008 - הִלְכוֹת גֵּרוּשִׁין פֵּרֶק ח

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 8

1. When a man divorces his wife on a condition, if the condition is fulfilled, she is divorced; but if the condition is not fulfilled, she is not divorced. We have already explained all the laws of conditions in Chapter 6 of the Laws of Marriage. There it was clarified that when a man divorces on a condition, she becomes divorced at the moment the condition is fulfilled, not at the time the get is given into her hand. Therefore, the husband may annul the get, or add to his condition, or stipulate another condition, as long as the original condition has not been fulfilled, even if the get has already reached her hand. If the husband dies, or the get is lost or burned before the condition is fulfilled, she is not divorced. Ideally, she should not remarry until the condition is fulfilled; but if she did remarry, she does not have to leave her new husband unless she no longer has the get in her possession to fulfill the condition, for then the get is void. There it was also explained that if he said to her, "You are divorced from now," or "from today," on such-and-such a condition, or if he said, "You are divorced on the condition that…"—then, when the condition is fulfilled, she is divorced retroactively from the time the get was given into her hand. Therefore, from the moment the get reaches her hand, he cannot annul the get or add to his condition. And if the get is lost, or burned, or even if the husband dies before the condition is fulfilled, she may fulfill the condition after his death, and she is considered divorced retroactively from the time the get was given into her hand. She may remarry even before the condition is fulfilled, and we are not concerned that perhaps the condition will not be fulfilled, since the condition was made with "from now" or "on the condition."

2. Anyone who divorces his wife on a condition—whether he said "from now," or whether he said "if it will be" or "if it will not be"—should not be secluded with his wife as long as the condition has not been fulfilled, except in the presence of a witness, even a servant or a maidservant; except for her maidservant or her young son, since she is not embarrassed to have relations in their presence. It is well known that if he secluded himself with her alone in the presence of two witnesses at once, even after the condition was fulfilled, she is in a doubtful state of divorce, for perhaps they had relations and the get is thereby void, as will be explained in these laws.

3. How does one divorce on a condition? He should not say, "Write a get for my wife on a condition," or "Write and give it to her on a condition," and it is not necessary to say that he should not write in the get itself, "On this condition so-and-so divorces so-and-so." Rather, how is it done? He tells the scribe to write and the witnesses to sign, and they write a valid get with no mention of any condition at all; afterwards, he gives her the get and says to her, "This is your get," or "You are divorced with this," on the condition of such-and-such, or he says to them or to the agent, "Give her this get on the condition of such-and-such."

4. If he wrote the condition in the get after completing the essential text of the get, it is valid—whether he wrote it before the witnesses signed or after they signed. But if he wrote it before the essential text—even if he wrote "on the condition of such-and-such"—this is a doubtful divorce, for he has retained a right in the body of the get. Similarly, if he stipulated the condition verbally before writing the essential text, this is a doubtful divorce.

5. If a man divorces his wife and stipulates upon her—whether in writing after the essential text, or verbally after the essential text—and says to her, "You are permitted to any man except for so-and-so," or "only to so-and-so," and gives her the get on this condition: if that man is a non-Jew or a slave, or is forbidden to her as an ervah (such as her father or brother, or his father or his brother), the get is valid. But if that man is someone who could marry her—even if he is among those with whom marriage is a prohibition of a negative commandment, or even if he is a minor—the get is not valid, for he has left a reservation in the get, and this is not a complete severance. If the exception is her sister's husband, who is currently forbidden to her as an ervah, but if her sister were to die he would become permitted to her, then she is in a doubtful state of divorce.

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 8

6. If he says to her, "You are permitted to every man except for one who will be born and is not yet in the world," or, "except for your promiscuity"—meaning, she will be permitted to marry any man, but for promiscuity she remains prohibited as a married woman—or, "You are permitted to anyone who comes to you in the usual manner, but not in an unusual manner you remain prohibited," or, "You are permitted to every man except one who betroths with a document," meaning she is permitted to be betrothed with money or intercourse, but with a document she remains prohibited as a married woman, or, "You are permitted to every man except for the annulment of your vows," meaning that no relationship remains between him and her except for the annulment of her vows, that she remains his wife for the purpose of annulling vows, or for eating terumah, or for inheritance if she dies he will inherit her—in all of these cases, she is in a doubtful state of being divorced.

7. If he says to her, "You are permitted to every man except for Reuven and Shimon," and then he says to her, "You are permitted to Reuven and Shimon," she is divorced, for the men he made a condition about, he has now permitted and nullified the condition.

8. If he says to her, "You are permitted to Reuven," she is not divorced, for he did not nullify his condition regarding Shimon. If he says to her, "You are permitted to Shimon," or if he says, "You are even permitted to Shimon," this is a doubtful divorce: perhaps he only permitted her to Shimon and Reuven remains prohibited; and when he said "to Shimon," he meant "to everyone, even to Shimon," or perhaps he permitted her to all, and when he said "even to Shimon," the same applies to Reuven, since Shimon was adjacent to Reuven in his condition.

9. If he made a condition with her and said, "Today you are not my wife, and tomorrow you are my wife," she is not divorced, even though he severed the relationship between them for today. Therefore, bills of divorce are always written as effective "from today and forever."

10. "This is your get, on condition that you do not drink wine all the days of your life"—this is not a valid get, for this is not a complete severance. "All the days of my life," or "all the days of so-and-so's life"—this is a valid get, for he has severed the relationship between them, and he will have no authority over her when that person dies.

11. "This is your get, on condition that you do not go to your father's house for thirty days"—this is a valid get. "That you do not go to your father's house ever"—this is not a valid get, for this is not a complete severance. Therefore, if one says to a woman, "This is your get, on condition that you do not eat this meat ever, on condition that you do not drink this wine ever"—this is not a valid get, for this is not a complete severance; but if he says, "for thirty days," it is a valid get.

12. "This is your get, on condition that you do not marry so-and-so"—this is not a valid get. To what is this similar? To one who says to her, "on condition that you do not drink this wine ever," or "that you do not go to your father's house ever," or "all the days of your life." But if he says to her, "on condition that you do not marry so-and-so for fifty years," this is a valid get, and she may not marry him for as long as the condition applies; and if she marries him, the get is retroactively void. If she had relations with him, the child from him is kosher, and the get is valid, for he only made the condition regarding marriage.

13. "This is your get, on condition that you marry so-and-so"—if she marries him, it is a valid get like other conditions. But the Sages said: she should not marry either that man or another. She should not marry that man, lest people say that women give each other as gifts; and she should not marry another, for the get is only valid upon fulfillment of the condition. If she transgressed and married that man, she need not leave him. If she married another before marrying him, the get is void, and she must leave, and the child is a mamzer; and she requires a get from the second man.

14. "This is your get, and the paper is mine"—she is not divorced, for this is not a complete severance. "On condition that you give me the paper," this is a valid get, and she must give it to him.

15. If he engraved the get on a gold plate and gave it to her and said, "This is your get and your kesubah," it is valid, and she has received her kesubah if the plate is worth the amount of her kesubah; and if it is not, he must complete the amount of her kesubah for her.

Laws of Divorce, Chapter 8

16. Anyone who divorces his wife on a condition that nullifies the get—for example, if he stipulates that she may not drink wine all her life, or that she will be permitted to marry any man except for a certain individual, or if he stipulates other conditions before the essential text of the get is written—if the condition was written in the get and he then erased it and gave it to her, she is in a state of doubtful divorce. But if the condition was made verbally, he takes the get back from her and gives it to her again with a valid condition, or without any condition at all.

17. How is this? If a man gave a get to his wife and said to her, "Behold, you are divorced with this and permitted to any man except for so-and-so," and then took it back from her and gave it to her again and said to her, "Behold, you are permitted with it to any man," or "This is your get," she is divorced. And so with all similar cases.

18. If one gives a get to his wife on condition that she give him two hundred zuz, and then stipulates another condition before witnesses, that she serve his father for two years, his later words do not nullify the earlier ones. Rather, it is as if he said to her, "Do one of these two conditions: if you wish, serve; if you wish, give." And one from the first set and one from the second set do not combine. But if he stipulated that she give him two hundred zuz, and then stipulated before two witnesses that she give him three hundred zuz, the condition of two hundred is already nullified, and she must give three hundred. And so with all similar cases.

19. If he stipulated that she do a certain thing without specifying, it is as if he specified one day, since he did not state how long she should do it. How is this? If he said to her, "This is your get, on condition that you do work for me," or "on condition that you serve my father," or "on condition that you nurse my son"—if she did work for him for one day, or served his father for one day, or nursed his son for one day within the time that a child is nursed, which is within twenty-four months, it is a valid get. If the son or the father died before she nursed or served, it is not a get.

20. If he said to her, "On condition that you nurse my son," or "serve my father for two years," she must complete the specified time. If the son or the father died within that time, or if the father said, "I do not wish you to serve me," it is not a get, since the condition was not fulfilled. And so with all similar cases.

21. "This is your get, on condition that you give me two hundred zuz from now until thirty days"—if she gave it within thirty days with his consent, she is divorced; after thirty days, she is not divorced. If she gave it to him against his will and he does not wish to accept it, it is an invalid get until she gives it with his consent. If he said to her within the thirty days, "They are forgiven to you," she is not divorced, since the condition was not fulfilled. If he died within the thirty days, since the thirty days ended and she did not give, she is not divorced.

22. If he said to her, "This is your get, on condition that you give me two hundred zuz," and did not set a time, and he died before she gave, she cannot give to his heirs, since he only stipulated that she give to him. But the get is not nullified, since he did not set a time; therefore, even if the get was lost or torn before he died, she is divorced, but she may not marry another until she performs chalitzah.

23. "This is your get, on condition that you give me such-and-such a vessel or such-and-such a garment," and that vessel was lost or stolen—even if she gave him a thousand in its value—it is not a get, until she gives that very vessel itself, or until he nullifies the condition.

24. If a woman was divorced on a condition, and another man betrothed her before the condition was fulfilled—if the condition was fulfilled, she is betrothed; but if the condition was not fulfilled and the get is void, she does not require a get from the second man, since betrothal does not take effect with her. But if she married, and the condition was not fulfilled and the get is void, she requires a get from the second man, as we have explained.