Divorce
o n e  o b j e c t

The laws regulating a kosher Jewish divorce are ancient and unique. From very early times, Jews created a legitimate procedure for divorce without implication of reproach or humiliation. In Judaism, marriage is an act of free will on the parts of both the man and the woman and so a divorce must also be a proceeding based on mutual consent. Unlike the western legal system, a divorce is not treated as an adversarial matter. The law derives from Deuteronomy 24:1.

            The instrument of divorce is the bill of divorcement called a get. If there is agreement between the man and the woman for a dissolution of the marriage, the man must literally hand the document that has been drafted by a rabbinical scribe into the hand of the woman. Only when that is done does the divorce actually take place.

            The get must be hand-written in Aramaic by a trained sofer who is provided by a bet din (Hebrew for rabbinical court). The document is written on heavy white paper with special ink that is not erasable. There can be no modification to the document after it is completed. According to ancient tradition, the get has twelve lines (the gemetria or numerical equivalent of the word get is twelve).
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            Any misspelling of any name or place renders the entire get invalid. Once the get is delivered and witnessed, the four corners are cut. A distinguishing mark or special cut is made on the document so that later if the validity is challenged, the sofer will be able to identify his work. This document is cut at the very end of the divorce proceeding so it can never be reused fraudulently by any other party.

            According to Torah, if a husband died after a childless marriage, it was the duty of his brother to marry the widow. If the brother rejected such a marriage, he had to undergo a ceremony known as halitzah (taking off the shoes), during which his brother’s widow removed his right shoe in front of witnesses. This act was parallel to divorce and freed them both of mutual obligation. A special leather shoe with three loops and strap is used for the ceremony—Ruth 4:7-8.