Family Law
Agunah
An agunah ("chained women") is a woman who is halakhically stuck in a dead marriage because her husband is unable or refuses to give her a get, or bill of divorce.
Chalitzah
Chalitzah is a rite, described in the Torah and practiced today, in which the widow of a childless man takes off the shoe of her husband’s brother and spits on the floor, discharging the obligation of yibbum (levirate marriage).
Yibbum (Levirate Marriage)
Yibbum is the Torah-mandated marriage of a widow to the brother of her childless husband. If either party does not want to go through the marriage, an alternative ceremony called chalitzah is performed. In most contemporary Jewish communities, chalitzah is practiced instead of yibbum.
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