Agunah

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Because of the difficulty of the situation for women in such situations, it has been a task for every generation of halachic authorities to try to find halachically acceptable means to permit such women to remarry.

In the past it was somewhat commonplace, due to the danger of travel, for people leaving home never to be heard of again; as such, rabbis have had to deal with this issue on a constant basis.

Over the past few centuries, thousands of responsa have been written to deal with cases of agunot.

In the past, most aguna cases were due to a husband dying without leaving clear evidence of his demise, or becoming mentally ill (insane).

Nowadays many aguna cases arise as a result of a husband withholding a get in order to extort money or extract a more favorable divorce settlement or to get even with his wife.