Q&A: They compel him until he says “I am willing” — with an atheist
They compel him until he says “I am willing” — with an atheist
Question
The Rabbi said in his lesson that the reason we compel him until he says “I am willing,” and then the bill of divorce is valid, is that in truth a person wants to keep Jewish law, but his evil inclination or his anger at his wife causes him to invent theories for why he should not do the right thing. And when we compel him, we are really carrying out his inner will. The Rabbi also emphasized that it seems that for this reason, this would not work with an atheist, because he does not believe in God or in Jewish law, and therefore compelling him would not help, since it would not reveal his true desire to keep Jewish law, because he never had such a desire in the first place.
In my opinion, one could say that even with an atheist, the coercion would work and the bill of divorce would be kosher, because even though he does not believe in Jewish law, he does believe in being a good person and not harming others, and that is how he always behaves. But in this case, his evil inclination prevents him from fulfilling his true desire not to hurt another person and to be a good person. So when we compel him, we are really carrying out that true desire, exactly as with a religious person whom we compel.
The practical difference would be in the case of a person who always cares only about himself and not about others, even if they get hurt. In such a case, the bill of divorce would not be valid. But on the other hand, that greatly narrows the cases in which the bill of divorce would not be valid, compared to the Rabbi’s approach.
What does the Rabbi think of this theory?
Answer
Very interesting. I had not thought of that, and on the face of it this certainly seems reasonable. The question is whether a secular person thinks that refusing to give a bill of divorce harms his wife. From his perspective (and perhaps from hers as well), she can marry even without getting divorced according to the law of Moses and Israel. Still, according to this it is not clear why he refuses to give her a bill of divorce. Apparently he does understand that this harms her. By the way, I also wrote these points in Column 199 and 203.
Discussion on Answer
Or maybe the Jew’s real desire is to be Christian, but only his evil inclination leads him to be Jewish? And in fact, by forcing him to convert to Christianity, you are carrying out his inner will. And there are even biblical sources for this (according to the Christians), in that the Jews always persecuted the prophets and always sought to rebel against God. Or maybe their true desire is to be Muslim, but because of their inclination they distorted the Quran and invented the Hebrew Bible. Or perhaps their real aspiration is to unite with the true infinite God, but the demiurge leads them astray after matter and the lusts of the flesh so that they will not understand that they do not belong here and will go on sustaining the material world. You can justify anything with this argument.
Just as it is obvious to you that usually an atheist wants to be a good person, and the practical difference applies only to those few who care only about themselves,
you could simply say in the same way and with the same logic: the atheist’s soul truly wants to keep the Creator’s commandments, and only the evil inclination is what interferes. (As is well known, “bribery blinds,” etc. — these are the desires of this world.) Therefore, if the atheist says “I am willing,” he is really expressing the true desire of his soul. (Besides, at least with regard to marital commandments in all their aspects — kiddushin, divorce, levirate marriage, and halitzah — he certainly expressed his will under the wedding canopy to live “according to the law of Moses and Israel,” and unspoken intentions do not count.)
And the practical difference would (perhaps) be with those wicked atheists who do not repent even at the entrance to Gehenna. (But only someone who will be there with them could know that.)