Jewish Divorce from the Torah
(א) כִּֽי־יִקַּ֥ח אִ֛ישׁ אִשָּׁ֖ה וּבְעָלָ֑הּ וְהָיָ֞ה אִם־לֹ֧א תִמְצָא־חֵ֣ן בְּעֵינָ֗יו כִּי־מָ֤צָא בָהּ֙ עֶרְוַ֣ת דָּבָ֔ר וְכָ֨תַב לָ֜הּ סֵ֤פֶר כְּרִיתֻת֙ וְנָתַ֣ן בְּיָדָ֔הּ וְשִׁלְּחָ֖הּ מִבֵּיתֽוֹ׃
(1) When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it comes to pass, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he writes her a bill of divorce, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house...
What is an Agunah?
(יג) הֲלָהֵ֣ן ׀ תְּשַׂבֵּ֗רְנָה עַ֚ד אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִגְדָּ֔לוּ הֲלָהֵן֙ תֵּֽעָגֵ֔נָה לְבִלְתִּ֖י הֱי֣וֹת לְאִ֑ישׁ אַ֣ל בְּנֹתַ֗י כִּֽי־מַר־לִ֤י מְאֹד֙ מִכֶּ֔ם כִּֽי־יָצְאָ֥ה בִ֖י יַד־יְהוָֽה׃
(13) Should you wait for them to grow up? Should you on their account tie yourselves down from marriage? Oh no, my daughters! My lot is far more bitter than yours, for the hand of the Lord has struck out against me.”
(שמואל ב יב, ט) ואת אשתו לקחת לך לאשה ליקוחין יש לך בה
דא"ר שמואל בר נחמני א"ר יונתן כל היוצא למלחמת בית דוד כותב גט כריתות לאשתו
(Babylonian Talmud, ~500 CE)
“And his [Uriah's] wife you [King David] have taken to be your wife”; it means that you have rights of marriage with her [as by law Bathsheba was already divorced from Uriah].
As Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: Anyone who goes to a war waged by the royal house of David writes a [conditional] bill of divorce to his wife. [That was done to prevent a situation in which the soldier’s wife would be unable to remarry because the soldier did not return from battle and there were no witnesses to his fate. The conditional bill of divorce accorded her the status of a divorcee and freed her to remarry.]
Agunot Today: Get Denial
(א) .. אינו דומה האיש המגרש לאשה המתגרשת, שהאשה יוצאה לרצונה ושלא לרצונה והאיש אינו מוציא אלא לרצונו.
(Redacted ~200 CE)
(1) ...A man who divorces is not similar to a woman who is divorced, for the woman goes out with her consent or without her consent, but a man can only remove [his wife] with his consent.
(א) אין האשה מתגרשת אלא בכתב שיגיע לה וכתב זה הוא הנקרא גט. ועשרה דברים הן עיקר הגירושין מן התורה ואלו הן. שלא יגרש האיש אלא ברצונו. ושיגרש בכתב ולא בדבר אחר...
(Published ~1180 CE)
(1) [1] A woman may be divorced only by means of a writ that reaches her, and this writ is called a get. According to the Torah, there are ten rules that are basic to divorce, and they are as follows: that the man may not divorce his wife except of his own free will; that he must give a divorce by means of a writ, and not by means of anything else...
(י) וְאֵלּוּ שֶׁכּוֹפִין אוֹתוֹ לְהוֹצִיא, מֻכֵּה שְׁחִין, וּבַעַל פּוֹלִיפּוֹס, וְהַמְקַמֵּץ, וְהַמְצָרֵף נְחֹשֶׁת, וְהַבֻּרְסִי, בֵּין שֶׁהָיוּ בָם עַד שֶׁלֹּא נִשְּׂאוּ וּבֵין מִשֶּׁנִּשְּׂאוּ נוֹלָדוּ.
(Redacted ~200 CE)
(10) And these [are the cases in which] they compel him to divorce [his wife]: one stricken with leprosy; or one afflicted with polypus; or one who gathers dogs’ dung; or a copper-smelter; or a tanner. Whether [these circumstances] existed before they were married or after they were married.
שו"ת מהרשד"ם, חלק אבן העזר, סימן מ"א
ואמרתי אני בלבי שאין ספק שאפילו שאותם שאמרו חכמים במשנה בפרק המדיר ואלו שכופין מוכה שחין כו', שלא אמרו שכופין אותו לגרש אלא אם אינו רוצה לגרש כלל. אבל אם ירצה לגרש אלא שרוצה להטיל אי זה תנאי בגט בזה ודאי לא אמרו שכופין לגרש בלא תנאין.
Responsa of the Maharshdam, Helek Even ha-Ezer, #41 (Lived 1135-1204)
And I said to myself that even regarding those cases enumerated in the Mishnah (Perek ha-Madir) in which we force [a husband to divorce] (e.g. smitten with boils, etc), the sages say that we force him to divorce only if he doesn’t want to at all. However, if he wants to divorce, but he will only give the get under certain conditions, we certainly do not force him to divorce without [fulfilling] those conditions...
החלטת ביה"ד הרבני, מאי 2008. ביה"ד דוחה בקשה של אשה להכניס בעלה לכלא למרות שהוא מסרב 6 שנים לתת לה גט.
לאחר עיון בחומר שבתיק, בית הדין מחליט שאין מקום לכפות על הבעל לגט על הבעל... אמנם ביה"ד בהרכב קודם [בשנת 2006] ברוב דעות חייב את הבעל בכתובה [ומתן הגט] ... אך עתה הוא מסכים לתת גט וגם מסכים לתת מחצית הדירה וגם לשלם עבור מזונות העבר אין מקום לכפותו, ולדעת בי"הד , מאחר שהאישה סובלת כבר מספר שנים וזו ההזדמנות שהאשה תותר מעגחנותה, ולכן ממליץ לה לקבל את ההצעה....
Rabbinic Court, May 2008, decision. Court rejects request of wife to imprison husband who refuses for 6 years to deliver get.
[A]fter reviewing the file, this rabbinic court decides that there's no room to coerce the husband to give his wife a get... While it is true that a previous tribunal [in 2006] obligated the husband ...[to] give his wife a get, but now he is willing to give a get and even agrees to relinquish half the apartment, and also to pay for past child-support. Therefore, there is no place to coerce the husband and it is opinion of this court that since the woman is suffering for so many years and this is the opportunity for her to release herself from the chains that bind her, we therefore recommend that she accept this offer....
Contemporary Solutions
סעיף ליברמן, 1953
וּצְבִיאוּ מַר ________ בַּר ________ חֲתַן דְּנַן וּמָרַת _________ בַּת _________ דָא דְאִן יַסִּיק אַדַעְתָא חְחַד מִינהוֹן לְנַתוֹקֵי נִישׂוּאֵיהוֹן אוֹ אִן אִיתְנַתוּק נִישׂוּאֵיהוֹן בְּעַרְכָאוֹת דִמְדִינְתָא דְיִכוֹל דִּין אוֹ דָא לְזַמָנָא לְחַבְרֵיה לְבֵי דִינָא דִכְנִישְׁתָא דְּרַבָּנַן וּדְבֵית מַדְרְשָׁא דְּרַבָּנַן דְאַרְעָתָא דִקְיָימָא אוֹ מַאן דְאָתֵי מִן חַילֵה וְלֵיצוּתוּ תַרְוַיְיהוּ לְפִסקָא דְדִינֵיה בְּדִיל דְיִכְּלוּ תַרְוַיְיהוּ לְמֵיחֵי בְּדִינֵי דְאוֹרַיְיתָא
The Lieberman Clause (Rabbinical Assembly, 1953)
_______________, the groom, and __________, the bride, further agreed that should either contemplate dissolution of the marriage, or following the dissolution of their marriage in the civil courts, each may summon the other to the Bet Din of the Rabbinical Assembly and the Jewish Theological Seminary, or its representative, and that each will abide by its instructions so that throughout life each will be able to live according to the laws of the Torah.
Beth Din of America Binding Prenuptial Agreement (21st century)
I hereby now (me’achshav) obligate myself to support my Wife-to-Be from the date that our domestic residence together shall cease for whatever reasons at the rate of $150 per day (calculated as of the date of our marriage, adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index– All Urban Consumers, as published by the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics) in lieu of my Jewish law obligation of support so long as the two of us remain married according to Jewish law, even if she has another source of income or earnings. Furthermore, I waive my halakhic rights to my wife’s earnings for the period that she is entitled to the above-stipulated sum, and I recite that I shall be deemed to have repeated this waiver at the time of our wedding. I acknowledge that I have now (me’achshav) effected the above obligation by means of a kinyan (formal Jewish transaction) in an esteemed (chashuv) Beth Din as prescribed by Jewish law.
Center for Women's Justice Agreement for a Just and Fair Jewish Marriage (Israel, 21st century)
The purpose of this agreement and bill is to enable parties to actualize their will to divorce without being dependent on the will of the other party. What does the agreement include?
1. Civil Court Jurisdiction: the couple agrees that all matters of dispute will be exclusively heard and adjudicated in civil court;
2. Financial Incentive to Prevent Get Refusal: the couple agrees that "increased spousal support" will be paid by the recalcitrant party;
3. Conditional Kiddushin: the couple agrees to marry via a conditional kiddushin wherein the conditions are that the couple lives together and neither of the parties has asked for a divorce;
4. Authorization to nullify the marriage: the couple authorizes a tribunal of three Jewish men to declare their marriage over;
5. Authorization to act as agent: the man designates an agent to draft the get (Jewish Bill of Divorce)