Get (divorce document)

(Tosefet Beracha to Ki Teitzei) Several popular etymological speculations were offered by early modern Rabbinic authorities.

Baruch Epstein states that it comes from the Latin word actio, meaning "action", which refers to any legal document.

In some cases, the get is completely invalid, but in others it is a somewhat valid get that would cause the women to have the status of a "divorcee" prohibited to marry a Kohen, even if she is not considered legally divorced.

But either party may withdraw from such an agreement, on the question of the dissolution of the marriage only, if they can satisfy the court of a genuine desire to restore matrimonial harmony.

On the other hand, pecuniary conditions stipulated by the parties in the separation agreement would still be valid and enforceable, though the marriage state continues to exist.

The court, if finding just cause as prescribed in very rare cases in Jewish law, will require the husband to divorce his wife.

In modern-day Israel, rabbinical courts have the power to sentence a husband to prison to compel him to grant his wife a get.

[15][16] Prominent Orthodox rabbis have pointed to many years of rabbinical sources that state that any coercion (kefiyah) can invalidate a get except in the most extreme of cases,[17] and have spoken out against "get organizations", which they claim have often inflamed situations that could have otherwise been resolved amicably.

Such a man who refuses to give his wife a get is frequently spurned by Orthodox communities, and excluded from communal religious activities, in an effort to force a get.

[24] One of the most contentious gittin in history was probably the Get of Cleves of the late 18th century, which caused a rift between several rabbinic courts in Western Europe.

[25] The case involved a husband who at times exhibited signs of mental illness (in which paranoia was a contributing symptom) who gave his wife a get.

In the Middle Ages, a woman could gain the status of a moredet (rebellious wife) and go to the Rabbinic courts to get a divorce.

[26] In 2013, the New York divorce coercion gang, a group of rabbis that forced gittin through the use of kidnapping and torture, was closed down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.