Mishnayos Yevamos Perek 14 Mishnah 1

With regard to a deaf-mute who married a halakhically competent woman, and a halakhically competent man who married a deaf-mute: If either man wants to divorce his wife, he may divorce her, and if he wants to maintain her as his wife, he may maintain her. The reason why a deaf-mute man can divorce his wife is that just as he marries her by intimation, i.e., his marriage is not performed by explicit speech, as deaf-mutes rely on gestures, so too, he divorces her by intimation. Likewise, in the case of a halakhically competent man who married a halakhically competent woman, and she later became a deaf-mute: If he wants to divorce his wife, he may divorce her, as a wife does not have to have intellectual capacity to receive a bill of divorce, and if he wants to maintain her as his wife, he may maintain her. If she became an imbecile, he may not divorce her, i.e., a bill of divorce is ineffective in this case. If he became a deaf-mute or an imbecile after they were married, he may never divorce her, as he does not have the legal competence to give a bill of divorce. Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Nuri said: For what reason is the halakha that in the case of the woman who becomes a deaf-mute, her husband may divorce her, but in the case of the man who becomes a deaf-mute, he may not divorce his wife? If the bill of divorce written by someone who formerly possessed all his senses and later became a deaf-mute is invalid, it stands to reason that it should not be valid when she becomes a deaf-mute either. They said to him: The man who divorces his wife is not similar to the woman who is divorced, as the woman is divorced whether she is willing or unwilling. Since the woman’s consent is not required, she may be divorced even if she is a deaf-mute. And, conversely, the man divorces his wife only willingly, and therefore the bill of divorce of a deaf-mute, who is not legally competent, is ineffective.

חֵרֵשׁ שֶׁנָּשָׂא פִקַּחַת, וּפִקֵּחַ שֶׁנָּשָׂא חֵרֶשֶׁת, אִם רָצָה יוֹצִיא, וְאִם רָצָה יְקַיֵּם. כְּשֵׁם שֶׁהוּא כוֹנֵס בִּרְמִיזָה, כָּךְ הוּא מוֹצִיא בִרְמִיזָה. פִּקֵּחַ שֶׁנָּשָׂא פִקַּחַת, וְנִתְחָרְשָׁה, אִם רָצָה יוֹצִיא, וְאִם רָצָה יְקַיֵּם. נִשְׁתַּטֵּית, לֹא יוֹצִיא. נִתְחָרֵשׁ הוּא אוֹ נִשְׁתַּטָּה, אֵינוֹ מוֹצִיא עוֹלָמִית. אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בֶּן נוּרִי, מִפְּנֵי מָה הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁנִּתְחָרְשָׁה יוֹצְאָה, וְהָאִישׁ שֶׁנִּתְחָרֵשׁ אֵינוֹ מוֹצִיא. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, אֵינוֹ דוֹמֶה הָאִישׁ הַמְגָרֵשׁ לְאִשָּׁה מִתְגָּרֶשֶׁת, שֶׁהָאִשָּׁה יוֹצְאָה לִרְצוֹנָהּ וְשֶׁלֹּא לִרְצוֹנָהּ, וְהָאִישׁ אֵינוֹ מוֹצִיא אֶלָּא לִרְצוֹנוֹ: