Gittin 15: The Power of the Messenger

We know that the wishes of a person on his or her deathbed would be considered to have been written, signed and witnessed.  But is this true in all cases?  Perek I ends with the tale of Rochel, who was ill.  She asked that her brooch (or something like a brooch) be given to her daughter, for it would be worth twelve hundred dinars.  When she died, the Sages fulfilled her wishes.  Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Ya’akov disagreed.  Her inheritance should go to her sons.  But her sons were considered to be wicked (whether or not for this participating in the brooch-transfer, I’m not sure).   They wanted the value of the brooch to be split due to uncertainty in the halacha.  This becomes a conversation about fulfilling the requests of those who are healthy and not just those on their deathbeds.

Perek II brings us to a new Mishna and a new set of considerations.  How much wiggle room do we have regarding writing, signing and witnessing of the get before it is delivered by an agent?  The Mishna walks us through the options when a witness brings a get written overseas and says:

•   It was written but not signed in my presence
•   It was signed but not written in my presence
•   All of it was written but half of it was signed in my presence
•   Half of it was written but all of it was signed in my presence
•   It was written in my presence and signed in the presence of this other witness

In these cases, the get is invalid.

•  It was written in our presence but signed in the presence of only one of us – Rabbi        Yehuda says this is valid
•  It was written in the presence of one of us bug signed in the presence of both of us

The rabbis say that the get is valid.

The Gemara engages in a lengthy debate regarding the validity of the get. They consider the importance of witnessing signatures over other factors.  They speak about the ratification of other legal documents.  They wonder if the agent might be one of the witnesses mentioned.  They consider how much of the writing would have to be witnessed in order to validate the witnessing of the writing.  One line? Two lines?  Which ones?  They even apply halachot regarding the addition of a new law to an existing law by looking at embankments – when a five-handbreadth wall is added to an existing five-handbreadth wall in order to make the wall the requisite height to form a Shabbat eiruv.

Our daf ends with another comparison.  This time, the rabbis looks at washing one’s hands in a quarter log of water.  We know that an exception is made for two washing their hands, one over the other, even though some of the quarter log of water will stick to the first person’s hands and not wash the other person’s hands.  Surely if such a leniency – or an extension of a law – can be made in that case, we can find ways to accommodate the witnessing of the get that is not in perfect accordance with halacha.