Q&A: A Woman’s Bill of Divorce
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
A Woman’s Bill of Divorce
Question
Why is there a prohibition against a woman giving a bill of divorce to a man? And why can the act be carried out only by the power of the man?
Answer
There is absolutely no prohibition against a woman giving a bill of divorce to a man. A cat could also give a bill of divorce to a cloud. It’s just that if the woman gives a bill of divorce to the man, there is no divorce here. That is what the Torah determined (or at least that is how the Sages understood it to determine), and I have no idea why.