"To go and marry any man that you please": A study of the formulaic antecedents of the rabbinic writ of divorce.

Date

2001-10

Authors

Holtz, Shalom E

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Abstract

The most recent generation has witnessed growing scholarly interest in the relationship between Mesopotamian civilization and the much later world of Rabbinic Judaism. Y. Muffs's work on the Elephantine papyri amply demonstrates that this type of inquiry proves especially productive with regard to legal terminology. Rabbinic Jewish legal parlance can often be traced back to the language of Mesopotamian law. The following study examines one particular phrase, the central clause of the Rabbinic writ of divorce (get), in an attempt to point to its Akkadian predecessors.

Description

Research article

Keywords

divorce, phrases, husbands, divorce law, grammatical clauses, contract provisions, verbs, dowries, judicial writs

Citation

Hotlz, Shalom E. (October 2001). "To go and marry any man that you please": A study of the formulaic antecedents of the rabbinic writ of divorce. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 60(4), 241-258.