What is a get, and what are its basic requirements?

A get is the formal written bill of divorcement required by Deuteronomy 24:1 to legally dissolve a marriage. The Mishnah (Gittin 9:1–3) derives three requirements: it must be written specifically for this woman, placed directly in her hand, and accompanied by her release. Without a valid get, a woman cannot legally remarry under Torah law — she remains a married woman. The document gives her the legal freedom the verbal dismissal would not.

What does “sefer keritut” (certificate of severance) mean, and why must the get be written?

Sefer keritut means “scroll of cutting off” — a document that physically severs the marital bond. The Talmud (Gittin 21b) rules it must be written on a physical object that can be permanently detached from its source. Oral divorce has no standing in Torah law; only the written document creates the legal severance. The permanence of the writing expresses the permanence of the break.

What was the dispute between Shammai and Hillel over the grounds for divorce?

Mishnah Gittin 9:10 records three positions: Shammai permitted divorce only for sexual misconduct, Hillel permitted it for “any matter” (including burning the husband’s food), and Rabbi Akiva even for finding a more beautiful woman. The debate centered on how to read Deuteronomy 24:1’s “ervas davar.” The practical legal concern was not encouraging divorce but preventing husbands from withholding the get — trapping their wives in legal limbo — on the grounds that no valid reason for divorce existed.

How does the get protect the wife rather than the husband?

Without a written document, no one could verify a woman’s marital status. If her husband verbally dismissed her but gave no document, she could not prove she was free to remarry — any subsequent marriage could be challenged as adultery. The Torah’s requirement that the husband write a document and place it in her hands gives her portable proof of freedom. The document is her legal protection against the ambiguity that informal dismissal would create.

How does Jeremiah 3:8’s use of the divorce metaphor illuminate Deuteronomy 24:1?

Jeremiah 3:8 says God “gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away.” The prophet borrows the Deuteronomy 24:1 vocabulary — document, sending away — to describe Israel’s exile. The metaphor works in both directions: just as the get is painful but also potentially liberating (the woman can remarry), the exile is a severance but also an opening for return. The prophet uses covenant-legal language to describe a covenantal rupture that Torah law itself recognizes.

Commandment #191 · Positive · Family Laws

He Writes Her a Certificate of Divorce: The Laws of the Get

גֵּט

Source: Deuteronomy 24:1 · Maimonides, Laws of Divorce 1:1

The Torah does not command divorce — it regulates it. Deuteronomy 24:1 introduces the get (גֵּט, bill of divorcement) as the mechanism by which a marriage is formally dissolved. Three elements: the husband writes (Deuteronomy 24:1), puts it in her hand, and sends her from his house. The Talmud (Gittin) builds an entire tractate on these three words. Deuteronomy 24:3 repeats the same process for a second divorce, confirming that the procedure is formal and non-negotiable, not a mere verbal repudiation.

He Writes, He Places, He Sends: The Three-Part Act

כִּי יִקַּח אִישׁ אִשָּׁה וּבְעָלָהּ וְהָיָה אִם לֹא תִמְצָא חֵן בְּעֵינָיו כִּי מָצָא בָה עֶרְוַת דָּבָר וְכָתַב לָה סֵּפֶר כְּרִיתֻת וְנָתַן בְּיָדָה וְשִׁלְּחָה מִבֵּיתוֹ

"When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house"

Deuteronomy 24:1 — Open in Torah Reader

The Mishnah (Gittin 9:1–3) derives three essential requirements from the verse: (1) The get must be written — not pre-printed or purchased blank; it must be composed specifically for this woman and this divorce. (2) It must be placed in her hand — not handed to a representative in her presence, not thrown; placed directly in her possession. (3) The sending — she must be free to leave, not held under duress. Each of the three elements has extensive Talmudic elaboration: what writing instrument is valid, what language, what if she cannot physically hold it, and what constitutes coercion that invalidates delivery.

The repetition in Deuteronomy 24:3 confirms the procedure for a second divorce — the same three steps, reaffirming that the process is fixed and formal. The get is protective of the wife. Without a formal document, no one could verify her marital status; remarriage without a get would leave her vulnerable to charges of adultery. The Torah’s procedure gives her legal freedom.

The Certificate of Severance: Why the Document Matters

Deuteronomy 24:1’s phrase “sefer keritut” — literally “scroll of cutting off” — is the halakhic name for the divorce document. The Talmud (Gittin 21b) rules that the get must be written on something that can be cut off from its source: a physical object (parchment, papyrus) that can be permanently detached. The permanence of the severance is expressed in the physical nature of the document. Oral divorce does not exist in Torah law; only a written document creates the legal severance.

The Talmudic debate over what constitutes “indecency” (Deut 24:1’s “ervas davar” — literally “nakedness of a thing”) became one of the great legal controversies of the Second Temple period: Shammai ruled only sexual misconduct; Hillel said even burning the husband’s food; Rabbi Akiva said even finding a more beautiful woman (Gittin 90a). The Talmud preserves the debate but rules legally on the side of the woman’s right to receive the get whenever the marriage cannot continue — not on the grounds of misconduct alone.

The prophet Malachi warns in Malachi 2:16: “for I hate divorce, says the LORD.” The Torah’s regulation of the get is not an endorsement of divorce — it is the minimum structure that prevents the wife from being discarded without recourse.

Key Figures

Jeremiah’s Prophetic Analogy

Jeremiah 3 (Jeremiah 3:8) uses the get metaphor for God’s relationship with Israel: “I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries.” The language is drawn directly from Deuteronomy 24:1. God’s sending of Israel into exile is described as a divorce with a formal document — a severance that is real and painful, but that also opens the possibility of return. The Deuteronomy 24 procedure is so embedded in Israel’s legal language that the prophets reach for it to describe covenantal rupture.

Hillel, Shammai, and Rabbi Akiva

Mishnah Gittin 9:10 records the three-way debate: Shammai’s school permitted divorce only for sexual misconduct, Hillel’s school for “any matter” (ervas davar = “matter of indecency” read as two separate grounds), and Rabbi Akiva for finding a more beautiful woman. The debate is not about encouraging divorce but about defining when a husband’s refusal to give a get becomes obstruction. The Talmud’s elaboration of the get laws is fundamentally concerned with the wife’s freedom — a husband who withholds the get traps her in legal limbo.

Study Questions

For reflection and group study

Why does the Torah establish a formal written procedure (the get) for divorce rather than permitting verbal repudiation of a marriage?

What are the three essential elements the Mishnah (Gittin 9:1–3) derives from Deuteronomy 24:1, and what does each protect?

How does the Talmudic debate between Shammai and Hillel (Gittin 9:10) over the grounds for divorce reflect different understandings of the phrase “ervas davar” (indecency)?

In what sense does the get protect the wife more than the husband — and how does Deuteronomy 24:1’s procedure give her legal standing she would not otherwise have?

How does Jeremiah 3:8’s use of the divorce metaphor for Israel’s exile illuminate the covenantal logic embedded in Deuteronomy 24:1?

Read the full passage in the Torah reader.

Read Deuteronomy 24 in the Torah Reader

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