Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1905-06-02
DIVORCE ON DEATHBED
Done in Kindness by Husband, Under
Old Jewish Law.

"NCNS, tSltiudy he tdIltu INC IdDDlS
to his house. in Jones street, and he
had his wife divorced from him under
the Jewish law, in order that she
might not be under obligation imposed
by the orthodox law of marrying his
brother after her husbands death.
Sobel and his wife have lived to-
gether happily. In fact only husbands
whose love for their wives is strong
ever resort to this perculiar ante-mort-
EN- divorce. It is a very unusual thing,
but not unheard of. Rabbi B. Hail
perrin, leader in the Newark ghetto,
has granted it once to the wife of
consumptive and it is occasionally
heard of on the East Side in New
York.
Although SObel is a paraytic and
great sufferer, he was determined to
have the ceremony performed. 1t was
a long ordeal and the rabbis had to
ask many questions. A provision of
the divorce is that if the man RECEIVERS
the whole proceeding is null and void.
Just how such a divorce has become
possible is a complicated but interest
ing phase of Jewish religious history.
In Deuteronomy, XXv., 3, it is laid
down in substance that if brethren
dwell together and one of them die,
and have no child the wife of the dead
sha.i not marry unto a stranger; her
husbands brother shall take her to
him to wife.
CT mo 10 10
posed to perpetuate the husbands
name and property interests in the
tribe. Children by this union were to
bear the name of the first husband.
In case the brother refused to marry
the widow she was directed to go be-
fore the Judges and publicly scorn
the brother. This is the ceremonial
as prescribed by the ninth verse of
chapter XIV.
Then shall his brothers wife come
unto him in the presence of the elder
and loose his shoe from off his foot
and spit in his face and shall answer
and say SO shall it be done unto
that man that will not build up his
brothers house
This cermony, which is common to-
Cay among orthodox Jews, is called the
chalitza 1t was to avoid the necessity
OF his wife going through it that So
bel advised her to get a divorce.
That part of the ceremony which
consists in taking off the shoe is re-
garded as a symbol of release. Its or
iUip &c cold hoc
tanned, but the symbolism attached to
it has arisen from a passage in the
book Of Ruth. 1t is still a part of the
chalitza ceremony.
When the Rabbinical law. by which
the orthodox Jews are governed. came
into being, it is explained the social
conditions of Bible times which made
1t so desirable for a mans name to be
perpetuated had passed away. The eth
ical consideration against a woman's
marriage to her husbands brother be-
came paramount In the Rabbinical
law woman is forbidden to contract
such marriage under any circum-
stances.
But the rabbis didn't want to do
away with the letter of the law. So
they retained the ceremony of chalitza.
The result was and is that a widow
who in an orthodox Jewess can't mar
ry until she has secured a formal re-
lease or chalitza from her brother-in-
law, although she is forbidden to mar
ny him at all.
roc Of he ho
that brothers who were not overscrup-
ulOus would blackmail their sister,
il-law by refusing TO attend the cere-
mony until they had received a speci-
fed sum. Again, it has happened that
the only brother was a child and the
widow had to wait for years before
marrying because he could not take
part in the release ceremony until he
had reached legal age.
Because of these hardships and be-
cause of the expense attached to the
ceremony the deathbed divorce was de-
vised. Husbands on their deathbeds
especially solicitous for their wives
future happiness could save them from
the annoyance of the chalitza by MAX
ing them divorced women.
No the least interesting feature Of
this class of divorces is that the more
ignorant of the rabbs who grant them,
it is declared, believe that they are
good in the courts. Russian rabbis
who have recently come here are often
advanced in years and fail to learn the
English language or much about the
customs of their new country. In Rus
STA they have certain judicial powers,
and the divorces granted by them are
good, it is said, in the courts. which,
of course, is not the case here, Not be-
ing recognized by law, a divorce of
this kind wouldn't prevent a widow
from inheriting her husbands prop
erty.
a prominent rabbi said yesterday
that as the Russian immigrants be-
come Americanized they are inclined
TO drop the chalitZa and the divorce.
ANbap pofor,,oI TrJafcD, oroco IN,