Commentaire sur Guittin 9:10

אפילו הקדיחה תבשילו – she burned it by fire or by salt. For the School of Hillel explains ערות דבר/something obnoxious about her (Deuteronomy 24:1) as either obnoxious or something, that is to say, like the rest of offensive [matters] which are not unchastity.

Introduction The final mishnah of the tractate is perhaps the most important and basic mishnah in the entire tractate. In it Bet Shammai, Bet Hillel and Rabbi Akiva dispute the grounds which justify divorce. Part of the basis for this dispute is exegetical how do we understand Deuteronomy 24:1, whose language is admittedly difficult and part of the debate is certainly based on ideology. We should remember that divorce was a hotly debated by Jews in the first century. Jesus and Paul were quite stringent in their opposition to divorce and the Dead Sea sect also probably prohibited divorce, or at least disallowed remarriage after divorce. The rabbis, with Bet Hillel and Rabbi Akiva at the fore, were more open to allowing people to divorce. This is not the proper forum for debating this issue but I will offer a couple of potential explanations for why rabbis were more open to divorce than were other sects of Jews. First of all, most rabbis took a much more positive attitude toward sexuality and procreation than did early Christians. Divorce allows a dysfunctional couple to fulfill their procreative and sexual desires elsewhere. Although divorce can be damaging and abused, it can also be beneficial, at least in rabbinic perspective. Secondly, the rabbis rarely used the Adam and Eve story as a source of halakhah. This story contains a strong monogamous ideal and was used by both Jesus and the Dead Sea sect as grounds for prohibiting divorce. Finally, divorce is clearly permitted by the Torah. Hence, rabbinic openness to divorce may be seen as at least partially stemming from a simple understanding that God allows divorce. However, this last reason is less convincing for whereas the Torah certainly allows divorce, it is unclear whether it is allowed in all occasions. The Torah leaves room for multiple interpretations as we shall see in our mishnah. While reading this mishnah and understanding this debate, I think we would do well to keep in mind that divorce can be a painful trauma. While the rabbis may advocate allowing divorce, they recognized well the human pain involved for both the man and the woman. Furthermore, we are dealing here with general principles. These principles and ideals would apply differently in individual people’s lives and marriages, each with their own nuances. By talking about the grounds for a husband to divorce his wife, we should not be callous to the real pain that real people feel in such situations.

רבי עקיבא אומר: אפילו מצא אחרת נאה ממנה – And he explains the verse in this way: if she will not find grace of beauty in his eyes, or if he found in her something unseemly, or a matter of something offensive. On each one of these three things, he can divorce her, and the Halakha is according to the School of Hillel

Bet Shammai says: a man should not divorce his wife unless he has found her guilty of some unseemly conduct, as it says, “Because he has found some unseemly thing in her.” Bet Hillel says [that he may divorce her] even if she has merely burnt his dish, since it says, “Because he has found some unseemly thing in her.” Rabbi Akiva says, [he may divorce her] even if he finds another woman more beautiful than she is, as it says, “it cometh to pass, if she find no favour in his eyes. The three positions in this mishnah are all based on differing interpretations of Deuteronomy 24:1 which states, “If a man takes a wife and possesses her, and she fails to please him because he finds something unseemly in her…” Bet Shammai interprets the verse to mean that he may only divorce her if he finds something “unseemly” in her. The word “unseemly” in Hebrew can also mean a forbidden sexual act. Therefore, Bet Shammai interprets the verse to mean that divorce is prohibited only if the husband suspects his wife of adultery. Bet Hillel focuses not on the word “unseemly” but on the word “thing.” The husband may divorce his wife if he finds any “thing” wrong with her, even something seemingly as trivial as burning his dish. Rabbi Akiva focuses upon the earlier part of the verse “she fails to please him” as separate grounds for divorce. Even if she has done nothing wrong, he may divorce her if he desires another woman more. We should note that Rabbi Akiva assumes that he won’t want to or be able to marry another woman while still married to his first wife. It could be that while polygamy was permitted, it wasn’t always so practical, for economic and social reasons. There are other versions which imply that Rabbi Akiva thinks that a husband may not stay married to one woman while he desires another. Rabbi Akiva’s ideal of marriage is one of love and such love cannot thrive when the husband desires another woman. Congratulations! We have finished Gittin. It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us to finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. One of the most memorable parts of Gittin was the two middle chapters which discussed the concept of “tikkun olam” repairing the world. As we saw, “tikkun olam” means remedying economic, social and legal injustices in an attempt to make the world a more livable place. “Tikkun Olam” is always about going beyond the letter of the law. This is something we would do well to remember in general while learning rabbinic literature. Often what we are learning are the basic laws obligations and penalties. Clearly for the Jews and the rest of the world to have a just society, individuals must do more than just keep the law (although that would be a good start). They must look at each individual and individual situation and attempt to figure out what actions would aid in improving people’s lives and in avoiding conflict and pain, both now and in the future. Congratulations on making it through another tractate. May you have the strength and time to keep on learning more Mishnah! Tomorrow we begin the final tractate of Seder Nashim, tractate Kiddushin.