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The agunah crisis - where Jewish women remain trapped in failed marriages by husbands who refuse religious divorces - presents a fundamental challenge to both Jewish law and ethics. Within the Conservative movement, scholars have historically gravitated toward two extreme positions: strict legal adherence despite human costs, or wholesale rejection of traditional divorce requirements. Neither approach adequately serves modern Jewish communities or preserves halakhic integrity. Through careful examination of rabbinic literature, two viable solutions emerge that honor both tradition and human dignity: a prenuptial agreement (tenai) establishing grounds for marriage annulment, and the implementation of afkainhu rabbanan kiddushin minay - the ancient rabbinic authority to dissolve marriages under specific circumstances. This dissolution process requires the aggrieved party to demonstrate before a Bet Din that all efforts to obtain a traditional get were exhausted. These mechanisms, firmly grounded in Jewish legal precedent, offer a path forward that maintains halakhic authority while addressing unconscionable situations that threaten the very legitimacy of Jewish law. The research demonstrates that traditional Jewish legal frameworks contain within themselves the tools to resolve even seemingly intractable modern ethical challenges.

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Published 1970
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Seymour Siegel