Gittin 1:5-6

Gittin 1:5

If a document has a Samaritan as a witness, it is invalid with the exception of gittin for divorcing wives and documents used to release servants. They once brought Rabban Gamliel in Kfar Osnai a bill of divorce whose witnesses were all Samaritans and he declared it valid. Any document that is brought to a non-Jewish court for confirmation is valid even though the witnesses are non-Jewish except for gittin for divorcing wives and documents used to release servants. Rabbi Shimon says that even these are valid; they are only invalid when drafted by laymen.

Gittin 1:6

Let’s say that someone gives a messenger both a get to divorce his wife and a document to release his servant. Rabbi Meir says that if he wants to retract both before they are delivered, he can do so. The Sages say that he may retract the get but not the document releasing the servant because one can benefit a person not in his presence but one may only act to another’s detriment when in his presence. If a person no longer wishes to support his servant, he is permitted (so the servant loses nothing by being freed), but if he no longer wishes to support his wife, he is not permitted (so divorce is to the wife’s detriment). Rabbi Meir replied that a kohein who frees a servant disqualifies him from eating terumah, the same as one who divorces his wife (so being freed does come with a detriment). The Sages replied that the servant is only permitted to eat terumah in the first place because he is considered his master’s property (so he can be sold to a non-kohein and lose the right to eat terumah without being freed). If a person gives a messenger both a get to divorce his wife and a document to release his servant but he dies before they are delivered, they may no longer be given. If he instructs a messenger to deliver a sum of money to a certain person and he dies, it may still be delivered after his death.