גריי מאטר ד, ענייני משפחה וקהילה, הולכת גט מעיר לעירGray Matter IV, Family and Community Matters, Intercity Gittin
א׳
1Due to the development of technology, halachic questions that were at one time relatively rare have emerged in modern times as commonplace. One such issue is the question of sending a get from one location to another city located at a distance. This occurs when the husband and wife live far apart, something that was relatively rare in premodern times but is quite common today.
ב׳
2Historical Background
ג׳
3The Aruch Hashulchan (procedure for sending a get via mail, subsection 1, printed in the section following E.H. 154), writing in the late nineteenth century, records that it became accepted “in the previous generation” to mail gittin using the general postal service from a beit din in one city to a beit din in another city. However, this issue is the subject of intense debate, as the Geonim (cited in Rosh, Gittin 2:27) voiced strong objections to this procedure. Their objection lies in the fact that a nochri is involved in transporting the get from one beit din to another (yad akum Ba’emtza), and a Nochri is invalid to serve as a sh’liach (agent; Bava Metzia 72a).
ד׳
4Rabbeinu Tam (cited by the Rosh ad. loc.) disagrees and notes that the nochri who brings the get from beit din to beit din does not serve the role a sh’liach. Rather his role is analogous to a conveyor belt between the two rabbinic courts (ma’aseh kof b’alma). The Haghot Oshri (ad. loc.) notes that the Ra’avyah and Rabbeinu Yoel support this ruling of Rabbeinu Tam. Moreover, the Rosh records (in the early fourteenth century) that the accepted practice in France and Germany was to execute gittin in accordance with the view of Rabbeinu Tam. I presume the need to conduct gittin in this manner arose due to the disruptions and dislocations created by the Crusades and the forced conversions to Catholicism that took place as a result.
ה׳
5We should note that the acceptance of this pratice is hardly surprising, as Rabbeinu Tam exerted a great influence on the practice of gittin. Examples include the practice to repent prior to serving as a witness to a get (see Aruch Hashulchan Seder HaGet subsection eight, printed in the section following E.H. 154) and the insistence that the wife keep her hands steady during the delivery of the get (Tosafot Gittin 78b s.v. Im Yachol). Get administrators even announce at the conclusion of every get that Rabbeinu Tam and his circle of students issued a cheirem (ban) on one who casts frivolous aspersions on the validity of the get (Shulchan Aruch E.H. 154:22).
ו׳
6Rulings of the Shulchan Aruch and Rama
ז׳
7Rav Yosef Karo (Shulchan Aruch E.H. 141:35) codifies the ruling of Rabbeinu Tam and does not even cite the dissenting view of the Geonim. The Rama, however, writes, “However, there are those who disagree and assert that one cannot appoint an agent [to receive the Get from the Nochri] in writing; I have also not seen this done in practice.” The B’eir Hagolah (ad. loc. no. 4) explains that the Rama codifies the opinion of the Geonim against the ruling of Rabbeinu Tam.
ח׳
8It is no less than astonishing, however, that the Rama would rule in favor of the Geonim against three pillars of Ashkenazic halachic decision making, Rabbeinu Tam, Rabbeinu Yoel and the Ra’avyah. It is even more astonishing that the Rama does not uphold the practice of Jewish communities in France and Germany to follow the approach of Rabbeinu Tam. Moreover, the Rama makes no mention of the Geonim’s primary contention of yad akum ba’emtzah.
ט׳
9This leads a number of Acharonim to interpret the Rama as not rejecting Rabbeinu Tam. The Ma’amar Mordechai (no. 81, cited in Pitchei Teshuvah E.H. 141:35) understands the Rama as objecting to appointing an agent only in writing as opposed to an oral appointment confirmed in writing by a beit din. The Aruch Hashulchan (E.H. 141:61) explains that the Rama objects to an appointment of an agent in writing without a confirmation from beit din.
י׳
10Nineteenth-Century Rulings
י״א
11Although the Pitchei Teshuvah (ad. loc.) concludes his discussion of this matter in the early nineteenth century by stating that this matter requires resolution by a convention of rabbis, this question was resolved by the end of the nineteenth century in favor of following Rabbeinu Tam. In addition to the Aruch Hashulchan, three other great rabbis of the late nineteenth century, Teshuvot Maharam Schick (no. 136), Teshuvot Sho’eil Umeishiv (3:1:210) and Mahari Aszod (nos. 92 and 129), endorse following Rabbeinu Tam’s approach. Moreover, a major classic seventeenth-century commentary to the Shulchan Aruch, the Chelkat Mechokeik (35:18), endorses the ruling of Rabbeinu Tam and the report that the practice in France and Germany is to follow this ruling.
י״ב
12The Aruch Hashulchan (E.H. 141:62) ascribes this change in the nineteenth century, to the development of steamships and railroads which facilitated the great migrations of that period:
י״ג
13In the previous generation, in our many sins, the Jewish People was scattered from one end of the world to another and beyond the great sea [Atlantic Ocean], making it virtually impossible to send an agent to deliver a Get to where the wife is located [he likely refers to the prohibitive cost]. Since the rabbis of the generation saw that the women would remain Agunot [chained to a dead marriage and unable to remarry], they permitted a Get to be delivered [from beit din to beit din] by mail. In our time, this has emerged as the accepted practice in all Jewish communities, and no one objects.
י״ד
14Contemporary Application
ט״ו
15Contemporary rabbinic courts continue to follow Rabbeinu Tam’s ruling. For example, I who reside in New Jersey, (and function under the auspices of the Beth Din of Elizabeth) have received gittin sent by mail from batei din headed by rabbis of great stature in Israel, London and even as close as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
ט״ז
16However, a leading Rav (who is not a get administrator and apparently is not intimately acquainted with the day-to-day operations of a gittin beit din) recently voiced criticism of contemporary batei din for continuing this practice. He noted that it is no longer “virtually impossible to send an agent to deliver a Get to where the wife is located.” He urged get administrators to find individuals who are traveling to the city where the wife resides and appoint them as agents to deliver the get to the wife (in the presence of the local beit din).
י״ז
17There are at least two reasons why get administrators continue to follow Rabbeinu Tam’s ruling despite the improvement in transportation.
י״ח
18One reason is that we avoid calling into question the gittin of earlier generations (Gittin 5b s.v. Motzi La’Az Al Gittin HaRishonim,). The situation resembles that of the change from writing gittin on parchment to writing gittin on paper. The Rama (E.H. 124:2) writes that a get should be written on parchment (custom dictates that a get should resemble a Torah scroll to a certain extent, see Rosh Gittin 1:2) but is acceptable if written on paper. The Taz (E.H. 124:7) notes that during the time of riots (he seems to be referring to the Chmielnicki pogroms of 1648-1649), gittin were written on paper, as parchment was unavailable at that time. After the riots subsided, writes the Taz, the gittin continued to be written on paper so as not to call into question the Gittin written during the riots.
י״ט
19A second reason is that the burden on get administrators has grown enormously. Gittin were relatively rare in earlier times, as evidenced by the shock expressed by Teshuvot Shaarei Dei’ah (2:76; late nineteenth century) and Teshuvot Divrei Malkiel (4:156; early twentieth century) at the need to write many gittin on one day. In contrast, if one visits the Tel Aviv beit din, for example, he will see a staff of get administrators, scribes and witnesses execute dozens of gittin each day. Three or four gittin per week is a common caseload for the leading get administrators in the New York area.
כ׳
20In addition, large numbers of non-observant Jews who are divorcing are at best marginally interested in obtaining an Orthodox get. Many of these people have already entered into sinful relationships with others before a get has been executed. Thus, there is enormous pressure on batei din to facilitate gittin in the most efficient manner possible. Waiting to find a suitable and reliable agent to deliver a get to a beit din in the place where the wife resides is simply impractical and imprudent. Indeed, Rav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, a great twentieth-century halachic authority who was the dean of get administrators in the United States in his time, urges (Kitvei Hagria Henkin 2:144-145) that gittin be processed with efficiency and dispatch, as “Gittin in this country are all cases of pressing need”.
כ״א
21Nonetheless, I have seen get administrators such as Rav Peretz Steinberg of Queens and Rav Elazar Meyer Teitz of Elizabeth serve as agents to deliver gittin when they were in any event traveling to the city where the wife lives. They try to avoid relying on Rabbeinu Tam if it is reasonably practical to do so.
כ״ב
22The Actual Process
כ״ג
23Although there is some debate about this (see Aruch Hashulchan E.H. 141:63-64), the accepted practice, as recorded by Teshuvot Melamed Leho’il 3:42, is to conduct intercity gittin in the manner presented in Pitchei Teshuvah E.H. 141:35. The husband appears before a get administrator and his staff of a scribe and two witnesses and appoints an agent (almost always a member of the get administrator's staff) to deliver a get to his wife. The husband authorizes the agent to appoint a substitute agent in his stead, to appoint the substitute agent not in the latter’s presence and even to send the get to the second agent by mail.
כ״ד
24After the get is written and signed, the first agent appears before a beit din to appoint a person designated by the get administrator in the locale of the wife to serve as his substitute agent. In the context of this appointment, the first agent will perform the required signature confirmation by stating, “This get was written and signed in my presence” (Gittin 1:1). The beit din signs a document corroborating the appointment of the second agent to deliver the get to the wife. The get is then mailed to the second agent, and he delivers the get to the wife in the presence of another beit din. In this manner, an intercity get between almost any two places in the world can be completed from start to finish within a week, something unimaginable in previous generations but often very necessary given contemporary circumstances.
כ״ה
25Conclusion
כ״ו
26Each generation presents its challenges for get administrators, be it the Crusades, the Chmielnicki pogroms, the great migrations of the nineteenth century or the ravages of postmodern permissive society. In each generation, dedicated get administrators are needed to “sh’mor sh’eirit Yisrael,” to do their best to preserve the sanctity and purity of the Jewish People by conducting gittin when necessary at the highest possible standards of Halachah as well as interpersonal courtesy and sensitivity.