When Adam ate from the Aitz Hadaas Hashem divorced him from dwelling in Gan Eden. It was tantamount to giving a גט as it says (Bereishis 3,4) ויגרש את האדם . Similarly, when Hashem destroyed the Beis Hamikdash and Am Yisrael descended into galus it was as if Hashem gave Yisrael a גט. This is why we find the Agadatah of the Churban in Meseches Gittin. However from the response that Yechezkail Hanavi gave to the Sanhedrin in the times of Ezra we see to the contrary. The Shem Mishmuel brings on Shevuos 2 the following

מקרא דיחזקאל (כ') ויהי בשנה השביעית וגו' באו אנשים מזקני ישראל לדרוש את ה', וברש"י שאמרו עבד שמכרו רבו ואשה שגרשה בעלה כלום יש לזה על זה כלום, אף אנו שהגלנו וכו'. ויש לדקדק דבכל מקום זקני ישראל הם סנהדרין עיני העדה, וח"ו לעיני העדה שיעלה זה על רוחם. אך י"ל דהנה ידוע שהיו קצת אנשים שנתקו בעריות בימי עזרא, והי' הדבר מוקשה בעיני זקני ישראל, ע"כ בקשו ללמד עליהם זכות ולהקטין אשמתם, מפני שמעתה אין השי"ת מנהיגם ונפלו תחת שר הארץ והוא הכניס בהם מחשבות רעות עד שאינה דומה מהותם עתה כמהותם מאז, ואין בכחם להתגבר על יצרם מעתה, אך באמת אין הדבר כך והשיבם יחזקאל והעולה על רוחכם הי' לא תהי' אשר אתם אומרים נהי' כגוים וגו' אם לא ביד חזקה ובחימה שפוכה אמלוך עליכם, היינו שעדיין אני מלככם ומנהיגכם ומחשבתכם גם עתה אינה דומה לזולתכם:

After the Churban when Yidden were in Galus a segment of Am Yisrael were conducting their lives with immoral behavior and were warned by Yechezkail Hanavi that they will pay with the wrath of Hashem for their misdeeds. Their complaint to him was Hashem destroyed the Beis Hamikash and sent Yisrael into Galus. He acted like a husband who gave his wife a divorce. We were rejected from Him and our fate was given over to the mazalos. How can He punish us for our wrong doings when we are not married anymore? The answer Yechezkail gives is that we were never rejected completely and although we don't see it, Hashem still watches over us as before and cares very much if we fulfill his mitzvos". From here we see that Hashem did not give us a complete גט even though it seems that way on the outside.

The word גט is a very interesting. In the Torah it is called ספר כריתות . The word גט is Aramaic. It is gematriah twelve alluding to the twelve lines on which the contents of the divorce is written in. Another fascinating interpretation is that these two letters of gimmel and tes are never found together side by side in any Hebrew word. Therefore the letters גט symbolize separation of the spouses who must divorce and not live together. We would like suggest another interpretation alluded to in the letters of גט which is the Navi Yehezkail's response to the Sanhedrin concerning our relationship with Hashem after the Churban.

There are two pairs of letters before the letters of גט and more pairs after the גט. Before Hashem destroyed the Beis Hamikdash there were the pairs of letters א"ז and ב"ח. The word אז is built with a letter aleph riding on top of a zayin. The aleph represents אלופו של עולם השי"ת, ruchniyus, and the zayin represents physicality and the seven days of creation. Together they are the gematriah of 8 which the Maharal says corresponds to the supernatural. The mission of Am Yisrael is to rise above nature and sanctify Hashem's name by living a life of elevating the physical. The Beair Mayin Chaim in Beshalach says that the word אז which is gematriah eight corresponds to the two names of Hashem יהוה אדני containing eight letters which align to the middos harachamim and din. The Shiras Hayam therefore begins with the word אז for it describes the two middos which Hashem displayed at Yam Suf, one to save the Yidden and the other to drown the Egyptians.

However when we fail to fulfill our duty of אז and instead we value and pursue physical pleasures over Hashem's wishes, we then fall into the letters of חב which means to hide. One thinks that we can hide from Hashem just like Adam and Chavah did as the passuk says ויתחבא האדם ואשתו. By sinning we become חייב indebted to Hashem to do teshuvah. If we make no effort to repair our spirituality, then we receive punishment in the form of suffering and pain. If we still don't heed His mitzvos and do teshuva we are punished with גט - galus from Eretz Yisrael and הסתר פנים, Hashem's hiding from us. In short, when Yisrael leaves their madraiga of אז and falls to חב , they are given a גט.

What comes after Yisrael receives the גט? The pairs of letters that follow in the same patterns are ,ד"י ,ה"כ ו"ל as we will explain. These letters of די send the message that even after the גט there still remains די אלוקות enough G-dliness in the Yid not to be completely severed from his relationship with Hashem. An undefiled spark still burns deep within a Yid through which he can reattach himself to Hashem in a way that he can feel His closeness once again. If one decides to do teshuva he will be connected by the outstretched hand of Hashem as we say הפושט יד לשבים .

The next pair of letters ה"כ that follow giving a גט to Am Yisrael, tell the story of כה which is the first word in the passuk in Yechezkail 37,21 כה אמר אדני יהו' הנה אני לוקח את בני ישראל מבין הגויים אשר הלכו שם וקבצתי אותם מסביב והבאתי אותם אל אדמתם
This passuk states that even though Yisrael went into galus because of their aveiros and there they emulated the ways of the gentiles, nevertheless I will gather them together and return them to Eretz Yisrael. We see from this that the גט is not a total גט but one that appears like a divorce on the outside alone. The pair of כ"ה also tell us that one can still accept upon himself עול מלכות שמים of שמע ישראל which contains 25 letters כה, even when his eyes are closed in galus and he lives in a darkness concealing Hashem's light.

The next pair of letters after גט are לו and are rooted in the passuk ולו אנחנו עמו וצאן מרעיתו. Concerning this word there is a קרי וכתיב for it is written לא as if to say we are not His nation but it is read and translated as if it was spelled with a letter vov which means to Him we are His nation and His flock of sheep. The duality of these polarized interpretations of the word לא in the passuk reveals that even when Am Yisrael appears as if we are not His nation because He rejected us by destroying the Beis Hamikdash and sending us into galus, nevertheless we are still His nation and it is not a complete divorce. We must always be thankful to Hashem that when we act disloyal to Him and bow down to idols, He still does not trade us in and replace us with a substitute nation. The reason why our גט is not complete is because our undetected relationship with Hashem is still faintly alive as hinted in the word "עמו" which the Sefas Emes says refers to coals that are in a physical state of עוממות. On the outside there is no fire but if they are fanned they will ignite because a non - visible fire glows within. שחורה אני ונאוה.

Let us return to the word גט and examine its gematriah with its hidden letters גימל טית which add up to 502 the numbers of years our Avos lived on earth Avraham 175, Yitzchak 180 and Yaakov 147. This conveys to us that it was the Avos who implanted within their descendants that a גט given to Am Yisrael will not severe or totally discontinue our lifeline relationship with Hashem. This is hinted in the number 502 which also spells שבר which means to break. The dictionary definition of break is to separate into parts of pieces, to stop having a close relationship with someone. The Avos in their 502 years serving Hashem with mesiras nefesh guaranteed that even if their descendants will veer off the path of Hashem they will never fall to a state of שבר where their relationship will be broken and severed completely. Hashem by giving a גט to His nation encourages them to return to their אז status which still remains accessible to them even in galus. We are now living in the midst of the Nine Days of Churban. The Sefarim tell us that in the darkness of these days there lies a greater hidden light than light itself. The gematriah of אז including the word is nine. The external גט that was given to Klal Yisrael ends with the letter ט which is gematriah nine. The number nine stands for emes. This is why we find that every multiple of nine is in mispar katan also nine 9, 18. 27 36 45 54 63 72 81 90 99. אמת תכון לעד. The Nine Days even though they are days of loss and mourning, they nevertheless still contain the light of Hashem that declares the eternality of Yisrael's relationship with Him.