Rabbi Eleazar and Writing Lishmah (article preview)

The Person and the Page, Gittin 26

There is a fundamental disagreement between fifth-generation Tannaim, Rabbi Eleazar (ben Shamua) and Rabbi Meir, about what aspect of writing a bill of divorce needs to be written lishmah, with intent. Devarim 24 discusses the prohibition of a man remarrying his divorcée if she has remarried another, and so verse 1 and then verse 3 discuss the process of divorce. These details include וְכָ֨תַב לָ֜הּ, he writes for her, סֵ֤פֶר כְּרִיתֻת֙, a bill of divorce, וְנָתַ֣ן בְּיָדָ֔הּ, and places it in her hands, וְשִׁלְּחָ֖הּ מִבֵּיתֽוֹ, and sends her from his house. Each of these phrases are interpreted, sometimes in different ways, and we should realize that there are actually two instances of each phrase available for derasha.

The phrase וְכָ֨תַב לָ֜הּ is taken to indicate that the get must be written specifically for her to effect this divorce. Now, Rabbi Eleazar maintains that עֵדֵי מְסִירָה כָּרְתִי, what actually effectuates the divorce is the handing over of the document in the presence of two witnesses. The “essential” portion of the document needs to be written lishmah. Let’s assume¹ this is the toref (תּוֹרֶף) – the part with her and his name and the date – which distinguishes this get from all others, and after all contains her name and would be what you’d expect to be written for the purpose. The other, “standard” portion of the document, called the tofes (טוֹפֶס), describes how this is a divorce, and doesn’t differ from get to get. The tofes need not be lishmah, in theory on a Biblical level. Nor are written signatures necessary. After all, it is the act of handing over of the document that effectuates the divorce (or an IOU) take effect, and the document doesn’t have to stand up in a court of law to prove divorce (or the loan’s existence).

In contrast, Rabbi Meir maintains that עֵדֵי חֲתִימָה כָּרְתִי, the important witnesses are those to the signing of the get. We might conceive of this as creating a shtar ra’ayah, a valid document which can be used as proof that they are divorced, and then transferring that proof to the woman. She could use this document as evidence