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This takes place in Bavel where the Rabbis have legal civil authority.

There is an aguna that I would like to marry. The Rabbi asks for volunteers to help "convince" the recalcitrant husband to provide a Get. I want to marry her when she is free.

Am I allowed to be part of the goon squad without transgressing "do not covet"?

A similar question could be asked about the scribe or beis din members.

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    How about demonstrating that a Rabbi, back then and there, could/would actually asks for volunteers to help "convince" the recalcitrant husband to provide a Get, in the first place?
    – Tamir Evan
    Commented Dec 4, 2017 at 11:42
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    Because it is irrelevant to the fundamental question concerning coveting.
    – Clint Eastwood
    Commented Dec 4, 2017 at 13:33
  • I wish you luck, Clint! You may want to depersonalize this question, though, as it may be closed for "psak". I don't see a coveting problem. However, in terms of being part of the "team", there may be a "conflict of interest" with someone on the team who is unaffiliated with the "schmendrick" husband. (Sorry for that name, but that's generally my rant against those who leave their wives agunot.)
    – DanF
    Commented Dec 4, 2017 at 18:34
  • What is the prohibition of coveting in general? If you know, why not clarify why you think this qualifies? If you don't know what the prohibition is, why not just ask that?
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 0:39
  • It could be coveting because: The man has a wife and I want her. I take steps to get him to divorce her so she can be mine. It might be exempt from coveting because: the man is abusing his relationship with his wife and the rabbis want to resolve the situation anyway.
    – Clint Eastwood
    Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 3:36

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Shulchan Oruch, Even Haezer (for example 12, 1) rules a couple of times that people involved in Gerushin process can not marry the woman in the first place, but if they did, they can not divorce her as we suspect conspiracy:

One who brings a divorce document ... may not marry her because of suspicion [that he lied in order to marry her]; but if he married her, he need not divorce her.

Same reasoning (if I remember right) applies to witnesses of suspected adultery, judges, that rule the divorce (source needed), messenger of Gett etc (look at Even Haezer 11-14).

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  • Would the prohibition of coveting apply? That seems to have been a crucial component of the question.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 12:47
  • Sho"A says because of suspicion. What kind of suspicion - need to see commentator, maybe coveting also.
    – Al Berko
    Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 13:17
  • rules a couple of times that people involved in Gerushin process can not marry the woman in the first place That is not strictly speaking true. The issue is the claim that she is not actually free to marry and the person is lying. For that reason, as the ShA states in 12:1, this only applies to folks whose testimony is essential for her to marry. This would not apply to the case at hand, as he isn't testifying anything, and furthermore, there is no doubt about her permissibly, and furthermore, the ShA states in 12:1 there, that this doesnt apply to cases where multiple people are [cont.]
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 21:04
  • [cont.] involved, as for example where two witnesses testify, since there is no concern that people will think that they are both lying for the benefit of one. Our question concerns a case where he is just one person involved of many. For all those reasons, this is wrong (at least based on the presented evidence.
    – mevaqesh
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 21:04

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