THE BAIS HAVAAD HALACHA JOURNAL: Volume 5776 XXVI Shemini- Parshas Parah UPROOTING A MARRIAGE- PART ONE When is hafka’as kedushin permitted? Adapted for print from a shiur delivered by Dayan Yitzhak Grossman, Dayan, Bais Havaad Did the rabbis of the post-Talmudic period have the power to uproot a marriage retroactively? Do contemporary rabbis have this power? Is this a solution to the present “Agunah crisis”?

THE SANCTITY OF KIDDUSHIN Marriage is a sacred institution, the joining of two halves of one soul. In Jewish law, a marriage is enacted through kiddushin, in which a man sanctifies a woman to be his wife. More than a standard contract, kiddushin is a spiritual bond and the fulfillment of a mitzvah. Severing the bond of kiddushin is considered a grave matter. A woman who is married according to halacha, “k’das moshe v’yisroel,” is, normally, not permitted to remarry unless her husband dies or she receives a get, thetransmissionof a bill of divorce from the husband to the wife. Several Gemaros throughout Shas discuss certain circumstances in which the Rabbis can uproot a marriage, without a get or the husband’s death. This is referred to as “hafka’as kiddushin,” uprooting a marriage, a term taken from the Gemara which states, “Afkinu Rabbonon l’kiddushin minei1.”