Hello,
Hope you are doing well!
Context: In the first tosfos of Gittin 2a, rabbeinu Tam says that the reason why we have twelve lines in a get document is because the gematria of get is 12. I have a few questions about this:
1)How can the gematria be a reason to act a certain way?
2)Why do we associate get to the number of lines? It could have been the number of anything else(letters, phrases, paragraphs...)
3) Why don't we say the same for a ketuba that it should have 433 lines?
4) If the gematria is just a Remez and not the actual reason, then why does rabbeinu tam say that its "because", and if its just a Remez, what would we the real source?(cant say the real source is what Ri says because that also doesn't seem like a reason and he's cholek on Rabbeinu tam, therefore they must both be saying a Remez if that's what Rabbeinu tam was saying).
Thank you so much!
David Sabbah, Montreal
Shalom David,
Thank you very much for these thoughtful and probing questions.
One cannot claim that Gematriya serves as a Halachic source in and of itself. Rather, Gematriya is a form of allusion, revealing a small facet of the inner secret of a matter, but only as a hint. It is clear that b'Di'eved, a Get is valid even if it contains more or fewer than twelve lines. However, Rabeinu Tam sees in the Gematriya of the word "Get" a source for the required number of lines in a Get.
The Maharsha explains that the two reasons mentioned in Tosfos are, in fact, one and the same: the Get is called by that name because it contains twelve lines, and it contains twelve lines because of the number of blank spaces that divide the five books of the Torah.
It is worth noting that Rabeinu Tam himself, in Sefer ha'Yashar (Siman 271), writes that the custom to write a Get with twelve lines carries no real Halachic weight, since other types of documents are also referred to as Get. This contradiction teaches us that there is a gap between the world of Remez and the world of Halachah. Not only does this appear to contradict his earlier view, but it also strengthens the substance of your questions.
Similarly, in the commentary of the Baʿalei ha'Tosfos on the Torah, they express wonder at Rabeinu Tam's statement, noting that other documents are also called Get.
In the end, I believe the concept of Remez should not be regarded as a regular Halachic source, like a verse or a derivation from a verse. Rather, it is something that resonates with the world of Sod. There are many other reasons given for why the Get is written with twelve lines, and all of this suggests that the number itself likely originated as an established custom. The explanations were offered only later, once the custom had already become known.
Chag Same'ach,
Aharon Steiner