Q&A: Get Refusal and Killing a Thief
Get Refusal and Killing a Thief
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I seem to remember that you wrote in an article about killing a thief that when someone makes cynical use of Jewish law in order to steal money from someone, Jewish law freezes itself, and it is permitted to kill him even on the Sabbath. My question is whether this principle also applies in the context of get refusal: if the husband makes cynical use of Jewish law in order to obtain something from the woman, does Jewish law also freeze itself and not allow him to make that cynical use?
Best regards,
Answer
I don’t think so. That isn’t cynical use, but a right that was given to him in Jewish law from the outset. Cynical use is using Jewish law in a way that was not originally intended for that situation. For example, someone threatens me with a gun that I should give him a shekel, and if not he’ll kill me. He is counting on the fact that I will recoil from the prohibition of murder and give him a shekel, but the prohibition was not originally intended to give him the right to take a shekel from me.