Abstract
Abstract Traditional Jewish divorce, as understood in the Hebrew Bible itself, requires the husband’s agreement in order to end the marriage. His refusal to do so gives rise to a situation known in rabbinic literature as the “chained woman” (agunah). If the husband were to disappear without being presumed dead, fall into a permanent vegetative state, or intentionally refuse to grant his wife a bill of divorce (get), she would remain “chained” to him indefinitely. The life of this woman would essentially be frozen in time, with her being unable to establish her independence or to start a new family. Agunot whose husbands have chained them to an unwanted marriage have been subject to great dissension in modern Judaism. This chapter explores the development of Jewish divorce law from the Bible through the present day as well as how the agunah problem has been addressed across Jewish denominations in North America and Israel.
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