GOREN, SHLOMO. Harsha'ah le-Get (Authorization to divorce)

(ISRAEL, STATE OF)

The Army Press

Israel

December 1948

This document was prepared by the Chaplain of the Israeli Army in December, 1948, to be completed by soldiers, authorizing rabbinic authorities to issue a get (bill of divorce) to their wives in the event they failed to return from the battlefield. R. Goren (1917-1994), together with Aschkenazi Chief Rabbi Herzog (1888-1959) prepared this form to avoid the problem of Agunah. Their basis was the Talmudic statement, “Whomever goes out to fight a war of the House of David writes a bill of divorce for his wife” (TB Shabbath 56a). In point of fact, the form was not utilized, civil authorities fearing for the demoralizing effect it would have upon the troops