{"id":60320,"date":"2019-07-30T13:20:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T10:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60320"},"modified":"2023-02-21T14:54:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T12:54:12","slug":"a-soldiers-conditional-writ-of-divorce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-soldiers-conditional-writ-of-divorce\/","title":{"rendered":"A Soldier\u2019s Conditional Writ of Divorce"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[911,834,662,400,627],"acf":{"old_id":"60320","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"274","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"If Bathsheba indeed had gotten a get, would that get David out of trouble?\r\n","content":"

Our chapter narrates how King David had sexual relations with a married woman, Bathsheba. When she informed David that she had become pregnant with his child, David had her husband, Uriah the Hittite, one of his soldiers, killed in battle (2 Samuel 11:2-18).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 107a) presents David as a model of how not to behave: One should never put his own ability to resist sin to the test, since David, king of Israel, did so and failed. David forgot that \u201cthere is a small organ in man that when he starves it, it is satiated; but when he satiates it, it is hungry for still more.” Rashi understands this to suggest that though David had just that day slept with his legitimate wife, he was nevertheless captivated by the allure of a different beautiful, married woman.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talmud goes on to depict Bathsheba washing her hair behind a screen. To tempt David, Satan shot an arrow that broke the screen leaving the undressed Bathsheba exposed to the king\u2019s view from the roof of his palace. Immediately, \u201cDavid sent messengers to fetch her. She came to him and he lay with her\u2014she had just purified herself after her period\u2014and she went back home\u201d (2 Samuel 11: 4).<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Talmud also attempts to ameliorate David\u2019s sin of having sex with a married woman (Leviticus 20:10). Bavli Shabbat 56a preserves a tradition that \u201cEveryone who went out in the wars of the house of David wrote a bill of divorcement for his wife.\u201d According to Rashi this was a \u201cconditional divorce document\u201d, Get \u2018al T’nai<\/em>, that would come into effect retrospectively from the time it was formalized in the event that later the husband did not return from battle. This was indeed the case with Uriah. So, at the time of David\u2019s initial liaison with Bathsheba, she might, in effect, already have been considered a \u201cdivorcee\u201d or at least a woman of doubtful marital status. And therefore, David was not clearly guilty of having had sex with a normally married woman.<\/span><\/p>\n

Such \u201cconditional divorce documents\u201d have sometimes been used in subsequent Jewish history. In medieval times a trader about to set out on a long and dangerous journey might write a \u201cconditional get\u201d for his wife to prevent her from becoming an Aggunah (a woman \u201canchored\u201d in marriage), if he failed to return.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In more recent times, some rabbinic leaders tried to convince Jewish soldiers to grant a conditional divorce to their wives before going into battle. In 2001, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate prepared a form granting a Get \u2018al T’nai<\/em> for soldiers to sign. But the form was rarely signed. Military commanders argued that signing such a document before a military action would weaken morale. And soldiers worried that signing such a form might absolve the government of responsibility for their widows in the case of their falling in action.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60321,"id":60321,"title":"2sam11-gett","filename":"2sam11-gett.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam11-gett.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-soldiers-conditional-writ-of-divorce\/2sam11-gett\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam11-gett","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60320,"date":"2019-07-30 10:19:48","modified":"2019-07-30 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