daf bit: Gittin 32

[cellio]

The mishna considers the case of a man who dispatches a proper get (bill of divorce) and then changes his mind. If he goes after the bearer, or sends a messenger after the bearer, and says it is cancelled, it is cancelled. Similarly, if the man goes to his wife or sends a messenger to his wife before the bearer arrives and says that the (forthcoming) get is cancelled, it is. However, once the bearer delivers it into the wife's hand, she is divorced and the man cannot revoke it. In earlier (pre-mishnaic) times a man was allowed to bring together a beit din (rabbinic court) to cancel a get, but Rabban Gamaliel the Elder laid down a rule that this should not be done, to prevent abuses. (32a)

According to the g'mara, Rabban Gamaliel is concerned about illegitimate children -- if she remarries and has children and then, retroactively, was not divorced after all -- and also with creating an agunah, a "chained woman" who is unable to remarry. Allowing an ex-husband to do either of these things grants him too much power over her. (Or, in my own words: if you've said you're moving on, then move on and leave her alone.) I don't know if the rabbis considered time limits for cancellation; cancelling a week later seems different to me than cancelling years later.

Comments

[cellio]

I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right!