Family Law

An agunah ("chained women") is a woman who is halakhically stuck in a dead marriage because her husband is unable or refuses to give her a get, or bill of divorce.

Chalitzah is a rite, described in the Torah and practiced today, in which the widow of a childless man takes off the shoe of her husband’s brother and spits on the floor, discharging the obligation of yibbum (levirate marriage).

The Ben Sorer Umoreh — known in English as the“wayward and rebellious son” — is a case discussed in Deuteronomy 21:18–21 This “rebellsious son” acts as a glutton and drunkard, does not listen to his parents, and is ultimately put to death. Rabbinic texts delve into the conditions under which one becomes a ben sorer umoreh and the scenario's moral complexities. Most opinions in rabbinic literature maintain that such a case never happened and never could happen.

Yibbum is the Torah-mandated marriage of a widow to the brother of her childless husband. If either party does not want to go through with the marriage, an alternative ceremony called chalitzah is performed. In most contemporary Jewish communities, chalitzah is practiced instead of yibbum.