Talmud - Gittin 85b גיטין פ״ה ב׳

Rabbi Yehuda says that there is also another essential sentence: And this that you shall have from me is a scroll of divorce, and a letter of leave, and a bill of dismissal to go to marry any man that you wish. And the basic element of a bill of manumission for a maidservant is: You are hereby a free woman, or: You are hereby your own.

GEMARA: It is obvious that if one stated in a bill of divorce for his wife: You are hereby a free woman, he has stated nothing, as that is not a statement of divorce. Similarly, if one stated in a bill of manumission for his maidservant: You are hereby permitted to marry any man, he has stated nothing, as that is not a statement of manumission.

The Gemara asks: If he stated in a bill of divorce for his wife: You are hereby your own, what is the halakha? Is he saying to her: You are entirely your own, meaning that she has full control over her status and may marry another man? Or is he saying to her: You are your own with regard to work, meaning that she may keep the revenue from her work? If so, this is not a statement of divorce.

Ravina said to Rav Ashi: Come and hear a solution that we learned in the mishna: The basic element of a bill of manumission is: You are hereby a free woman, or: You are hereby your own. And just as with regard to a slave, whose body is acquired by the master, if the master states in a bill of manumission for the slave: You are hereby your own, the slave acquires his body, all the more so with regard to a wife, whose body is not acquired by her husband, is it not clear that by his writing in a bill of divorce: You are hereby your own, she is completely released from their marriage?

Ravina said to Rav Ashi: If he stated in a bill of manumission for his slave: I have no business with you, what is the halakha? Is this a valid statement of manumission?

Rav Ḥanin said to Rav Ashi, and some say that it was Rav Ḥanin from Meḥoza who said this to Rav Ashi: Come and hear a solution that we learned in a baraita: With regard to one who sells his slave to a gentile, the slave is emancipated but nevertheless requires a bill of manumission from his first master. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: In what case is this statement said? It is when the master did not write his document for the slave when he sold him; but if he wrote his document for him, that is the slave’s bill of manumission.

The Gemara asks: What is the phrase: His document, referring to? Rav Sheshet says that he writes for him as follows: When you will escape from the gentile to whom I sold you, I have no business with you. Consequently, as soon as he escapes his gentile master in any manner, he is entirely emancipated. It may be derived from here that the statement: I have no business with you, is valid with regard to manumission.

§ It is stated in the mishna that Rabbi Yehuda says that in addition to the statement: You are hereby permitted to marry any man, there is another essential sentence in the bill of divorce: And this [veden] that you shall have from me is a scroll of divorce and a letter [ve’iggeret] of leave. The Gemara asks: With regard to what principle do Rabbi Yehuda and the Rabbis disagree? The Gemara answers: The Rabbis hold that ambiguous intimations are valid intimations. An incomplete statement is sufficient as long as the intention is clear from the context. And therefore, even if he does not write for her explicitly: And this that you shall have from me is a scroll of divorce and a letter of leave, the bill of divorce is valid as it is evident that he is divorcing her with this bill of divorce.

And Rabbi Yehuda holds that ambiguous intimations are not valid intimations, and therefore the reason that the bill of divorce is valid is that he writes for her: And this that you shall have from me is a scroll of divorce and a letter of leave, so it is evident that he is divorcing her with this bill of divorce. But if he does not write for her: And this that you shall have from me is a scroll of divorce and a letter of leave, people will say that he is divorcing her orally, and will mistakenly assume that the husband’s statement to her when he hands her the bill of divorce is what causes the divorce to take effect, and that the document is merely evidence of the divorce, rather than the divorce itself.

§ The Gemara relates several rulings concerning the precise terminology to be used in writing a bill of divorce. Abaye said: This person who writes a bill of divorce should not write the word meaning: And this, by spelling it vav, dalet, yod, nun, as that can be misread as having the vowel of a ḥirik under the letter dalet, not a tzeire. Read with a ḥirik, it indicates: And there is a law that we should get divorced. Rather, he should make sure to write the word meaning: And this, without a yod, so that it is clear that it should be read with a tzeire.

And he should not write the word meaning: A letter, by spelling it alef, yod, gimmel, reish, tav, as that can be confused with another identically spelled word that indicates a roof. Rather, he should write the word meaning: A letter, without a yod. And he should not write: To go, by spelling it lamed, yod, mem, heh, khaf, as that could be read as a conjunction which indicates: For me from this. And he should be sure not to write limḥakh, i.e., he must be careful that the letter heh not look like a ḥet, as that indicates that it is like a joke.

Abaye continues: In the clause: That you shall be permitted to go marry any man that you wish, the words ditihevyin and dititzviyin must include three instances of the letter yod in a row in each word, as with only two instances of the letter yod these words indicate: That they shall be [tehevyan], and: That they wish [titzviyan], referring to other women. And he should extend the vav of teirukhin and the vav of shevukin, as otherwise, the vav may be mistaken for a yod, and those words spelled with a yod indicate divorced [terikhin] and left [shevikin] women. In other words, it will change the meaning from describing the document as one that divorces or sends away to describing the women as divorced and sent away.

And in the clause: And now [ukhedu] I have dismissed and ousted and divorced you, he should extend the vav of khedu, as otherwise, the vav may be mistaken for a yod, and spelled with a yod it indicates: And with nothing [ukhedi]. And in the expression: To go marry [lehitnasseva] he should not write le’itnasseva with an alef and a yod, as, if he leaves space between the letters it will indicate: Will not get married [la yitnasseva]. Rather, he should write lehitnasseva, with a heh and without a yod, so there will be no room for this error.

§ A dilemma was raised before them: Do we need to write: And this that you shall have from me is a scroll of divorce, and a letter of leave, and a bill of dismissal to go to marry any man that you wish, or do we not need to write the clause beginning with the words: And this? Is the halakha in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda or the Rabbis?

Come and hear a solution, as Rava instituted the following wording in bills of divorce: We saw how so-and-so, son of so-and-so, dismissed and divorced so-and-so, his wife, who was his wife from beforehand, from this day and forever. But he did not state the clause beginning with the words: And this.

The Gemara challenges this solution: And according to your reasoning, did Rava state all of the other necessary clauses of a bill of divorce? Rather, we need to write them even though they were not mentioned explicitly in Rava’s formulation. Here too, we need to write the clause beginning with the words: And this, even though it was not mentioned specifically by Rava.

§ The Gemara analyzes the wording instituted by Rava: The expression: From this day, is written to the exclusion of the statement of Rabbi Yosei, who said: The date written in a document proves when it takes effect, and therefore it is not necessary to write the expression: From this day. Rava added this expression to take the opposite opinion into account.

The expression: And forever,

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Gittin 85b explores precise wording required for valid divorce and manumission documents, distinguishing effective phrases from ineffective ones.