| פרק ט משנה ח | |
| גט שכתבו עברית | A get that was written in Hebrew |
| ועדיו יונית | and its witnesses [signed in] Greek. |
| יונית ועדיו עברית | [if it was written in] Greek and its witnesses [signed in] Hebrew, |
| עד אחד עברי | one witness [signed in] Hebrew |
| ועד אחד יוני | and one witnesses [signed in] Greek, |
|
כתב סופר ועד |
[or it has the] writing of a scribe and [signature of only one other] witness, |
| כשר | it is valid. |
| איש פלוני עד | [If a witness' signature reads] "So and so, witness," |
| כשר | it is valid; |
| בן איש פלוני עד | "The son of so and so, witness," |
| כשר | it is valid; |
| איש פלוני בן איש פלוני | "So and so, son of so and so," |
| ולא כתב עד | and he did not write "witness" , |
| כשר | it is valid, |
| וכך היו נקיי הדעת | and so the virtuous-minded |
| שבירושלים עושין | of Jerusalem would do. |
| כתב חניכתו וחניכתה | If his surname or her surname |
| כשר | it is valid. |
| גט מעשה | A get obtained by coercion |
| בישראל כשר | by Jews is valid |
| ובגוים פסול | and by gentiles is invalid, |
| ובגוים חובטין אותו | and they may beat him using gentiles |
| ואומרים לו | who say to him |
| עשה מה שישראל אומרין לך | do as the Jews tell you |
| כשר | and it is valid. |
| פרק ט משנה ט | |
| יצא שמה בעיר מקדשת | [If word] goes out about her in a city that she married |
| הרי זו מקדשת | she is [considered] married, |
| מגרשת | [if word is that she is] divorced [from the same man that we had heard, but not witnessed, that she was married to], |
| הרי זו מגרשת | she is [considered] divorced |
| ובלבד | only so long |
| שלא יהא שם אמתלא | as there is no plausible reason to doubt it. |
| איזו היא אמתלא | What is a plausible reason to doubt it? |
| גרש איש פלוני את אשתו | [if the rumor is] that so and so divorced his wife |
| על תנאי | conditionally, |
| זרק לה קידושיה |
[or] he threw to her the [money for] kiddushin |
| ספק קרוב לה ספק קרוב לו | and it is uncertain if it landed closer to her or to him |
| זו היא אמיתלא | that is a plausible reason to doubt. |
NOTES
מ
שנה חועדיו יונית - Not only must these witnesses by Jewish, but they must also understand the language that the גט was written in.
כתב סופר ועד - The scribe not only wrote the גט, but signed as a witness as well. In this case, we are not concerned that the husband may have instructed someone else to be the second witness, but fearing that the scribe might get the impression that the husband did not think him worthy of being an עד, we told him to go ahead and sign. Disobeying the husband's directions in such a manner would invalidate a גט.
נקיי הדעת - They used this form to avoid unnecessary words. A different version of this משנה reads this as referring to the next case, where the גט is written with the parties' surnames.
כתב חניכתו וחניכתה - These were used in the place of their fathers' names. Others say that it refers not to family surnames, but rather to nicknames of the parties.
גט מעשה - The case is one where he was coerced until he said that he was willing to give the גט. Even though a גט must be given voluntarily, this is valid in cases where a lawful בית דין compelled him to say רוצה אני. The basis for permitting this, as the רמב"ם famously wrote, is that at heart every sinner really wants to do what's right, and is only stopped "שתקפו יצרו הרע". Thus, where a lawful בית דין forces someone to say רוצה אני, even if by violence, it is not the בית דין that is actually committing the coercion, "אלא הוא אנס עצמו בדעתו הרעה," and we are merely aiding him in defeating his יצר הרע and doing what he truly desires.
משנה
טיצא שמה בעיר מקדשת - This is more than a mere rumor, but two witnesses must testify that not only did they hear about this, but witnessed some of the festivities, like the lighting of candles and the preparation of beds, people going in and out of the house, or other circumstantial evidence.