Beit Din Jurisdiction in Cases of Divorce:
Where Must a Couple Go to Have Their Case Adjudicated? At first glance, common sense would suggest that a dispute between two parties should be adjudicated locally, before the beit din of their community. This arrangement is beneficial for multiple reasons. It minimizes the financial and logistical burdens of travel, reduces the likelihood of disruption […]
What is One’s Ethical Responsibility to a Former Spouse?
According to the Torah, a marriage comes to an end through a gett kritut, a “document of separation,” which the husband gives to the wife and severs the bond created by kiddushin.1 After this is done, the two appear to have no formal halakhic relationship. But what, if anything, should remain between them? Does the […]
Moredet: The “Rebellious” Wife
The beginning of the Megillah describes Achashverosh hosting a massive celebration for all those in Shushan, and at the height of the festivities, when the king was more than a little inebriated, he ordered his advisors “to bring Queen Vashti before the king wearing a royal crown, to display her beauty to the peoples and […]
Gett Extortion
Nearly every telling of the Hanukkah story describes a different breaking point which triggers the Maccabean revolt. In the Scholion of Megillat Taanit it is the attempted rape of Mattityahu’s daughter at the hands of Greek soldiers. In this telling, the war and the miracles of Hanukkah all transpired in order to protect a Jewish […]
When Exactly is a Marriage Over?
One of the most common and dangerous misconceptions regarding Jewish divorce is that the husband alone has the power to decide when a marriage is over. In actuality, nothing could be farther from the truth, at least in the eyes of halacha. The rabbis had a profound grasp of human nature and understood that a […]
Mandating the Gett in the Absence of the Husband
During the High Holidays, the synagogue transforms from a place of worship to the heavenly court. Instead of just offering prayers, we suddenly find ourselves standing in judgment before God, our merits weighed against our sins. There is no lawyer to defend us in this court, nor any higher court of appeals. God takes on […]
The Broken Beit Din System: A Reflection on Powerlessness
Without the power of real enforcement, a judge’s ruling is little more than advice to be accepted or dismissed as one chooses.
Ruth: Who is an Agunah?
Perhaps the most well-known definition of an agunah is a woman whose husband has disappeared and is presumed dead. As a result, his wife finds herself in a limbo-like status. Without clear proof of his death, she cannot remarry or move on with her life. To address this, the Talmudic rabbis enacted important leniences regarding […]
What Esther Can Teach Us About Domestic Abuse
While there are many things we can learn from the megillah, one of its unlikely lessons is that much of how we think about domestic abuse is wrong. Typically, abuse is conceived of as something physical, along the lines of cuts and broken bones, sexual violence, and even murder. However, the emphasis on physical violence […]