Agunah

An aguna or agunah (Hebrew: עֲגוּנָה, romanized: ʿaḡunā, lit. 'anchored or chained [woman]', plural: עֲגוּנוֹת‎, ʿaḡunoṯ) is a Jewish woman who is stuck in her marriage as determined by traditional halakha (Jewish law). The classic case is a man who has left on a journey and has not returned or has gone into battle and is missing in action. It is used as a borrowed term to refer to a woman whose husband refuses or is unable to grant her a divorce (which requires a document known as a get).

For a divorce to be effective, halakha requires a man to grant his wife a get of his own free will. Without a get, no new marriage will be recognized, and any child she might have with another man would be considered a mamzer (illegitimate). It is sometimes possible for a woman to receive special dispensation from a posek (halakhic authority), called a heter agunah, based on a complex decision supported by substantial evidence that her husband is presumed dead, but this cannot be applied if the husband is alive.

Because of the difficulty for women in such situations, it has been a task for every generation of halakhic authorities to try to find halakhically acceptable means to permit such women to remarry. In the past, it was not uncommon, due to the danger of travel and primitive means of communication, for people to leave home and never be heard from again; consequently, rabbis often had to deal with this issue. Over the past few centuries, thousands of responsa have been written to deal with cases of agunot.

In the past, most aguna cases were due to a husband dying without leaving evidence of his demise or becoming mentally ill. Many aguna cases arise from a husband withholding a get, perhaps seeking a more favorable divorce settlement or out of vindictiveness. In response aguna groups have organized to support these women and try to find a solution to this problem. Various remedies have been proposed, but no one solution has common acceptance. Nevertheless, the Jewish prenuptial agreement is one remedy in use in Modern Orthodox Judaism and is accepted by moderate halakhic authorities.

Circumstances leading to a woman being declared an aguna are:

A woman who is denied a divorce from her husband is not considered an aguna until her husband refuses an order by a beth din (rabbinic court) to give her a get.

What constitutes a legitimate request for a divorce is based on halakhic considerations and the particular case of the couple. See Mesorevet get below.

In modern and ancient times, warfare has been a major cause of women being declared agunot (plural of aguna), as (especially in ancient times) soldiers are often killed with no one knowing. Many efforts have been made to resolve this problem following halakhic principles, including issuing a provisional get that only goes into effect if the husband does not return by a specified date. During World War II, some American Jewish and other chaplains provided combat soldiers with a "provisional get", which only goes into effect if the husband is missing in action, leaving his wife an aguna. This practice is based on the Talmudic declaration that King David did not commit adultery when lying with Bathsheba (see II Samuel 11), since all of his soldiers (including Bathsheba's husband) gave a "provisional get" to their wives before leaving for battle. This practice can raise halakhic issues, especially for Kohanim (members of the priestly class). Since they are forbidden from marrying divorcees, were they to end up returning safely after the date the provisional get went into effect they would be unable to remarry their wives.