Nesinas HaGet

The general assumption by get is that there is a halacha that the husband has to do a maaseh nesinah. That is to say, that he has to give the get to his wife in order for her to be divorced.

Acc. to Rav Soloveitchick this assumption is not entirely correct. The gemara in Gittin on 78a has a case of "arak leih chartzeh" (where the husband has the get in his belt and moves toward her). There is also the case on 77b where the woman only has to make a kinyan chatzer where the get is and that is good. Finally, the gemara on 21a says giving a shtar matanah to the woman on an eved or chatzer that is holding the get is also a nesinah.

Tosafos on 77b (d"h v'tezil) uses the lashon of "k'ilu nasnu lah" to explain why these cases are considered nesinah.

I heard that Rav Soloveitchick explained all these gemaras by quoting his grandfather Rav Chaim that by get a maaseh nesinah is not required. Rather, the halacha is that nesinas haget means to cause the woman to be tofes (to take possession of) the get.

To explain this more clearly Rav Soloveitchick elaborated that the rishonim say that arik leih chartzeih is a m'sayha. The Rav asked, don't we pasken that m'sayha ein bo mamash (for example by cos shel bracha and mishkav u'moshav). If it is ein bo mamash, so it is not a maaseh. Rather, you see that you don't need a maaseh nesinah at all.

[Side Point: There was a case in Brisk where a guy gave a get in an envelope. Rav Chaim said it's a safek megureshes. Why? The envelope is a chatzer. If there is no chatzitza however, it is like tli giteich m'al gabay karka, because the chatzer is karka. However, if there is chatzitza so she is divorced because she is koneh through the chatzer, like the case when he is makneh the chatzer to the woman and the get is in it.]

There is a stirah in Rambams. The Rambam in 1:11 of Gerushin says that saying ha giteich when you give a get is only a d'rabbanan. However, in 1:12 it is implied that it is d'orayssa. Acc. to what we have been saying, the answer may be that by a bona fide maaseh nesinah the requirement to say it is only d'rabbanan. However, if the husband is only m'sayha, so the requirement is then d'rabbanan.

The gemara in Hazorek uses a funny lashon by tli giteich m'al gabay karka. The gemara says that one who says "tli giteich m'al gabay karka, lo amar clum". What does that mean? Why doesn't the gemara just say it is pasul?

I heard a beautiful answer along the lines of what we have been discussing. The idea is that the amirah of "ha giteich" doesn't help if she just picks it up off the ground. Even though by m'sayha an amirah can make it a gerushin, tli giteich is worse than even m'syaha.

Why is that?

Rav Chaim explained that even by m'sayha you need it to be "m'yado mamash".

To summarize:

By get you don't need a bona fide maaseh nesinah, but even m'sayha qualifies. That which m'sayha works, according to the Rambam, is only with an amirah. The amirah combines with the m'sayha to make it a good gerushin.