THE Word for Divorce
A section of this sidra deals with divorce procedures. The Torah calls the divorce document Sefer K’ritut, literally “a document of cutting off” (Deut. 24:1). For some reason the document is known as a gett.
There is a grammatical explanation which I heard from Professor MD Goldman of Melbourne University; the Talmudic Encyclopedia quotes it in the name of the K’hillat Ya’akov of Rabbi Ya’akov Algazi.
This view says that in Hebrew linguistics the letters gimmel/tet never come in that order, and if anyone tries to unite them the union cannot be sustained. Sometimes two human beings cannot sustain a marital union and need to be separated by a gett.
The Targum Onkelos renders sefer k’ritut into Aramaic as gett p’turin, a deed of dismissal, so sefer in Hebrew and gett in Aramaic may be saying the same thing. Perhaps the word gett may be from the root h-t-t, to engrave.
If we move from the academic to the human issue, it is important to note that most people who go through the difficulties of divorce are far from giving up on the institution of marriage as a whole. Almost all embark on a marriage to a new partner. The first marriage brought its disappointment and tragedy: older and wiser, the divorcee is far from being defeated. The divorce statistics are not the whole story.
A section of this sidra deals with divorce procedures. The Torah calls the divorce document Sefer K’ritut, literally “a document of cutting off” (Deut. 24:1). For some reason the document is known as a gett.
There is a grammatical explanation which I heard from Professor MD Goldman of Melbourne University; the Talmudic Encyclopedia quotes it in the name of the K’hillat Ya’akov of Rabbi Ya’akov Algazi.
This view says that in Hebrew linguistics the letters gimmel/tet never come in that order, and if anyone tries to unite them the union cannot be sustained. Sometimes two human beings cannot sustain a marital union and need to be separated by a gett.
The Targum Onkelos renders sefer k’ritut into Aramaic as gett p’turin, a deed of dismissal, so sefer in Hebrew and gett in Aramaic may be saying the same thing. Perhaps the word gett may be from the root h-t-t, to engrave.
If we move from the academic to the human issue, it is important to note that most people who go through the difficulties of divorce are far from giving up on the institution of marriage as a whole. Almost all embark on a marriage to a new partner. The first marriage brought its disappointment and tragedy: older and wiser, the divorcee is far from being defeated. The divorce statistics are not the whole story.
At the end of this week’s portion comes a command to remember (Zachor) what Amalek did to us (Deut.25:13).
In itself it is a highly significant and easily understandable command. Amalek tried to obstruct Israel’s progress through the wilderness, not by sending trained soldiers to fight the strong young men marching at the head of the Israelite column, but by targeting the weak and weary children and women who were bringing up the rear. No wonder we are told to remember Amalek’s nastiness. No wonder we must not and dare not forget.
But then the passage tells us almost the opposite: “Efface the memory of Amalek from under the heavens”. How can anyone remember, and efface the memory, at one and the same time?
The answer – distinguish between Amalek and Amalekism. Don’t be obsessed with Amalek the individual, wicked and brutal though he was. Look at the symbolism of Amalekism, an idea, a policy, a philosophy that stands in direct contrast to what Judaism and its Torah represent.
The sages say that what Amalekism did was asher kar’cha baderech – not just that “he encountered you on the way” but (using the root k-r-r, to be cold) “he cooled your enthusiasm, he tried to eradicate your faith and sense of purpose”. He tried to deflect Israel from its morality and humanity. Amalekism is a threat to civilisation whenever and wherever it appears.