Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1903-01-29
YIDDISH DIVORCES.
They Are Boldly Advertised For In
the East End Of London.

They Are Boldly Advertised For In
the East End Of London.
Matrimonial advertisements, says
the London Standard, are nothing
new either in this country OF abroad.
But there will probably be something
novel to most people in the idea of
married folk advertising for divorce
in the same public and businesslike
fashion. Rather an uncommon pro-
ceeding anywhere many readers will,
I imagine, be inclined to remark. Far
from it, though. It is quite an or
binary thing among the mixed and
motley foreign multitude quartered
In the ghettoS Of east London. Here,
in the first ola batch Of YiGdish jour
mails on which l CHANGED to lay hands
in the East end, | came across one Of
these singular avertisements. 1t is
typical of its kind, and is inserted by
woman residing in the Aldgate dis
trict, who requests her absent hus-
band to oblige and send her divorce,
much in the same way as dealer
would ask customer to favor him
with a remittance in the ordinary
course of trade. The notice is head
/ ed, in, Yiddish, of course: 's1kh zlkh
min mann" that is: Il am looking
for my husband.". 1t sets forth that
the said mann has left his wife and
children for some time. The wife has,
however, managed to build up "gute
biznes," whic his too much for her to
carry on alone, so he may return and
| help. If not, the advertisement
concludes. will he at once send hera
divorce, and she will go back der
helm to Russia to her parents"
There is, I may add, nothing anony-
nous about the notice, no suppress
sion, no attempt to conceal the lden-
Etity of the parties concerned The
names are given in full, as we'll as the
address to which the desired docu-
ment is to be transmitted All, in
fact, is plain, direct and straightfor-
ward, suggesting at once that the CIV
ing of such divorces must be equite an
ordinary proceeding among the for
eign-.IeMs nyer. here nd 50. indeed,
it is IT is really reduced to a busi-
ness, a business which, IN its detail
and circumstances. throws an instruc-
tive light on some of the singular ac-
Qualities of Yiddish life in east Lon
| don.
The divorce here referred to, and
customary among the Jewish East
enders, is not, of course, a divorce ac-
cording to the law of the land. It is
the so-styIed rabbinical 'sghet," the
modern equivalent of the Biblical
'sblll Of enforcement" which a hus-
band under the Mosaic dispensation
could hand to his wife. and so get rid
Of her. But, to all practical purposes,
so far as the 1iddish residents here
are concerned. this ''ghet" is as eff
fectiye as though it were granted by
the highest tribunal Of the empire. II,
as in the case Of the advertisements
above quoted, the woman chooses to
return to Russia. the divorce is valid
according to Muscovite law The
Jews throughout the czar's domin-
ions have the privilege Of their own
marriage code, and a divorce under a
rabbinical prescription is divorce a
la Russo. The woman can marry
again there and return here, when her
second union, being valid in Russia,
4 will be deemed valid here. And If
the woman should elect to remain in
this country there are scores of East
end rabbis who. for consideration,
will undertake to remarry either of
the sundered parties according to the
Yiddish custom.