1,705. The Witnesses Who Sign the Get

Hilchos Geirushin 1:23

The witnesses who sign the get must know how to read and how to write their names. If they don’t know how to read, the get is read in front of them, after which they sign it, assuming that they understood what is written in the get. If the witnesses don’t know how to write their names, we write the names on the paper with spit or something else impermanent. The witnesses trace their names over the temporary signatures. This procedure is not followed for any other legal documents; it is a leniency that is permitted solely in cases of divorce so that a woman shouldn’t be forced to live as an agunah (one who is unable to obtain a divorce). We are lenient in this matter because signing a get is only required by rabbinic enactment, as has been explained.

Hilchos Geirushin 1:24

While witnesses signing the get is of rabbinic origin, the Sages did rule that the witnesses’ names must be written in the get. They also ruled that the witnesses must sign the get in front of one another. If either one signed without the other being present, the get is invalid. The Sages likewise ruled that the get must record the date and place where it was written, just like other legal documents. The latter was enacted out of concern for a case where a man marries a relative and she commits adultery. In such a case, a man might be tempted to write a get after she committed adultery. If gets were undated, she could then claim to have been divorced before the adultery occurred. For this reason, the Sages instituted that a get must be dated.