Mishnah Gittin

m. Gittin 4:1–9

1. If a man sends a get [divorce document] to his wife and meets the bearer [before he delivers the get], or sends a messenger after him and says to him [the bearer of the get], “The get that I gave you is canceled,” then it is canceled. If the husband meets the wife before [the bearer] or sends a messenger to her and says, “The get I have sent to you is canceled,” then it is canceled. [However,] once the get has reached her hand, he cannot cancel it.

2. Formerly, a man could convene a bet din [court] in another place [that is, wherever he was] and cancel the get. Rabban Gamaliel the Elder, however, made an enactment that this should not be done, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam]. Formerly, the husband was allowed to use an alternative name for himself or his wife, or his town or her town [in the get]. Rabban Gamaliel the Elder made an enactment that he should write, “So-and-so and all the names he goes by,” “So-and-so and all the names she goes by,” to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam].

3. A widow cannot recover [the value of her ketubah] from the property of her fatherless children without taking an oath. But they [the rabbis] refrained from imposing an oath on her. Rabban Gamaliel the Elder made an enactment that she should take any vow that the orphans require of her and [thereby] recover her ketubah. [Similarly,] witnesses sign their names on a get, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam]. Hillel the Elder instituted the prosbul to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam].

4. [With regard to] a slave who was kidnapped and they ransomed him, if [he was ransomed] in order to be a slave, he may be enslaved. If [he was ransomed] to be a free man, he may not be enslaved. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: Either way he may be enslaved.

[With regard to] a slave whose master mortgaged him to others [to pay a debt], and then freed him, the law is that the slave is not obligated at all. However, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam], they force his [second] master to free him, and [the slave must] write a document [of debt] for the value of his money to him [i.e., to the owner]. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: [The slave] does not write [a debt document]; rather the one who freed him [i.e., the first master, does].

5. One who is half a slave and half free works for his master and for himself on alternate days. This was the ruling of Beth Hillel. Beth Shammai said: You have made matters right for the master but not for the slave. He cannot marry a female slave because he is already half free. He cannot marry a free woman because he is half a slave. Shall he renounce [marriage]? But was the world not made only for reproduction, as it says: He created it not a waste; he formed it to be inhabited? (Isaiah 45:18). Rather, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam], they compel his master to give him his freedom, and he gives him a bond for half his purchase price. Beth Hillel thereupon retracted [their opinion and] ruled like Beth Shammai.

6. One who sells his slave to a non-Jew or to someone outside the land of Israel, [the slave automatically] goes free. We do not ransom captives for more than they are worth, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam]. We do not help captives escape, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam]. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says: [It is] due to the enactment of the captives. And we do not buy religious books, tefillin, and mezuzot from the non-Jews for more than their worth, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam].

7. One who divorced his wife due to her bad reputation, he may not remarry her. If it was because of a vow [that she made], he may not remarry her. R. Judah says: [In the case of] any vow that was publicly known, he may not remarry her. [But for one] that was not publicly known, he may remarry her. R. Meir says: [In the case of] any vow that requires the investigation of a sage [to determine if it can be annulled], he may not remarry her. If it does not require investigation of a sage, he may remarry her. R. Eliezer said: The one was only prohibited on account of the other. R. Yosi, son of R. Judah, said: It happened in Sidon that one man said to his wife, “I take a vow if I do not divorce you,” and he divorced her. The rabbis allowed them to remarry, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam].

8. One who divorces his wife because she is incapable of bearing children, R. Judah says: He may not remarry her. The sages say: He may remarry her. If she married someone else, and she had children with him, and she demands her ketubah [from the first husband], R. Judah says: We say to her, “Your silence is better than your speaking.”¹

9. One who sells himself and his children to a non-Jew: we do not redeem him. But we redeem the children after the death of their father.

One who sells his field to a non-Jew, and a Jew buys it back from him: the buyer brings the firstfruits from it, to prevent abuses [mipne tikkun ‘olam].

m. Gittin 5:3, 9

3. [Creditors] do not collect from mortgaged property for produce consumed, for the improvement of property, [and payment] for the maintenance of a widow and daughters, because of tikkun ‘olam. The finder of a lost article is not required to take an oath, because of tikkun ‘olam. [ . . . ]

9. A woman may lend a fan or a sieve or a handmill or a stove to a woman who is suspected of not observing the sabbatical year, but she should not sift or grind with her. The wife of a ḥaver [one who is careful about purity laws and tithes] may lend a fan or a sieve to the wife of an ‘am ha-’arets [one who is ignorant or less careful about these laws] and may winnow and grind and sift with her, but once she has poured water over the flour she should not touch anything with her because we do not assist those who commit a transgression. All these rules were only said because of the ways of peace. Gentiles may be wished luck in the sabbatical year but not Israelites, and greeting may be given to them because of the ways of peace.