Bartenura on Mishnah Gittin

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5.9.8
ומחזיקין ידי גוים – to tell them that they should strengthen their hands
5.9.9
ושואלים בשלומם – all the days, even on the days of their holidays, and even though he places the name of heaven on the heathen [but nevertheless] peace is one of the names of the Holy One, blessed be He.
6.1.1
האומר: התקבל – אם רצה לחזור יחזור – for the Jewish bill of divorce is debt that he has towards her (acting in behalf of a person to the latter’s disadvantage), and we do not do something that will do harm to a person without the other’s knowledge (see Mishnah Eruvin, Chapter 7, Mishnah 11 and Mishnah Gittin, Chapter 1, Mishnah 6).
6.1.2
לא יחזור – for since she made him equivalent as her agent, behold he is like her hand and and is divorced immediately when he receives from this one [i.e., the husband].
6.1.3
אף האומרת טול לי גיטי – this is the language of reception. And the Halakha is according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
6.2.1
צריכה – to bring before us two sets of witnesses
6.2.2
שנים שיאמרו בפנינו אמרה – to him [i.e., the husband] to receive it [i.e., the Jewish bill of divorce].
6.2.3
ושנים שיאמרו בפנינו קבל וקרע – And this was taught during the time of religious persecution, where they decreed against [the observance of] the commandments and they would immediately tear the Jewish bill of divorce, so that they should it should not be seen.
6.2.5
או אחד מן הראשונים ואחד מן האחרונים ואחד – a third [individual] who was made a witness with this group and the other group, who joins with them.
6.2.6
היא ואביה – either she [i.e., the betrothed maiden, between the ages of twelve and twelve-and-one-half] or her father, for she has “a hand,” because she is considered an adult, and her father also has authority to receive it.
6.2.7
אינה מתגרשת – and even with her father receiving it [i.e., the Jewish bill of divorce], as it is written (Deuteronomy 24:1): “…and sends her away from his house,” [which describes] someone who sends her away but she does not return, excluding [a case] where he sends her away but she returns.
6.3.1
במקום אחר פסול – for the husband is strict that it is not his desire that they should cast suspicion upon him there.
6.3.2
הרי היא במקום פלומי – he [i.e., the husband] is doing nothing more than showing him the place, for there she can be found.
6.3.3
רבי אליעזר מכשיר – for he holds that he [i.e., the husband] is divorcing [her] of his own free will, there is an intimation that you care for a thing to be exactly as you want it, for she is divorced against her will, and she is merely showing him the place. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.
6.4.1
הבא לי גטי אוכלת בתרומה – if she is the wife of a Kohen, until the Jewish bill of divorce reaches her hand.
6.4.2
לאותו מקום – since she said to him (i.e., the agent): you will not be my agent other than “there.”
6.4.3
ורבי אליעזר אוסר מיד – from when he separated from her. And Rabbi Eliezer, according to his reasoning, who validates [the Jewish bill of divorce] when it is received in a different placer, for he she is merely showing him the place, and from the time that he [i.e., the agent] receives it, she will be divorced from him. Therefore, from the moment that he separated from her presence, she is prohibited [from consuming the heave-offering/sanctified food of the Kohen] lest the husband find the agent outside the city and he receives it [i.e., the Jewish bill of divorce] from him. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Eliezer.
6.5.1
כתבו אגרת וכו' – For the Jewish bill of divorce is called a “letter” since [the words] “a letter of divorce” in it [i.e., the Jewish bill of divorce].
6.5.2
פטרוה לא אמר כלום – perhaps the language of “exempt” and “liable” is being said, to lighten from her the obligations that she is liable for.
6.5.3
פרנסוה – the language of performing her needs, such as taking out for [the purposes] of [providing] sustenance etc. Therefore, we do not know if these are the needs of the Jewish bill of divorce, that she will not be dependent upon/tied to leviratical marriage (i.e., she cannot marry otherwise until released from him), or [the document is speaking of] the needs of clothing and covering.
6.5.4
כנימוס – according to law, and we do not know if it is the Jewish law of divorce or the law of [provision of] food and clothing, and similarly as appropriate.
6.5.5
היוצא בקולר – to be killed as per the law of the kingdom.
6.5.6
ואמר כתבו – even though he did not say, “give it” [to my wife].
6.5.7
יכתבו ויתנו – for on account of his fear, he was troubled and did not expound [on his intentions].
6.5.8
המפרש – on the sea
6.5.9
והיוצא בשיירא – to the deserts
6.5.10
המסוכן – the infirm, and Halakha is according to Rabbi Shimon Shezuri
6.6.1
ואמר: כל השומע את קולו – and he mentioned his name and the name of his city
6.6.2
רצה לשחק בה – for since he did not say, “give it”
6.6.3
מעשה בבריא – The Gemara explains that the Mishnah is deficient and this is how it should be explained: And if his end result is evidence of his [thinking at the] beginning, then it is surely a Jewish bill of divorce. And there is a story also about a healthy individual. And the Halakha is according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
6.7.1
אמר לשנים תנו גט לאשתי – even though he did not say, “write and give,” they should write [it] on their own, and not tell another scribe that he should write it, nor for witnesses to attest it with their signatures, for the Jewish court did consider that they should command others, but rather [only] on the witnesses, “these are the agents,” “these are the witnesses,.” But if he [i.e., the husband] said to three [individuals]: write and give a Jewish bill of divorce to my wife,” even though they are worthy to serve as a Jewish court, since in public, he said to them, “write,” he did not compare them to a Jewish court, but rather only as witnesses.
6.7.2
אמר לג' תנו – but did not say, “write”
6.7.3
הרי אלו יאמרו – to other witnesses to write, affix their signatures nad give it, because they were made into a Jewish court.
6.7.4
בבית האסורים – in the name of Rabbi Akiba who was imprisoned.
6.7.5
נומינו לשליח – We said to Rabbi Hanina that we should appoint an agent with regard to this Halakha and to mention it in the Bet Midrash/academy.
6.7.6
ילמדו – if they do not know how to write [a Jewish bill of divorce], they should learn to write until they can write them on their own.
7.1.1
מי שאחזו קורדייקוס – that his mind became confused as a result of a devil who reigns over those who drink new wine.
7.1.2
אין בדבריו האחרונים כלום – And there is no need to return and request another when he was clear-minded once again, but we write the Jewish bill of divorce and rely upon his earlier words. However, as long as his mind is confused, we do not write the Jewish bill of divorce.
7.1.3
הרכין – tilted/bent
7.1.4
בודקין אותו – with other words
7.1.5
הרי אלו יכתבו ויתנו – if he inclined his head over the Jewish bill of divorce an inclination of “yes.”
7.2.1
אמרו לו – to a healthy person or to a Sage on his death-bed.
7.2.2
נכתוב גט לאשתך – that she should not be in need of the husband’s brother (in the case of the husband dying without issue, whose brother enters the estate and marries his wife).
7.3.1
זה גטך אם מתי, לא אמר כלום – that implies, when I will die, but there is no Jewish bill of divorce after death.
7.3.2
מחולי זה – implying – from this illness and onwards, for since he died in the midst of this illness, the Jewish bill of divorce would not take effect until after death.
7.3.3
מהיום ולאחר מילה גט ואינו גט – we doubt if he had made a condition to her, “from today if I die,” for when he died, the condition was fulfilled, and it follows that it was a Jewish bill of Divorce from the time he gave it [to her]; and if he retracted, it is that retracted from what he said “from today,” for he said, “after death it will be a Jewish bill of divorce,” and that is meaningless, since he did not say, “from today if I die.”
7.3.4
חולצת – lest it is not a Jewish bill of divorce
7.3.5
ולא מתיבמת – lest it was a Jewish divorce, and she would thereby the divorcee of his brother, we establish that she is subject to a prohibition which would involve extirpation [for it being violated].
7.4.1
לא תתיחד עמו – This one who gave [her] a Jewish bill of divorce and said to her, “from today if I die,” she should not be alone with him, lest that he should come up upon her and she would need a second Jewish bill of divorce, for we are concerned lest he engaged in a sexual act with her for the purposes of betrothal.
7.4.2
מה היא באותן הימים – This is not referring to the first part of the Mishnah, when he [i.e., the husband] says [to his wife] , “ [you will be divorced] from today if I die.” For this is surely the case that when he dies, the matter is revealed that it would be a Jewish bill of divorce from the time of the giving of [the Jewish bill of divorce] and he who comes upon her, is exempt. But when he says to her [at the time] when the Jewish bill of divorce is delivered, “this is your Jewish bill of divorce, and you will be divorced by it from the time that I am in the world, if I die,” Rabbi Yehuda thinks that this [this takes place] close to [his] death, that it is a [legitimate] bill of divorce, and before this, she is a married woman. But Rabbi Yosi holds that from when he gives her the Jewish bill of divorce, all that time, it is doubtful to us perhaps this is the time close to his death, and it is a questionable Jewish bill of divorce. And even though he lives more, there is no alternative. Therefore, it is doubtful and he who comes upon her {in a sexual act] is liable for special guilt-offering, made when in doubt as to the commission of a sinful act.
7.5.1
הרי זו מגורשת ותתן – she is divorced from now – from the time of the receiving of the Jewish bill of divorce, and she is required to give [according to] the condition he made with her. But if the Jewish bill of divorce was lost or torn prior to it being given, there is no need for a new Jewish bill of divorce, for anyone who states "on condition” is like someone who says, “from now.”
7.5.2
אמר רשב"ג מעשה בצידן – The Gemara explains that this Mishnah is deficient and should be read as follows: If he [i.e., the husband] said to her: “on condition that you give me my suit but his suit was lost, specifically when he mentions it; Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel states that she should give him its monetary value since the husband only had the intention for his own comfort; and there was an episode in Sidon with one who said to his wife, etc., and the Sages said that she should give him its monetary value, but the Halakha is not according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
7.6.1
על מנת שתשמשי את אבא, על מנת שתניקי את בני – In the Gemara it is proven that every undefined [period] where the time was not fixed- how much time she should wait upon his father or how long she should nurse his son, it is like specifying one day and the condition is fulfilled if she waits upon his father or nurses his son for only one day.
7.6.2
כמה היא מניקתו – that is to say, how long is the period of nursing, for she nursed him one day in that time period, the condition has been fulfilled.
7.6.3
שתי שנים רבי יהודה אומר: י"ח חודש – but if she nursed him after the two year period of the Rabbis was completed or eighteen months according to Rabbi Yehuda, this is not nursing, and the condition has not been fulfilled. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.
7.6.4
מת הבן – and she had not nursed him at all
7.6.5
או מת האב – and she had not waited upon him
7.6.6
הרי זה גט – for he did not intend through his condition to cause her pain, but rather for his own comfort, and for this, it was not necessary, for if he knew that his father or son would die, he would not have made the condition.
7.6.7
שלא בהקפדה – even though she did not provoke him to anger , and there was no delay on her part, it is not a Jewish bill of divorce. And all the more so, if he exhibited a temper.
7.6.8
כזה גט – since she did not cause him to lose his temper and there was no delay on her part, but the Halakha is not according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel.
7.7.1
הגיע לאנטיפטרס – The Gemara explains this Mishnah, such as two conditions were made: either I reach the Galilee, immediately it is a Jewish bill of divorce or if I do not reach the Galilee if we delay for thirty days and I do not come, it is a Jewish bill of divorce (i.e., it takes effect), and if not, it is not a Jewish bill of divorce (i.e., it does not take effect). If he went and arrived at Antipras which is at the end of the land of Judea and returned prior to thirty days, the Jewish bill of divorce is nullified, for he did not arrive in the Galilee and did not stay there for thirty days. And similarly if…
7.7.2
היה הולך מגליל ליהודה והגיע לכפר עותנאי – which is at the edge of the border of the Galilee, for he did not go abroad nor did he stay there for thirty days.
7.7.4
כל זמן שאעבור מנגד פניך ל' יום – By my staying there thirty days, I have been out of your sight, then it will be a Jewish bill of divorce.
7.7.5
והיה הולך ובא וכו' – And afterwards, when he will tarry there for thirty days, he will be out of her sight, and it will be a Jewish bill of divorce. But we do not say that since, from the beginning, he was coming and going, for we suspect lest he appeased a quarrel between them, and the Jewish bill of divorce was nullified, that in the aftermath, he did not cohabit with her at the time when he was coming and going , we do not suspect that perhaps he appeased [her], but when he fulfills his conditions and tarries for thirty days with him being out of her sight, it is a Jewish bill of divorce. And in the Gemara, it is maintained [that this refers to] when he says at the time of [making] the condition, “on the condition of this, I deliver the Jewish bill of divorce” – that she will be trustworthy to me like one-hundred witnesses as song as she says that I did not come and cohabit [with her] and that I appeased [her]. And such is the Halakha, for if he did not say this at the time of the condition, we suspect lest the husband will comeand raise a complaint and say that I appeased [her].
7.8.1
אינו גט – but since he did not say, “from now,” it implies that after twelve months it would be a Jewish bill of divorce, and behold, he died within that time period, and she would need her dead husband’s brother [if they had no children in their marriage while he was alive] to marry her.
8.1.1
הזורק. הרי זו מגורשת – As it is written (Deuteronomy 24:1): “…[and he writes her a bill of divorcement], hands it to her...,” and since it is not written, “and in her hand he should give it,” implying nevertheless, “and he gives,” whether in her court or in her garden or in her enclosure. And [it means] that she is standing at the side of her house or at the side of her courtyard.
8.1.2
קלתה – a utensil in which women place yarn and needles/pins.
8.1.3
הרי זו מגורשת – and even if she is inside his house, for the place of her lap and vase-shaped basket is acquired by her, for a man (i.e., husband) is not stringent regarding the place of her lap or on the place of her vase-shaped basket.
8.2.1
או שמצאתו מאחוריו – the Jewish bill of divorce was on his back and he curved his back towards her so that she could take it.
8.2.2
אינו גט עד שיאמר טלי גטך – and he said [to her]: “take your Jewish bill of divorce,” however, it is a Jewish bill of divorce. But if the Jewish bill of divorce was on the ground, or on his back or or his body and he did not curve his back nor presented his body to her in order that she could take it, even if he said: “take your Jewish bill of divorce,” it is not a Jewish bill of divorce.
8.2.3
קוראה והרי היא גיטה – and when she reads through it, he sees that it is her Jewish bill of divorce.
8.2.4
קרוב לה מגורשת, קרוב לו אינה מגורשת – All the while that she is able to guard it, and he is unable to guard it, this is what is “close to her,” and all that she is unable to guard, but he is able to guard, it is “close to him.” Both of them are able to guard it or both of them are unable to guard it, this is half-and-half, and regarding a Halakhic decision, she is not divorced until the Jewish bill of divorce reaches her hand or her domain.
8.3.1
אמר לו בעל חובו: זרוק לי חובי – In the Gemara we establish it for when the creditor says, throw me my debt (the monies owed by the debtor) in the [manner similar to the] nature of Jewish divorce, and since he [i.e., the creditor] said this to him [i.e., the borrower], this obligation of indebtedness has the same [format] as the law the law of Jewish divorce, for if the borrower threw it closer to the creditor, and it [became] lost , the borrower is acquitted and he is not liable to pay [again], but if it landed closer to the borrower, he is liable to pay. But if the creditor said to him: throw me my debt and it shall be dismissed, since he threw it to him in any matter, he is exempt.
8.3.2
לאויר הגג – wherever there is a gap of less than three handbreadths near the bottom of the roof, it isd considered a “Lavud” – the legal fiction of considering separated parts as united.
8.3.3
מרשות הגג – if it left the divided off space of the roof and entered into the partition of the space where it is standing (serving as a legal fiction – as if one of its broadside were prolonged to form a partition).
8.3.4
או נשרף הרי זו מגורשת – the throwing of the Jewish bill of divorce into the courtyard preceded its being burned in the airspace of the courtyard, for if it had been burned in the courtyard first, in principle, from the beginning, it was being tossed into the fire, and she is not divorced.
8.4.1
בגט ישן – He [i.e., the husband] wrote to divorce his wife and after the Jewish bill of divorce had been written, he was [found to be] alone with her. The School of Shammai holds that we do not say that there is a decree lest people would say that her Jewish bill of divorce came before her children [arrived] lest the [delivery of the Jewish bill of divorce] is delayed a year or two [years] between the writing and the delivery, and she will have had children from him in the midst of that time and afterwards, will divorce her with it; and when people will see the date of the Jewish bill of divorce which is prior to the birth of her son, people would think that he [i.e., the husband] gave her the Jewish bill of divorce at the time it was written, and there would be a discredit [to her] as [people] would say that the children were born from a “free” (i.e., unmarried) woman, and the Halakhic decision is that a person should not divorce his wife with an “old Jewish bill of divorce.” But if the husband divorced her and then went to another country, she may ab initio, remarry through this.
8.5.1
כתב לשם מלכות שאינה הוגנת – If he was in Babylonia and wrote “for Heshbon in the years of the kingdom of Edom” where there is no such kingdom in the place where the Jewish bill of divorce is written, she should go free [with a corresponding Jewish bill of divorce, if she married on account of the “Jewish bill of divorce” that she received from the first one] from this one and that one, and it is called “The Kingdom of Edom,” a kingdom which is not corresponding to/befitting it, which lacks a form of writing and a language.
8.5.2
אי שכתב מלכות מדי – since it is necessary to write the name of the kingdom of the state in which the Jewish bill of divorce is written , out of concern for the peace of the kingdom, so that they will say, “we are important in their eyes where they write their documents in our names.
8.5.3
תצא מזה ומזה – if she married via the Jewish bill of divorce [that she had received], she should go free from the first [marriage] as well as from the second [marriage].
8.5.4
ואין לה לא פירות ולא בלאות וכו' – Our entire Mishnah is explained in the Tractate Yevamot in the chapter “The Great Wife” (Chapter 10, Mishnah 1).
8.5.5
והולד ממזר מזה ומזה – Our Mishnah [is according to] Rabbi Meir, who said that he who deviates from the coinage that the Sages formulated in [the realm of] Gittin/Jewish bills of divorce, the offspring are illegitimate/Mamzerim but this is not the Halakha.
8.6.1
כל העריות שאמרו צרותיהן מותרות – fifteen rival wives (see Tractate Yevamot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 1) that the Sages say that [married severally to the brother of a man with whom marriage is forbidden] cause the exemption from levirate marriage [and from the removal of the shoe] (of their associates and eventually the associates of their associates] to marry in the market place without the removal of the shoe.
8.6.2
הלכו הצרות – of women forbidden to a man on account of consanguinity
8.6.3
ונשאו – in the marketplace
8.6.4
ונמצאו – these women forbidden to a man on account of consanguinity אילוניות – And the matter was discovered that they were betrothed in error to the dead man, and it was found that these were not their associates and that these women forbidden to a man on account of consanguinity were not exempted from the ceremony of her removing the shoe of her dead-husband’s brother who refused to marry her.
8.6.5
תצא מזה – from the husband that she had been married to and from the Yabam (the brother of the dead-husband, since she had had no issue from her husband). -
8.6.6
וכל הדברים האלו בה – And in [Tractate] Yevamot, we establish it according to Rabbi Akiba who said that there is are illegitimate children from the violation of negative commandments, but it is not the Halakha.
8.7.1
ונשאת לאחר – since we establish for us that the sexual act of the one exempts her associate co-wife.
8.7.2
ונמצאת זו – who had been married by the dead-husband’s brother was found to be incapable of bearing children, her act of marrying her dead-husband’s brother is not effective, and she did not exempt her associate wives and went to the marketplace to get married without the ceremony of the removal of the shoe of her dead-husband’s brother [who refused to marry her].
8.7.3
תצא מזה ומזה – [she should leave] this husband and from her first brother-in-law.
8.8.1
כתב סופר גט לאיש – [in order to] divorce his wife with it [the Jewish bill of divorce]
8.8.2
ושובר לאשה – [the receipt] that she will deliver to her husband when he has paid off her Ketubah.
8.8.3
וטעה הסופר – when he delivered the documents to them
8.8.4
ונתן גט לאשה ושובר לאיש – and they (i.e., the now-supposedly former husband and supposedly former wife) delivered [the appropriate documents] each to the other, and she went and married [someone else] thinking that this was the Jewish bill of divorce that her husband delivered to her and this one (i.e., the husband) thought that his wife had delivered him the receipt. And Maimonides has the reading: “and he (i.e., the scribe) gave the Jewish bill of divorce to the man and the receipt to the woman, and he explains [the word] “ונתן /and he gave” that he (i.e., the scribe) thought that he gave the Jewish bill of divorce to the man and the receipt to the woman but [in reality] he did the exact opposite, and this is [a] forced [interpretation].
8.8.5
אם לאלתר – all the while that she did not marry, the Jewish bill of divorce left the hands of the husband
8.8.6
אינו גט – and she requires a new Jewish bill of divorce
8.8.7
ואם לאחר שנשאת – behold, this is a [legitimate] Jewish bill of divorce
8.8.8
לא כל הימנו – Everything is not according to the words of the first husband to believe him.
8.8.9
לאבד זכותו של שני – [of the second husband] that she married, for we say that there was a conspiracy between them and they switched the documents after she had married. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer

Bartenura on Mishnah, trans. by Rabbi Robert Alpert, 2020. Via Sefaria (sefaria.org), Sefaria-Export. Version source: http://sefaria.org/ Licence: CC-BY. Source.