Religion and divorce
Encyclopedia
Many countries in Europe
had prohibited divorce
, as it is not allowed by the Catholic Church. Sometimes citizens travelled to other jurisdictions to obtain a divorce. No Catholic Church will remarry divorced persons, unless they previously have their marriage annulled, which is only possible in some circumstances. In islam it is allowed to divorce, in the Islamic law
and marital jurisprudence
, divorce is accepted and referred to as talaq
. While the Indian religions do not accept divorce.
treats all consummate
d sacramental marriages as permanent during the life of the spouses, and therefore does not allow remarriage after a divorce if the other spouse still lives and the marriage has not been annulled
. However, divorced Catholics are still welcome to participate fully in the life of the church so long as they have not remarried against church law, and the Catholic Church generally requires civil divorce or annulment procedures to have been completed before it will consider annulment cases. Other Christian denominations, including the Eastern Orthodox Church
and many Protestant churches, will allow both divorce and remarriage even with a surviving former spouse, at least under certain conditions. In societies that practiced Puritan
ism, divorce was allowed if one partner in the marriage was not completely satisfied with the other, and remarriage was also allowed.
Bible commentary on divorce comes primarily from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the epistles of Paul. Jesus taught on the subject of divorce in three of the Gospels, and Paul gives a rather extensive treatment of the subject in his First Epistle to the Corinthians
chapter 7: "Let not the wife depart from her husband...let not the husband put away his wife" (1 Corinthians 7:10-11), but he also includes the Pauline privilege
. He again alludes to his position on divorce in his Epistle to the Romans
, albeit an allegory, when he states "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. . . . So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress" (Romans 7:2-3).
In , and , Jesus came into conflict with the Pharisees
over divorce concerning their well-known controversy between Hillel
and Shammai
about --as evidenced in Nashim
Gittin 9:10 of the Mishnah
. Do Jesus’ answers to the Pharisees also pertain to Christians? Are Christians who adopt these teachings Judaizers
? The differences in opinions about these questions usually arise over whether Jesus opposed the Law of Moses
or just some of the viewpoints of the Pharisees, and whether Jesus just addressed a Jewish audience
or expanded his audience to include Christians, for example "all nations" as in the Great Commission
.
Since Deuteronomy 24:1-4 did not give Jewish women the right to directly initiate a divorce (See Agunah
), did Jesus' answers "in the house" to his disciples expand the rights of women or did they merely acknowledge that some Jewish women, such as Herodias
who divorced Herod Boethus, were wrongfully taking rights because Jewish women were being assimilated by other cultures? (See , .) In other words, did Jesus confine his remarks to the Pharisaical questions, and did he appeal to his own authority by refuting the oral authority of the Pharisees with the formula "You have heard...But I say to you"
in ? Expressions used by Jesus such as "you have heard", "it hath been said", "it is written", "have you never read", "keep the commandments", "why do you break the commandments with your traditions?" and "what did Moses Command you?" seem to indicate that Jesus generally respected the Hebrew Bible
and sometimes opposed Pharisaical Opinions
, see for example the Woes of the Pharisees
.
, 1955 applicable to Hindu
s, Buddhists, Sikh
s, and Jains in India does have provisions for divorce under some circumstances.
It should be noted that Buddhism has no religious concept of marriage (See Buddhist view of marriage
). In Buddhism, marriage is a secular affair, subject to local customs.
, divorce is allowed. Islam considers marriage to be a legal contract; and the act of obtaining a divorce is essentially the act of legally dissolving the contract.
In Islamic law
and marital jurisprudence
, divorce is accepted and referred to as talaq
. However, divorce is considered the most hated of all lawful things in the sight of Allah.
In the medieval Islamic world
and the Ottoman Empire
, the rate of divorce was higher than it is today in the modern Middle East
, which now has generally low rates of divorce. In 15th century Egypt
, Al-Sakhawi
recorded the marital history of 500 women
, the largest sample
on marriage in the Middle Ages
, and found that at least a third of all women in the Mamluk Sultanate
of Egypt and Syria
married more than once, with many marrying three or more times. According to Al-Sakhawi, as many as three out of ten marriages in 15th century Cairo
ended in divorce. In the early 20th century, some villages in western Java
and the Malay peninsula
had divorce rates as high as 70%.
According to Sharia law, if a man initiates the divorce, there is a required waiting period of three period for a normal lady otherise for them who has some problem in periods and one can not examine then the time period is 3 months.there are steps of divorce not like that a man is allowed to say 3 in one times then that is his mistake and there is no relation to islam of that mistake he did. A man must announce his intentions, in the presence of two qualified witnesses, effectively "divorcing", but still honor his obligations towards his wife (i.e. feed and clothe her) - during which time the couple can reconcile. If he completes the three-month period, still intent on separating from his wife, then the marriage no longer exists. If a woman initiates divorce, she doesn't have to wait for the three month period; rather she must take the husband to court, where, depending on the situation, the marriage will be terminated upon certain conditions.
has always accepted divorce as a fact of life, though an unfortunate one: e.g., see Deuteronomy
chapters 22 and 24. Judaism generally maintains that it is better for a couple to divorce than to remain together in a state of bitterness and strife. It is said that shalom bayit
(domestic harmony) is a desirable state.
In general, it is accepted that for a Jewish divorce to be effective the husband must hand to the wife, and not vice versa, a bill of divorcement, called a get
, which also acts as proof of the divorce. From ancient times, the get was considered to be very important to show all those who needed to have proof that the woman was in fact free from the previous marriage and free to remarry. In Jewish law, besides other things, the consequences of a woman remarrying and having a child while still legally married to another is profound: the child would be a mamzer
, to be avoided at any cost. Also, the woman would be committing adultery
should she remarry while still legally married to another. An enactment called Herem de-Rabbenu Gershom (literally, the proscription of Rabbenu Gershom)--accepted universally throughout European Jewish communities—prohibited a husband from divorcing his wife against her will.
In Jewish law divorce is an act of the parties to the marriage, which is different from the approach adopted by many other legal systems. That is, a Jewish divorce does not require a decree from a court. The function of the court, in the absence of agreement between the parties, is to decide whether the husband should be compelled to give the get or for the wife to accept the get. But, notwithstanding any such ruling, the parties remain married until such time as the husband actually delivers the get.
Jewish law, in effect, does not require proof or even an allegation of moral or other fault by either party. In the first place, as noted above, if both parties agree to a divorce and follow the prescribed procedure, then the court would not need to establish responsibility for the marriage break-down. In the second place, if either party does not wish to continue co-habiting with the other is sufficient grounds for divorce. (Anything else, it is said, would amount to rape of the woman.) In this sense it is a "no-fault" approach to divorce. This approach has been accepted for thousands of years . It was the approach advocated by followers of Hillel
, a very influential school of thought in ancient Judea
, which predated the current era. This is the approach which is now generally accepted in most, if not all, Jewish communities around the world.
On the other hand, the refusal of a husband to give his wife a get
(the document) can be for purely vindictive or even extortion motives. This situation has resulted in numerous social problems in modern times. For example, where pre-nuptial agreements are enforceable in civil courts, appropriate provisions may be made to compel the giving of the get by the husband in the event of a civil divorce being obtained. A woman who has been refused a get is typically referred to as an "agunah
".
A wife can initiate a divorce process on several grounds (including lack of satisfaction in her sexual life). However, this right extends only so far as petitioning a court to force her husband to divorce her. Also see Jewish Attitude Toward Divorce.
and Get in the Conflict of Laws
.
Furthermore, from the philosophical and mystical point of view, divorce is a unique procedure of tremendous importance and complexity, because it nullifies the holiest of connections that can exist in the Universe (similar to a connection between a person and God). Because of the danger of the birth of illegitimate children (mamzer
im) if the process is not performed properly, and because divorce law is extraordinarily complex, the process is generally supervised by experts.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
had prohibited divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
, as it is not allowed by the Catholic Church. Sometimes citizens travelled to other jurisdictions to obtain a divorce. No Catholic Church will remarry divorced persons, unless they previously have their marriage annulled, which is only possible in some circumstances. In islam it is allowed to divorce, in the Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
and marital jurisprudence
Islamic marital jurisprudence
In Islamic law , marriage is a legal bond and social contract between a man and a woman. Islam commends marriage, with the age of marriage being whenever the individuals feel ready, financially and emotionally...
, divorce is accepted and referred to as talaq
Talaq (Nikah)
In Islam there are separate rules for divorce for men and women under the terms of Islamic law . When a man has initiated a divorce the procedure is called . When a woman has initiated a divorce it is called khula ....
. While the Indian religions do not accept divorce.
Christianity
Most Christian churches treat divorce negatively; however, different Christian denominations vary in their toleration of it. The Roman Catholic ChurchRoman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
treats all consummate
Consummate
Consummation or consummation of a marriage, in many traditions and statutes of civil or religious law, is the first act of sexual intercourse between two individuals, following their marriage to each other...
d sacramental marriages as permanent during the life of the spouses, and therefore does not allow remarriage after a divorce if the other spouse still lives and the marriage has not been annulled
Annulment (Catholic Church)
In the Roman Catholic Church an annulment is the procedure, governed by the Church's Canon Law and the Catechism, whereby an ecclesial tribunal determines the sacrament of marriage was invalidly entered into. An annulment determines the Catholic marriage to be void at its inception...
. However, divorced Catholics are still welcome to participate fully in the life of the church so long as they have not remarried against church law, and the Catholic Church generally requires civil divorce or annulment procedures to have been completed before it will consider annulment cases. Other Christian denominations, including the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and many Protestant churches, will allow both divorce and remarriage even with a surviving former spouse, at least under certain conditions. In societies that practiced Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
ism, divorce was allowed if one partner in the marriage was not completely satisfied with the other, and remarriage was also allowed.
Bible commentary on divorce comes primarily from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the epistles of Paul. Jesus taught on the subject of divorce in three of the Gospels, and Paul gives a rather extensive treatment of the subject in his First Epistle to the Corinthians
First Epistle to the Corinthians
The first epistle of Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, often referred to as First Corinthians , is the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible...
chapter 7: "Let not the wife depart from her husband...let not the husband put away his wife" (1 Corinthians 7:10-11), but he also includes the Pauline privilege
Pauline privilege
The Pauline Privilege is a Christian concept drawn from the apostle Paul's instructions in theFirst Epistle to the Corinthians.-Origin:In Paul's epistle it states:...
. He again alludes to his position on divorce in his Epistle to the Romans
Epistle to the Romans
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, often shortened to Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that Salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ...
, albeit an allegory, when he states "For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. . . . So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress" (Romans 7:2-3).
In , and , Jesus came into conflict with the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
over divorce concerning their well-known controversy between Hillel
Hillel the Elder
Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud...
and Shammai
Shammai
Shammai was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah....
about --as evidenced in Nashim
Nashim
Nashim is the third order of the Mishnah , containing the laws related to women and family life...
Gittin 9:10 of the Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
. Do Jesus’ answers to the Pharisees also pertain to Christians? Are Christians who adopt these teachings Judaizers
Judaizers
Judaizers is predominantly a Christian term, derived from the Greek verb ioudaïzō . This term is most widely known from the single use in the New Testament where Paul publicly challenges Peter for compelling Gentile believers to "judaize", also known as the Incident at Antioch.According to the...
? The differences in opinions about these questions usually arise over whether Jesus opposed the Law of Moses
Antinomianism
Antinomianism is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation....
or just some of the viewpoints of the Pharisees, and whether Jesus just addressed a Jewish audience
Jewish Christians
Jewish Christians is a term which appears in historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with Gentile Christians, both in discussion of the New Testament church and the second and following centuries....
or expanded his audience to include Christians, for example "all nations" as in the Great Commission
Great Commission
The Great Commission, in Christian tradition, is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples, that they spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. It has become a tenet in Christian theology emphasizing missionary work, evangelism, and baptism...
.
Since Deuteronomy 24:1-4 did not give Jewish women the right to directly initiate a divorce (See Agunah
Agunah
Agunah ; literally 'anchored or chained') is a halachic term for a Jewish woman who is "chained" to her marriage. The classic case of this, is a man who has left on a journey, and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is MIA...
), did Jesus' answers "in the house" to his disciples expand the rights of women or did they merely acknowledge that some Jewish women, such as Herodias
Herodias
Herodias was a Jewish princess of the Herodian Dynasty. Asteroid 546 Herodias is named after her.-Family relationships:*Daughter of Aristobulus IV...
who divorced Herod Boethus, were wrongfully taking rights because Jewish women were being assimilated by other cultures? (See , .) In other words, did Jesus confine his remarks to the Pharisaical questions, and did he appeal to his own authority by refuting the oral authority of the Pharisees with the formula "You have heard...But I say to you"
Expounding of the Law
The Expounding of the Law is a highly structured part of the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament...
in ? Expressions used by Jesus such as "you have heard", "it hath been said", "it is written", "have you never read", "keep the commandments", "why do you break the commandments with your traditions?" and "what did Moses Command you?" seem to indicate that Jesus generally respected the Hebrew Bible
Tanakh
The Tanakh is a name used in Judaism for the canon of the Hebrew Bible. The Tanakh is also known as the Masoretic Text or the Miqra. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the Masoretic Text's three traditional subdivisions: The Torah , Nevi'im and Ketuvim —hence...
and sometimes opposed Pharisaical Opinions
Oral law
An oral law is a code of conduct in use in a given culture, religion or community application, by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted by oral tradition and effectively respected, or the single rule that is orally transmitted....
, see for example the Woes of the Pharisees
Woes of the Pharisees
The Woes of the Pharisees is a list of criticisms by Jesus against Scribes and Pharisees and Lawyers that is present in the Gospel of Luke and Gospel of Matthew...
.
Indian Religions
Indian religions do not have a concept of divorce. A person following these religions cannot divorce. However, the Hindu Marriage ActHindu Marriage Act
The Hindu Marriage Act was established in 1955 as part of the Hindu Code Bills. Three other important acts were also created during this time and they include the Hindu Succession Act , the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act , and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act...
, 1955 applicable to Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
s, Buddhists, Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
s, and Jains in India does have provisions for divorce under some circumstances.
It should be noted that Buddhism has no religious concept of marriage (See Buddhist view of marriage
Buddhist view of marriage
The Buddhist view of marriage considers marriage a secular affair and as such, it is not considered a sacrament. Buddhists are expected to follow the civil laws regarding marriage laid out by their respective governments....
). In Buddhism, marriage is a secular affair, subject to local customs.
Islam
In IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, divorce is allowed. Islam considers marriage to be a legal contract; and the act of obtaining a divorce is essentially the act of legally dissolving the contract.
In Islamic law
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
and marital jurisprudence
Islamic marital jurisprudence
In Islamic law , marriage is a legal bond and social contract between a man and a woman. Islam commends marriage, with the age of marriage being whenever the individuals feel ready, financially and emotionally...
, divorce is accepted and referred to as talaq
Talaq (Nikah)
In Islam there are separate rules for divorce for men and women under the terms of Islamic law . When a man has initiated a divorce the procedure is called . When a woman has initiated a divorce it is called khula ....
. However, divorce is considered the most hated of all lawful things in the sight of Allah.
In the medieval Islamic world
Islamic Golden Age
During the Islamic Golden Age philosophers, scientists and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to technology and culture, both by preserving earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations...
and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, the rate of divorce was higher than it is today in the modern Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, which now has generally low rates of divorce. In 15th century Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Al-Sakhawi
Al-Sakhawi
Shams al-Din Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi was a reputable Shafi'i Muslim hadith scholar and historian who was born in Cairo. "Al-Sakhawi" refers to the village of Sakha in Egypt, where his relatives belonged. He was a prolific writer that excelled in the knowledge of hadith, tafsir,...
recorded the marital history of 500 women
Women in Islam
The study of women in Islam investigates the role of women within the religion of Islam. The complex relationship between women and Islam is defined by Islamic texts, the history and culture of the Muslim world...
, the largest sample
Sampling (statistics)
In statistics and survey methodology, sampling is concerned with the selection of a subset of individuals from within a population to estimate characteristics of the whole population....
on marriage in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and found that at least a third of all women in the Mamluk Sultanate
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
of Egypt and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
married more than once, with many marrying three or more times. According to Al-Sakhawi, as many as three out of ten marriages in 15th century Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
ended in divorce. In the early 20th century, some villages in western Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
and the Malay peninsula
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...
had divorce rates as high as 70%.
According to Sharia law, if a man initiates the divorce, there is a required waiting period of three period for a normal lady otherise for them who has some problem in periods and one can not examine then the time period is 3 months.there are steps of divorce not like that a man is allowed to say 3 in one times then that is his mistake and there is no relation to islam of that mistake he did. A man must announce his intentions, in the presence of two qualified witnesses, effectively "divorcing", but still honor his obligations towards his wife (i.e. feed and clothe her) - during which time the couple can reconcile. If he completes the three-month period, still intent on separating from his wife, then the marriage no longer exists. If a woman initiates divorce, she doesn't have to wait for the three month period; rather she must take the husband to court, where, depending on the situation, the marriage will be terminated upon certain conditions.
Judaism
JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
has always accepted divorce as a fact of life, though an unfortunate one: e.g., see Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
chapters 22 and 24. Judaism generally maintains that it is better for a couple to divorce than to remain together in a state of bitterness and strife. It is said that shalom bayit
Shalom bayit
Shalom bayit is the Jewish religious concept of domestic harmony and good relations between husband and wife. In a Jewish court of law, shalom bayit is the Hebrew term for marital reconciliation...
(domestic harmony) is a desirable state.
In general, it is accepted that for a Jewish divorce to be effective the husband must hand to the wife, and not vice versa, a bill of divorcement, called a get
Get (divorce document)
A is a divorce document, which according to Jewish Law, must be presented by a husband to his wife to effect their divorce. The essential text of the is quite short: "You are hereby permitted to all men," i.e., the wife is no longer a married woman, and the laws of adultery no longer apply...
, which also acts as proof of the divorce. From ancient times, the get was considered to be very important to show all those who needed to have proof that the woman was in fact free from the previous marriage and free to remarry. In Jewish law, besides other things, the consequences of a woman remarrying and having a child while still legally married to another is profound: the child would be a mamzer
Mamzer
The Hebrew noun mamzer in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish religious law, is a person born from certain forbidden relationships, or the descendant of such a person. A mamzer is someone who is either born of adultery by a married woman, or born of incest , or someone who has a mamzer as a parent...
, to be avoided at any cost. Also, the woman would be committing adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
should she remarry while still legally married to another. An enactment called Herem de-Rabbenu Gershom (literally, the proscription of Rabbenu Gershom)--accepted universally throughout European Jewish communities—prohibited a husband from divorcing his wife against her will.
In Jewish law divorce is an act of the parties to the marriage, which is different from the approach adopted by many other legal systems. That is, a Jewish divorce does not require a decree from a court. The function of the court, in the absence of agreement between the parties, is to decide whether the husband should be compelled to give the get or for the wife to accept the get. But, notwithstanding any such ruling, the parties remain married until such time as the husband actually delivers the get.
Jewish law, in effect, does not require proof or even an allegation of moral or other fault by either party. In the first place, as noted above, if both parties agree to a divorce and follow the prescribed procedure, then the court would not need to establish responsibility for the marriage break-down. In the second place, if either party does not wish to continue co-habiting with the other is sufficient grounds for divorce. (Anything else, it is said, would amount to rape of the woman.) In this sense it is a "no-fault" approach to divorce. This approach has been accepted for thousands of years . It was the approach advocated by followers of Hillel
Hillel the Elder
Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud...
, a very influential school of thought in ancient Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
, which predated the current era. This is the approach which is now generally accepted in most, if not all, Jewish communities around the world.
On the other hand, the refusal of a husband to give his wife a get
Get (divorce document)
A is a divorce document, which according to Jewish Law, must be presented by a husband to his wife to effect their divorce. The essential text of the is quite short: "You are hereby permitted to all men," i.e., the wife is no longer a married woman, and the laws of adultery no longer apply...
(the document) can be for purely vindictive or even extortion motives. This situation has resulted in numerous social problems in modern times. For example, where pre-nuptial agreements are enforceable in civil courts, appropriate provisions may be made to compel the giving of the get by the husband in the event of a civil divorce being obtained. A woman who has been refused a get is typically referred to as an "agunah
Agunah
Agunah ; literally 'anchored or chained') is a halachic term for a Jewish woman who is "chained" to her marriage. The classic case of this, is a man who has left on a journey, and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is MIA...
".
A wife can initiate a divorce process on several grounds (including lack of satisfaction in her sexual life). However, this right extends only so far as petitioning a court to force her husband to divorce her. Also see Jewish Attitude Toward Divorce.
and Get in the Conflict of Laws
Get (conflict)
A get or gett is the Jewish form of divorce which, when one is available in the state of residence, is supervised by a Beth Din , a rabbinical court...
.
Furthermore, from the philosophical and mystical point of view, divorce is a unique procedure of tremendous importance and complexity, because it nullifies the holiest of connections that can exist in the Universe (similar to a connection between a person and God). Because of the danger of the birth of illegitimate children (mamzer
Mamzer
The Hebrew noun mamzer in the Hebrew Bible and Jewish religious law, is a person born from certain forbidden relationships, or the descendant of such a person. A mamzer is someone who is either born of adultery by a married woman, or born of incest , or someone who has a mamzer as a parent...
im) if the process is not performed properly, and because divorce law is extraordinarily complex, the process is generally supervised by experts.