The Weekly Shtikle - Ki Seitzei

This week's shtikle comes with a special Mazal Tov to my nephew, Yisroel Meir Shonek of Far Rockaway, NY on his engagement to Miriam Teitelbaum, also of Far Rockaway.

    One of the many topics covered in this week's parsha is that of marriage and divorce. The term used for the divorce document is "geit." The first Tosafos in maseches Gittin teaches us that being that the gematria of get is 12, it is the custom to make all gittin 12 lines long. The question asked in the name of the GR"A (although it is not so clear that it was his question) is why did Chaza"l decide to use specifically this word which has no meaning elsewhere? Why did they not choose any other combination of letters which adds up to 12? He gives a fascinating answer. The letters "gimmel" and "tes" are never found next to each other in all of Tana"ch, to symbolize how, with a get, a couple has become separated.

    What is even more fascinating is the question that R' Chaim Kunyevsky asks on this. Why use "gimmel" and "tes" to convey this idea? "Gimmel"-"kuf", "zayin"-"tes", "zayin"-"tzadi" and "samech"-"tzadi" are also never found next to each other in all of Tana"ch!! He gives to answers, although they are not nearly as entertaining as the question. First, none of those combinations add up to 12. And second, "gimmel"-"tes" is the first combination encountered when starting from the beginning of the Aleph-Bais.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

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