Tuesday, Mar 26, 2024

Yevamos 51: A Dark Transaction 

This daf discusses various cases of one who divorced his yevomoh.

While divorce used to be a last recourse utilized only in an untenable situation, nowadays, divorce is more common. Sofrim who specialize in writing gittin have become very practiced in their work. One sofer even boasted that he can jot down a perfect get in about twenty minutes.

But while gittin are getting more common, their halachos are still quite complex. The rov who presides over them must be very knowledgeable in their halachos, or he can be responsible for creating an agunah or worse.

One husband asked a friend who specialized in writing gittin to write a get for his wife. He got together two kosher witnesses and gave the get to his wife, saying “This is your get.”

The woman, for her part, was glad to receive the get. She felt as though a weight had been lifted from her. After several months, she got engaged and was about to get married, when the rov officiating asked her about her get. “My husband gave it to me on a dark night four months ago.”

The rov was unsure whether this was effective, since it is forbidden to finalize an act of bais din at night, and a get is like a judgment in bais din, as the Rama writes in Even Ha’ezer.

When this question was presented to the author of the sefer Get Poshut, he permitted it bedieved: “Although some forbid a get given by an emissary at night, if the husband himself gave the get, it is certainly kosher. And if the only time a husband can give the get is at night, he can do so lechatchilah to avoid making his wife an agunah” (Rama, Even Ha’ezer, siman 123; Sefer Get Poshut).

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