Divorce in the Jewish Legal Tradition

13. Responsum by Rabbeinu Tam, Sefer Hayashar, Responsa section, chapter 77 (Rabbi Jacob ben Meir Tam, France, 110-1171):
Hence I teach that divorce should not be demanded in cases in which one is not allowed to compel divorce. I am of the opinion that if a divorce is obtained [in such cases] by [threat of] excommunication [of the husband], or is ordered by a rabbinic court, it is based on insufficient legal grounds, is invalid and disqualifies [her from marrying a priest].

14. Responsa of the Rosh 51:2 (Rabbi Asher ben Yehiel (Germany 1250 - Spain, 1327):

I have seen how our rabbis, the Sages of Germany and France, keep as far away as possible from any form of compelling a man to divorce his wife in cases of rebellion. They agree with the position of Rabbeinu Tam, may he rest in peace, since he states the main proofs and deserves to be relied upon. And even if these issues were clearly determined, every one must avoid any semblance of adultery and the possibility of mamzerim [bastards according to Jewish law] among the people of Israel... and furthermore I say... that nowadays it seems quite the opposite; Jewish women in this generation are haughty. If a woman can free herself from her husband by saying: "I do not want him", not one daughter of Abraham will stay with her husband. They will look at other men and rebel against their husbands. Hence, the correct thing is to avoid compelling divorce. ​

15. Responsa Iggerot Moshe, Even Ha'Ezer 1, chapter 79 (Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, 1895, Russia – 1986, United States):
[1] Regarding the wife who marries her husband and right after the wedding she discovers that he is impotent. He could not consummate the marriage nor penetrate all, since he could not approach that place. This was obviously so before the betrothal, as the very night that he married her he couldn't perform. This is so according to medical science. And specialists treated him with different medicines which didn't help him at all, and in their opinion he cannot be cured.

And the woman is young, and needs to get married, and the husband didn't want to divorce her and fled town, and it is impossible to get a bill of divorce from him. Can she be set free by annulling the kiddushin, since had she known that he cannot be intimate, she surely would not have married him! She married with that intention and there isn't even a minority of women who would agree to such a marriage, since all women are meticulous about this. Maybe a very small minority exists, for example, women who want to be supported, if it is a woman who cannot earn money for her support and can find no other husband, and such very rare cases. Therefore it is necessary to rule in this case that it was a mistaken transaction and the kiddushin must be annulled.

[2] There are many women who would not agree to marry a man even with a small bodily defect, and the vast majority would not agree if he had a big defect... even though Reish Lakish's opinion that "it is a better [for a woman] to dwell as two" is clear-cut, the possibility should be taken into account that maybe they [the women] would agree. ​

..."When the Rabbinical body is powerless to force the husband because the civil government does not permit such enforcement, then the annulment becomes operational. No woman, with the exception of very few, would agree to get into a marriage which is impossible for them. Otherwise they never would have consented to marry."

16. Rabbi Eli'ezer Berkowitz (Germany, The United States, Israel, 1900- 1992), "Conditional Marriage and Divorce" (in Hebrew), Jerusalem, 1967, pp. 163-164:
It would seem that the miserable situation [of agunot] in the present leads us to seek for a cure by resorting to an enactment annulling kiddushin. This includes the possibility of establishing community approved enactments, with their rabbis' approval, as proposed by Rabbi Moses Al Ashkar. We have Orthodox rabbinic and community organizations today, thank God, in almost every country. There are even contacts between rabbinic and communal organizations in the different countries. Our world has shrunk, and thanks to modern means of transportation people can consult with each other and plan at the national and international levels. Modern technology conquers distances and allows us to plan together for the Jewish people as a whole and establish the necessary enactments for the entire people. This is an aspiration we could not have expected to fulfill ever since the Jewish people left its land; we did not have this ability during all the years of our terrible exile. The time has come to act for the sake of God and for the sake of the sanctity of His people, Israel. ​

17. Rabbi Shlomo Riskin "Yad La'Ishah – The Woman and Divorce according to Jewish Law" (in Hebrew), Efrat, 2004, p. 131:

The Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem should establish an enactment that determines that if the Rabbinic Court orders the husband to divorce his wife and he refuses to do so, and the sanctions imposed by the civil court are not efficient, a special Rabbinic Court will be convened, and it will have the authority to annul the kiddushin and thus allow the woman to remarry. ​

18. Example, from "The Agreement for Mutual Respect":

This agreement establishes the husband's monetary obligation towards the wife and the wife's similar obligation towards the husband, when one of them sends a notice to the other one regarding his/her desire to separate and 6 to 9 months have elapsed, according to the agreement's stipulations. The language of the section regarding the man's obligation follows:

1. The Man hereby now (me'achshav) obligates himself, to make monthly maintenance payments to the Woman in the greater of the following two sums:
   A. The shekel equivalent of $1,500 (one thousand five hundred U.S. dollars) according to the representative rate of the dollar published at the time of actual payment.

   B. A sum constituting 50% (fifty percent) of his mean monthly (net) income of the year preceding the Notification Date.