The Get, or Bill of Divorce

The get is the bill of divorce that the husband gives to the wife to release her from the marriage.

Painting of Jews gathering around a table where a divorce document, a get, is being signed.
Moshe Rynecki, "The Get (Divorce)," ca. 1930. (Wikimedia Commons)
Advertisement

A “get,” an Aramaic word, is an official Jewish document in which a man agrees to divorce his wife. When a man refuses to give his estranged wife a get, she becomes an “agunah,” or chained woman, unable to divorce according to Jewish law and thus unable to remarry. Although the woman can still have a civil divorce, without the religious divorce, she will remain married according to Jewish law and in traditional communities that adhere to Jewish law.

Learn how the get is written here.

Learn more about Jewish divorce laws here.

Learn more about agunot (the plural of agunah) here.

Support My Jewish Learning

Help us keep Jewish knowledge accessible to millions of people around the world.

Your donation to My Jewish Learning fuels endless journeys of Jewish discovery. With your help, My Jewish Learning can continue to provide nonstop opportunities for learning, connection and growth.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Discover More

36 Questions for Jewish Lovers

Rabbi and marriage counselor Ari Sytner offers 36 questions for Jewish couples to achieve greater intimacy and harmony.

The Kabbalistic Secret of Kissing

What the Zohar teaches about love-making and the coming of the messiah.

How to Pray Through Infertility

Jewish tradition is no stranger to infertility, but it is only recently that liturgical responses to this struggle have emerged.

Advertisement