21
votes
Accepted
(Why) May a Beit Din refuse to bury a body in order to coerce a man into giving a divorce?
In this particular case R. Lau was upholding the UOR’s ruling. The latter’s ruling (viewable here) was based on Rema (EH 154:21), citing earlier authorities, who permits to withhold any aid to a “...
- 12.1k
17
votes
May a man marry the women with whom he committed adultery?
No. See Mishnah Sotah, 5:1:
כְּשֵׁם שֶׁאֲסוּרָה לַבַּעַל, כָּךְ אֲסוּרָה לַבּוֹעֵל, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שם) נִטְמְאָה, וְנִטְמָאָה, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, כָּךְ הָיָה דוֹרֵשׁ ...
- 34.6k
12
votes
Accepted
What is a “halachic annulment” of a marriage and when is it employed?
1. Where does the principle of halachic marriage annulment (afka'inhu) apply?
There are five Talmudic cases where this principle is invoked:
A man betrothed (eirusin) a minor (rabinically) and was ...
- 45.2k
12
votes
Divorced woman remarrying her ex-husband
Both the first relationship and the second one would have to be formal marriages (the kind that requires a Get to dissolve) for the prohibition of remarrying your divorcée to come into effect. (ShA EH ...
- 100k
11
votes
Accepted
Why divorcing your first wife should be done only in extreme cases?
Divorcing one's first wife is viewed as a particularly sad event. Gittin 90b says that "even the Mizbeach sheds tears" when that happens. The rest of the Gemara there is probably what you heard ...
- 100k
11
votes
Accepted
How does Kibbud Av V'Eim work for a child of divorced parents?
Shulchan Aruch Y.D. 240:14 rules that if someone's divorced parents both ask him for a favor (the case of the S.A. is requesting a drink), he may choose to respond to either one first.
Pischei ...
- 6,515
10
votes
Accepted
Can a woman who commits adultery do teshuva and return to her husband?
Maimonides writes in Laws of Divorce 11:14 that Deuteronomy 24 does indeed apply in the case of a married woman willingly committing adultery, such that she is then forbidden from returning to her ...
- 45.2k
9
votes
Divorce by phone?
In his responsa (Tzitz Eliezer 10:47) R. Waldenburg quotes some authorities who maintained that in a state of emergency one can direct by telephone to write a get for his wife without even appearing ...
- 12.1k
9
votes
Can a woman divorce her husband and then convert to Judaism?
It sounds like whoever's asking this question is going through a great deal of upheaval of a both personal and religious nature, and would greatly benefit from speaking with a competent rabbi in-...
- 135k
9
votes
Accepted
Why Shammai says that a man can only divorce his wife due to adultery?
The opinion of the House of Shammai, as quoted in the Mishnah (Gittin 90a), is:
Beit Shammai say: A man may not divorce his wife unless he finds out about her having engaged in a matter of ...
- 25.3k
9
votes
Accepted
Question about using the same bed after divorce
If the bed reminds the husband of his first wife and makes him think about her while with the 2nd wife, then he should not use that bed Nedarim 20b quoted in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 240,2:
ולא ...
- 11.5k
8
votes
Can a man purchase the wife off a husband?
The short answer is no the only way a married woman can marry someone else, is by first receiving a get from the first husband, or after the death of her husband. (Rambam Hilchot Ishus 1:3)
And as ...
- 3,879
7
votes
Accepted
Does a sotah warning from a couples first marriage carry into their second marriage?
The Rambam (Hil. Sotah 1:7) rules that divorce erases the previous warning and if they remarry, he would have to warn again. Kesef Mishneh notes that the source is the Yerushalmi in the second chapter ...
- 14.6k
7
votes
Why for a divorce does a woman do many different actions, but doesn't do them for Kiddushin?
As noted by @joelk in a comment, if the kiddushin (engagement) are not valid, there is a bitul aseh (annulment of a positive commandment; see Rambam Laws of Marriage 1:1-2) or, at worst*, no marriage (...
- 17.9k
7
votes
Divorce and Mizbeach
The Chidushei Agadata of the Maharsha points you to the same memoir in Sanhedrin 20a.
There he explains that the Mizbeach - usually - gets the bird offerings that a wife brings, mostly from the first ...
- 44.1k
6
votes
Does a sotah warning from a couples first marriage carry into their second marriage?
He'd need a new warning. (Rambam Sotah 1:7, Shulchan Arukh EH 178:12)
- 100k
6
votes
Accepted
May coercion be used to facilitate halitzah?
Coercing a levir to perform halitzah [when one side has reason to reject entering into levirate marriage] is discussed in Yeb. 39b (see Tos. s.v. amar & Tos. Ket. 64a s.v. ve'dinei).
In modern ...
- 12.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Were Kohanim forbidden from serving in King David's army?
This is the subject of an old debate when it comes to kohanim giving conditional divorces. R. Mordechai Ben Hillel wrote that one cannot bring a proof from the fact that kohanim at war gave such ...
- 49.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Do gittin have to be written in Hebrew
A get can in theory be written in any single language, but longstanding practice is to write it in (largely) Aramaic (EH 126:1).
- 100k
5
votes
How should a man and a woman behave after their divorce?
The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch has 2 Halachot related to one's divorcee in סימן קנב - אסור יחוד ושאר קרבות בנשים - though it's irrelevant to him being remarried or not:
While divorcees may not live in the ...
- 44.1k
5
votes
Before the Matan Torah, did HaShem issue divorce regulations?
The Maggid Mishne (Rav Vidal of Tolosa, spain 14th century) on the Rambam Hilchot Ishut 1,1 says that before Mattan Torah (giving the Torah to Israel) everyone had a status of a gentile and he cross-...
- 11.5k
5
votes
If a woman cannot have children, can she marry?
Rema, Even HaEzer 1:3
וּבַזְּמַן הַזֶּה נָהֲגוּ שֶׁלֹּא לָכֹף עַל זֶה. וְכֵן מִי שֶׁלֹּא קִיֵּם פְּרִיָּה וּרְבִיָּה וּבָא לִשָּׂא אִשָּׁה שֶׁאֵינָהּ בַּת בָּנִים, כְּגוֹן עֲקָרָה וּזְקֵנָה אוֹ ...
- 5,420
5
votes
Accepted
If a condition to bury someone's body wasn't upheld, is one allowed to exhume the body?
The rules of disinterment are quite strict (see SA YD 363:1), dinonline has a good summary. The case you ask about is not part of the list, nor are there any cases of pressuring a family member. A ...
- 53.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Would marriage and divorce for Gentiles be invalid for being an appropriation of Jewish commandments?
Although the concept of betrothal does not apply to Gentiles the way it applies to Jews, nevertheless, it is still considered a sin to have a relationship with a Gentile woman who was betrothed, ...
- 3,297
5
votes
Can a divorced man sleep in the same household (no intercourse) with his ex-wife?
This depends on a number of factors including the number of children present in the house, their ages and genders, and whether other people are as well. This halacha applies for any non-related man ...
- 3,134
4
votes
Can a man who has undergone sex change give his wife a Get?
I heard that the London Beis Din sometime in the 20th century had such a case and asked Rabbi Ruderman if this person could give a get. Rabbi Ruderman didn't discuss if the gender change would have ...
- 20k
4
votes
Can a converted woman to Judaism divorce her Gentile husband and marry a Jew?
I'm afraid this site is not the place for personal advice, but we can clear up some misconceptions on Jewish law.
Deuteronomy 24:1--4 clearly allows for divorce and remarriage. It says explicitly ...
- 135k
4
votes
Non-observant Jewish Couples Having Halachic Weddings
You pretty much hit the nail on the head here. If a couple is Halachically married, and they don't get a Halachic separation, they remain married and all further relations are adulterous (with all the ...
- 6,883
4
votes
Can you get a religious divorce without a civil one?
דבר הכורת בינו לבינה
The first issue is derived from the passuk, which describes a get as a ספר כריתות, a “book of separation.” To that end, Chazal derive that a get must completely separate between ...
- 34.6k
4
votes
Would a neighborhood of a city be identified in a Get?
As a practical matter (speaking from personal experience, unfortunately), "Brooklyn" (ברוקלין) is used, regardless of the neighborhood. There are many teshuvos on this topic, mostly regarding the ...
- 1,039
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