Overview
This chapter discusses:
- Divorce that takes effect in the future.
- The difference between a condition (tenai) and a future-effective Get.
- Conditions involving money, actions, marriage, or time.
- Conditions that violate the requirement of keritut (complete severance).
- Divorce of a dying husband to avoid yibbum.
- Instructions to write a Get in the future.
The central theme is:
Not every future divorce is a condition. Sometimes the divorce itself is delayed and does not exist until a future date or act occurs.
Halachah 1
Divorce After a Future Date
If a husband says:
“You will be divorced after 30 days,”
the divorce takes effect only then.
This resembles a condition but is not actually a condition.
Therefore:
The laws of double conditions and other technical rules do not apply.
Halachah 2
Get Effective in 30 Days
If he says:
“This is your Get, but it takes effect after 30 days,”
and he dies or the Get is destroyed before 30 days:
She is not divorced.
Halachah 3
Get Stored Where She Placed It
If she left the Get in a protected place and it still existed on the day it was to become effective:
The divorce takes effect.
Halachah 4
Divorce Triggered by an Act
If he says:
“You will be divorced when you pay me 200 zuz,”
this is also a delayed divorce, not merely a conditional divorce.
No technical rules of תנאים are required.
Halachah 5
Difference Between Condition and Delay
Conditional Get
The Get already exists.
The condition only determines whether it becomes fully effective.
Delayed Get
There is no divorce yet.
The divorce begins only when the time or action occurs.
Therefore:
- A conditional divorce is often retroactive.
- A delayed divorce is not.
If she marries before the delay ends:
The marriage is adulterous and children are mamzerim.
Halachah 6
Negative Condition
If he says:
“If you do not pay me 200 zuz, this is not a Get.”
Nothing happened.
There is:
- No Get
- No conditional divorce
Halachah 7
Proper Way to Delay a Divorce
Instead of saying the divorce occurs later, he should formulate it as:
“If I do not return within 30 days, this is a Get.”
This creates a valid condition.
Halachah 8
No Claim of Force Majeure
If he conditioned:
“If I do not return within 30 days,”
and he was delayed because:
- He became sick.
- A river blocked him.
the Get still takes effect.
Principle:
“אין אונס בגיטין” (force majeure does not excuse failure of a Get condition).
Halachah 9
Fear of Reconciliation
If he says:
“This is your Get if I remain away 30 days”
but keeps returning without secluding himself:
the Get remains valid.
However:
If she is not trusted to say they did not reconcile,
we worry that he persuaded her to waive the condition.
Halachah 10
Conditions Depending on Her Waiver
Whenever fulfillment depends on her willingness to enforce a condition:
We worry she may have reconciled with him.
This concern exists primarily among married couples, not merely engaged couples.
Halachah 11
“If I Do Not Return Within 12 Months”
If he says:
“From now, if I do not come back within twelve months,”
and he does not return:
She is divorced.
We do not suspect secret visits.
If he dies during the twelve months:
she waits until the twelve months end before marrying where yibbum is possible.
Halachah 12
“If I Die”
If a healthy person or sick person says:
“This is your Get if I die,”
it is meaningless.
The words imply:
After death.
A Get cannot take effect after death.
Halachah 13
“From Today If I Die”
If he says:
“From today if I die,”
the Get is valid.
When he dies:
The condition is fulfilled.
Halachah 14
“From Today, After My Death”
If he says:
“From today, after my death,”
the divorce is doubtful.
Perhaps he intended:
- Immediate effect, or
- After death.
Halachah 15
Sunrise Examples
If effectiveness depends on sunrise:
The result depends on whether sunrise is:
- The condition itself, or
- The time when the Get takes effect.
The Rambam carefully distinguishes these cases.
Halachah 16
Sick Person Who Recovers
A dying man who gives a Get and then recovers:
Cannot retract.
Unlike gifts made by a dying person.
Halachah 17
Death From Another Cause
If he says:
“From today if I die from this illness,”
and he instead dies because:
- A wall collapsed.
- A lion attacked.
- A snake bit him.
the Get is invalid.
Halachah 18
Partial Recovery
If he recovers enough to walk around and later dies:
Experts evaluate:
- Did he die from the original illness?
- Or from something new?
If from the original illness:
The Get is valid.
Halachah 19
Status During the Waiting Period
Throughout the period between delivery and fulfillment:
She is treated as divorced for many purposes.
However:
They may not be secluded together.
Halachah 20
Special Formula for a Deathbed Get
A sick husband wishing to avoid yibbum may say:
“If I do not die, no Get. If I die, it is a Get.”
with proper double-condition language.
If he dies:
She becomes divorced at death.
Halachah 21
Giving a Get Through a Third Party
If a husband tells someone:
“Acquire this Get for my wife so she does not fall to yibbum,”
and dies before she receives it:
She is doubtfully divorced.
Because most women would prefer avoiding yibbum.
Halachah 22
Write a Get After Twelve Months
If he instructs:
“Write and give my wife a Get after twelve months,”
writing before that date invalidates the Get.
If he dies before delivery:
The Get is invalid.
Halachah 23
Meaning of Time Expressions
The Rambam explains formal meanings of expressions such as:
- After the week
- After the month
- After the year
and when scribes may begin writing.
Halachah 24
Delay Beyond the Authorized Time
If they waited excessively beyond the period he specified:
The Get becomes invalid.
Halachah 25
Seclusion After Ordering a Get
If he was secluded with his wife after ordering a future Get to be written:
The Get may not be written.
If written anyway:
It is invalid.
Halachah 26
“You All Write”
If he tells ten people:
“Write a Get,”
one may write on behalf of all.
If he says:
“All of you write,”
one still writes, but in the presence of all.
The same applies to delivery.
Halachah 27
Many Witnesses
If he says:
“All of you sign,”
everyone must sign.
The first two are actual witnesses.
The rest are fulfilling his condition.
If one required signer dies before signing:
The Get is void.
If one of the primary two witnesses is invalid:
The Get is invalid.
Halachah 28
Rabbinic Safeguard
Chazal required precise wording when many people are involved.
The husband should say:
- Each of you may write.
- Any two may sign.
- Any one may deliver.
This avoids confusion.
Halachah 29
Witnesses Sign Together
Chazal required witnesses to sign in each other’s presence.
Otherwise people may mistakenly think all conditions have been fulfilled before they actually have.
Halachah 30
Father and Son Among Three
If three people are appointed and two are to sign:
A father and son may participate because one serves as an agent rather than an ordinary witness.
Halachah 31
Delivery Through a Specific Third Party
If he says:
“Write, sign, and give it to Ploni, and Ploni will deliver it,”
the writers themselves may not deliver it.
Only the designated person may do so.
Halachah 32
Get Given to Husband Without Witnesses
If a scribe wrote a Get and gave it to the husband without witnesses, and the husband later gave it to a messenger:
the divorce is doubtful unless there are witnesses proving the husband actually entrusted that Get to the messenger.
Halachah 33
Exact Instructions Matter
If he says:
“Give it to her in this place,”
and the messenger gives it elsewhere,
the Get may be invalid.
If he merely identified her location:
The Get remains valid.
The same principle applies to:
- House versus attic.
- Right side versus left side.
- Specific day.
Halachah 34
Wife’s Instructions to Her Agent
If she says:
“Receive my Get in a specific place,”
and he receives it elsewhere,
it may be invalid.
If she merely indicated where to find it:
It remains valid.
Halachah 35
Agent Must Retrieve an Object First
If the husband says:
“Take my object and then give her the Get,”
the messenger may not appoint another messenger.
If another messenger is used, validity depends on whether the husband’s instructions were followed exactly.
Halachah 36
Wrong Order
If the husband required:
- Receive the object.
- Deliver the Get.
and the messenger reversed the order:
The Get is invalid.
Halachah 37
Give Get Then Take Object
If the husband instructed:
- Deliver the Get.
- Then take the object.
another messenger may be used, and the Get remains valid.
Halachah 38
Personal Delivery Requirement
If the husband says:
“Only you give it to her,”
another messenger cannot perform the delivery.
Halachah 39
Identifying the Wife
If the messenger says:
“I do not know her,”
and the husband directs him to someone who does know her,
that second person becomes the actual delivery agent.
Halachah 40
Delivery After Thirty Days
If the husband says:
“Do not give it until thirty days pass,”
the messenger may appoint another messenger during that period.
Halachah 41
Concern of Reconciliation
When the couple were married and live in the same area:
We worry that reconciliation may have occurred.
Therefore further precautions are required unless the husband specifically states:
“I trust her to say that I did not reconcile with her.”
Main Themes of Chapter 9
| Topic | Ruling |
| Delayed divorce | Takes effect only later |
| Conditional divorce | May be retroactive |
| No force majeure in Gittin | Condition still fails |
| “If I die” | Invalid |
| “From today if I die” | Valid |
| Husband recovers | Get remains effective |
| Future writing instructions | Must follow exact timing |
| “All of you” instructions | Must be fulfilled exactly |
| Messenger must follow directions | Exactly |
| Reconciliation concern | Important in conditional Gittin |
Chapter Theme
Chapter 9 clarifies the difference between a divorce that already exists but is contingent on a condition, and a divorce that does not yet exist because it is delayed to a future time or act. The Rambam repeatedly emphasizes precision: the wording of conditions, timing, agency instructions, and fulfillment requirements determine whether the marriage is dissolved or remains fully intact.