Talmud-Based Solutions to the Problem of the Agunah To my parents Agunah Research Unit, Volume 4 Talmud-Based Solutions to the Problem of the Agunah Avishalom Westreich Deborah Charles Publications 2012 Copyright © 2012 Deborah Charles Publications All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be duplicated in any way without the expressed written consent of the publisher, except in the form of brief excerpts or quotations for the purpose of review. ISBN 978-1-906731-20-5 (hardback) Published and Distributed by: Deborah Charles Publications On behalf of The Agunah Research Unit, University of Manchester E-mail:
[email protected] http://www.deborahcharles.co.uk Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne. This is the fourth volume of a five-volume series, by each of the members of the Agunah Research Unit: Vol.1: Bernard S. Jackson, Agunah : The Manchester Analysis (Agunah Research Unit, vol.1, based on the Working papers of Yehudah Abel, Nechama Hadari, Shoshana Knol, Bernard S. Jackson and Avishalom Westreich) Vol.2: Yehudah Abel, Confronting ‘Iggun Vol.3: Shoshana Knol, Agunah and Ideology Vol.4: Avishalom Westreich, Talmud-Based Solutions to the Problem of the Agunah Vol.5: Nechama Hadari , The Kosher Get: A Halakhic Story of Divorce Ordering details, for one or more volumes, may be found at: http://www.legaltheory.demon.co.uk/ARU.htm Acknowledgements The problem of agunot – the chained wives, whose husbands refuse to divorce and thus cannot remarry – has occupied a wide range of scholars from antiquity to modern days: from talmudic sages to modern day scholars; from rabbis to academics; from politicians to lay people: women, men and professional attorneys.