The Definition of a Gett

The word “Get” or “Gett”, is the Aramaic word for document, but in the context of Jewish law, it generally refers to the document that officiates a religious divorce (גירושין). To understand the concept of a “Get” (גט), one needs to understand the concept of human relations designated in the Torah. The plural word of Get is “Gittin” (גיטין).

The Vilna Gaon (Divrei Eliyahu) claims that the two letters of the word “גט” are never found next to each other in the 5 Books of Moses. They are not found together in the same word, and even if you removed the spaces (between words), you would still not have a ג next to a ט. This is the ideal way to imply that the גט represents the document of separation.

Rabbi Meir Mazuz says that there are other letter combinations that don’t appear side by side, but those are letter combinations using the same part of the mouth (Gimmel-Quf, etc.) unlike Gimmel-Tet. In Sefer Nevi’im, (Yechezkel 22:25), it also mentions Gimmel and Tet that are next to each other but with a space. This exclusive example has to do with a prophecy having to do with a conspiracy against Hashem…

The only fundamental reference to divorce in the Written Torah is from Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy) Parshat Ki Teitzei 24:1. The first clause of the passage states the following:כִּֽי־יִקַּ֥ח אִ֛ישׁ אִשָּׁ֖ה וּבְעָלָ֑הּ וְהָיָ֞ה אִם־לֹ֧א תִמְצָא־חֵ֣ן בְּעֵינָ֗יו כִּי־מָ֤צָא בָהּ֙ עֶרְוַ֣ת דָּבָ֔ר וְכָ֨תַב לָ֜הּ סֵ֤פֶר כְּרִיתֻת֙ וְנָתַ֣ן בְּיָדָ֔הּ וְשִׁלְּחָ֖הּ מִבֵּיתֽוֹ

English Translation: “When a man takes a wife and is intimate with her, and it happens that she does not find favor in his eyes because he discovers in her an unseemly [moral] matter, and he writes for her a bill of divorce and places it into her hand, and sends her away from his house”.

The clause claims that a religious divorce has to be done by the husband as a written document. The bill of divorce separates the husband and wife. The wife is the one walking out of the marriage (not the husband).

All of this is from a mere clause in the Written Torah. It is not even the complete passage but a dependent clause of a much grander idea, yet there is an incredible amount of insight taken from this mere statement. This is the entire premise of gerushin all in one small verse. The Oral Torah extrapolates great meaning behind this seemingly simple statement which one can find in the Mishnah and Gemara.

The term “Sefer Kerithuth” (סֵ֤פֶר כְּרִיתֻת֙) is “bill of divorce” but is literally translated as “Document of Cutting Off”. The shoresh (root) ספר is the same as book, scroll, or other written documents, and the root כרת means “to cut off”.

Now to acquire a more accurate translation, we should use the updated Jueo-Aramaic translation of the Written Torah by Targum Onkelos which translates “ספרכריתת” as Get Piturin (גֵּט פִּטּוּרִין). The shoresh “פטר” means “exemption”. The Bill of Divorce can be better understood as a document that makes a woman exempt from her husband. Targum Yonathan translated “ספרכריתת” as “סֵפֶר תִּירוּכִין” – the scroll to send away.

Because Aramaic isn’t a widely used language in our times, let’s look at the Judeo-Arabic translation written by Rav Saadia Gaon (Rasag). The phrase “סֵ֤פֶר כְּרִיתֻת֙” is translated as “כתאבקטעה”. This literally means “a cut-out book”.

The Mishnah of Gittin starts off with the word “Hameivi”. This has the same shoresh as “Biyah” (cohabitation). Rabbi Ben-Tzion Eliyahu Lehrer says that the fact that this shoresh is the first word in the Mishnah implies that something was wrong with biyah – leading to marital issues that [could] end in divorce.