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Gittin 9:10-Kiddushin 1:1

Gittin 9:10

Beis Shammai say that a man may only divorce his wife if she acts with impropriety, based on Deuteronomy 24:1, “because he has found something unseemly in her.” Beis Hillel say that he may divorce her even for ruining his food, also based on “because he has found something unseemly in her.” Rabbi Akiva says that a man may divorce his wife even just because he finds another woman more attractive, as per the same verse, “if she doesn’t find favor in his eyes.”

Kiddushin 1:1

A woman is acquired (for marriage) in three ways and she acquires herself back in two ways. She can be acquired through money, a document or marital intimacy. Beis Shammai say the money must be a dinar (a denomination of silver coin) or something worth a dinar; Beis Hillel say a prutah (a much small denomination of coin) or something worth a prutah. A prutah is defined as one-eighth of an Italian issar (which is 1/24 of a dinar, meaning that a prutah is 1/192 of a dinar). A woman acquires herself back with a get (a bill of divorce) or by her husband dying. A woman whose husband dies childless is acquired by his brother through marital intimacy (yibum) and acquires herself through chalitzah (the shoe-removal ceremony) or through the death of her brother-in-law.

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz