1,704. A Get That Was Thrown and Not Retrieved

Hilchos Geirushin 1:21

If the witnesses didn’t read the get before its delivery but the man gave it to his wife in front of them and then it was thrown into a fire or the sea, then the status of the divorce is thrown into question even if the husband claims that it was a valid get.

Hilchos Geirushin 1:22

Let’s say that the man threw the get among the barrels in his wife’s courtyard in front of the witnesses but when they looked for it they found a mezuzah or some other document. In such a case, we do not consider divorce to have been effected. We assume that what they found was what he tossed. If two or three mezuzos or other documents are found there, then we consider the possibility that he might have thrown a get there, only to have it dragged away by rodents. In such a case, the status of the divorce is thrown into question.