish bill of divorce], the child is valid. And here it comes to teach us that even when there is ab initio, one witness [whose signature is affixed], it is not valid. And according to the one who says that it refers to the handwriting of the scribe, even so, the offspring is valid, for the scribe is in place of the second witness.
תקון עולם – lest the witnesses to the delivery [of the Jewish bill of divorce] die and the husband comes and raises a complaint saying that I did not divorce her. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer.