Writing a Get in a Locale for the First Time
Divorce is always quite a delicate and sensitive matter. Writing and executing a Get (Jewish divorce document) is similarly sensitive and must rigorously conform to the standards set forth in the Shulchan Aruch. Mesadrei Gittin (get administrators), in order to avoid calling into question any aspect of a get, closely adhere to the venerated practices established by the outstanding rabbis of previous generations.
Accordingly, it is not surprising that Rav Yechezkel Landau (Teshuvot Noda Biy’hudah E.H. 2:105) strongly discourages the writing of gittin in places without an existing tradition about how to write gittin, as earlier generations may not have written gittin there due to halachic concerns. This practice continues until today, as we do not write gittin in places where gittin had not been written previously, unless there is compelling reason to do so. When contemplating the writing of a get in a “new” locale, one must consult rabbis of eminent stature, who will investigate every aspect of the issues involved (Aruch Hashulchan E.H. 128:39).
In this essay, we shall describe how Rav Mendel Senderovic of Milwaukee, a leading authority in the area of gittin and other personal status matters, arrived at a decision in the year 2002 as to the writing of gittin in Honolulu, Hawaii. He describes (Teshuvot Atzei Besamim no. 47) that all efforts were made to avoid the necessity of writing a get in Honolulu, as no gittin had been written there previously, but to no avail: the only way the wife would be able to procure a get in this very difficult situation was to have the get written in Honolulu. As such, all efforts had to be made to establish a manner in which a get could be written in that locale.
Transliterating Honolulu
The first step in this process was to properly transliterate the word “Honolulu” into Hebrew characters. The first syllable is a patach (a short “o”), which, according to Ashkenazic halachic standards, sometimes calls for the writing of the letter aleph and sometimes does not. In this case, since the patach is followed by a shva na (a short “u”), an aleph should be written, as Rav Yechezkel Landau rules (Teshuvot Noda Biy’hudah E.H. 2:116) regarding the writing a get in the Eastern European city of Rad’vil.
Rav Senderovic chose to omit an aleph to correspond to the “o” after the letter N in Honolulu, since it is pronounced as a shva na, which does not merit the writing of an aleph (Ohalei Sheim 10:9). In conformity with undisputed Get practice, a Vav is written after each Lamed that corresponds to one of the two letters L in “Honolulu.” Accordingly, “Honolulu” is transliterated as heh-aleph-nun-lamed-vav-lamed-vav.
The Waters of Honolulu
As is well-known, a locale is identified in a get by the waters upon which it rests (Shulchan Aruch E.H. 128:4). For example, Teaneck, New Jersey, is identified in a get as Teaneck, the city that rests on the Hackensack River and the Overpeck Creek; Haifa is referred to as the city on the coast and on well waters; and Rio De Janeiro is called the city on the coast and on springs. Our practice (cited in Beit Shmuel 128:18 and Teshuvot Noda Biy’hudah E.H. 1:86) is to write a get only in a place where there are two identifying water features, except for exceptional cities where we tolerate writing a get with only one identifying mark, such as Richmond, Virginia, which rests on the James River, and Lima, Peru, which sits on the coast.
Honolulu cannot be identified as being on the coast since it is located on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and not on the coast of a continent, such as Tel Aviv, Boston and Capetown (South Africa) are. Rav Senderovic instead identified Honolulu as the city that sits in the sea, following the precedent of Venice, Gerba (Tunisia) and Singapore.
The second identifying mark was wells, since Rav Senderovic was informed that ninety-two percent of Honolulu’s water supply comes from underground wells. The other eight percent of the water supply comes from springs, which Rav Senderovic did not include as an identifying mark, as the springs provide only a very small portion of the water supply and thus do not serve as a meaningful identifying mark. In addition, as Honolulu has the two requisite identifying marks, it was unnecessary to add a third relatively insignificant indicator.
Rav Senderovic, in this approach, follows the ruling of the Maharam MiBrisk (cited in Pitchei Teshuvah E.H. 128:31) in regard to the omission of springs as an identifying mark in Brisk (Brest-Litovsk), Lithuania. Rav Senderovic advised me to adopt the same approach in regard to writing gittin in White Plains, New York. He felt it was sufficient to identify it as the city on the Bronx River and the Mamaroneck River but not to add “and well waters,” even though a small percentage of the White Plains water supply comes from wells. Rav Elazar Meyer Teitz, chief justice of the Beth Din of Elizabeth, agreed with this approach, and it has been adopted in practice since 1997, when we began to write gittin in White Plains.
Rav Senderovic concludes that Honolulu should be described in a get as “Honolulu, the city that rests in the sea and on well waters.”
Dating a Get in Honolulu
A unique issue that one faces in Honolulu, however, is the question as to the dating of the get document. This problem emerges from the celebrated dispute regarding the location of the halachic date line, an issue that is summarized in an essay written by Torah Academy of Beregen County graduate Willie Roth and is archived at www.koltorah.org. The Chazon Ish (O.C., Kuntress Eighteen Hours) locates the date line as being ninety degrees east of Jerusalem, while Rav Yitzchak Herzog, Rav Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky and other leading Jerusalem rabbis of the 1940’s believe that it is one hundred and eighty degrees from Jerusalem. (See the earlier essay discussing “Air Travel on a Fast Day” for a slightly longer discussion of this issue.)
Accordingly, if one writes a get on what is accepted in Honolulu as Monday, one is faced with a dilemma, since Honolulu is located one hundred and seventy degrees from Jerusalem, placing it east of the dateline according to the Chazon Ish but west of the date line according to Rav Herzog, Rav Tukachinsky and the Jerusalem rabbis. Thus, according to the Chazon Ish the get should be dated as being written on Monday, while according to Rav Herzog, Rav Tukachinsky and the Jerusalem rabbis, the get should be dated as being written on Tuesday.
Parenthetically, one who travels to Hawaii on vacation is faced with the very serious question whether to observe Shabbat on what is locally referred to as Friday or Saturday. One should consult his Rav about this issue specifically and about whether it is appropriate in general to visit Hawaii and be caught in this serious Shabbat issue.
Four Possibilities
Rav Senderovic explores four possible means for dating a get written in Honolulu. One possibility is to write two gittin, one dated Monday and the other dated Tuesday (in our example). Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 129:18) does indeed record that, in certain situations, some authorities require two gittin due to the inability to resolve certain issues, such as how to properly identify an individual in a get. Rav Senderovic rejects this possibility for a variety of reasons. The Rama (E.H. 129:19) writes that one should write two gittin only in exceptional situations. Moreover, the Taz (E.H. 122:2) writes, “I never saw my forbearers or teachers write two gittin.” Rav David Zvi Hoffman (Teshuvot Melamed Leho’il 3:30) discourages the writing of two gittin in part for sociological reasons (it appears absurd to the unlearned Jew). Rav Shlomo Fischer of the Jerusalem beit din told me (in 1993) that in Jerusalem, two gittin are never written for one couple (although Rav Mendel Silber of the Satmar beit din of Brooklyn told me that in his court, writing two or more gittin for a divorcing couple is rather common). Finally, Rav Yechezkel Landau writes (Teshuvot Noda Biy’hudah E.H. 1:90) that two gittin cannot be written when a get is executed by agency, and in Rav Senderovic’s case, the get was to be sent by agent from Honolulu to New York.
Rav Senderovic, though, considers the possibility of dating the get as being written on Monday, even though a predated get is invalid (Shulchan Aruch E.H. 127:2), since a get executed by agency is delivered in any event on a later date than the day it is written (Shulchan Aruch E.H. 127:5). Rav Senderovic, though, notes that this suggestion is insufficient, since the get would be deliberately predated (according to those who believe that Hawaii is west of the date line), and a deliberately predated get delivered by an agent is acceptable only in a case of great need (Pitchei Teshuvah 127:12). We do not write gittin that are acceptable only in case of great need unless there are no other viable options.
Rav Senderovic then explores the possibility of dating the get as Tuesday, since a postdated get is acceptable according to Tosafot (Gittin 17a s.v. Reish Lakish) and the Rosh (Gittin 2:5). Indeed, this opinion is presented as the primary opinion in Shulchan Aruch (E.H. 127:9). Moreover, the get might be acceptable even according to the dissenting opinion of the Rambam (Hilchot Geirushin 1:25), since it would not be delivered until after the date written in the get (see Pitchei Teshuvah E.H. 127:14). However, since other opinions (cited ad. loc.) believe the get to be nonetheless invalid according to the Rambam, Rav Senderovic did not adopt this approach.
Rav Senderovic explores even the possibility of omitting the day of the week and month in the get and mentioning only the week in the month, based on Shulchan Aruch's ruling (E.H. 127:7) that a get written in such a manner is acceptable. This is not a viable option, though, since a get written in this manner is acceptable only b’diavad (after the fact). Thus, a get should not initially be written in this manner.
Rav Senderovic’s Ruling
Rav Senderovic concludes that the get should be dated as being written on Monday based a different consideration. He notes that the date in a get is written as such and such date from creation “in the manner in which we count it here” etc. This phrase clarifies that even if the date is inaccurate from an objective perspective, it nevertheless does not invalidate the get, since it is the accepted date in the place of the writing of the get (Pitchei Teshuvah E.H. 127:16). Accordingly, the get dated as Monday is acceptable even according to those who believe that Hawaii is west of the date line, since it is Monday according to the manner in which the days are counted there158The practice of the small Orthodox community in Hawaii observes Shabbat in accordance with the opinion of the Chazon Ish and other poskim who consider Hawaii as located east of the date line. . The opinions of the halachic authorities (cited in the appendix to Encylopedia Talmudit vol. 22) who regard the halachic date line to run through the mid-Pacific, west of Hawaii serve as additional support to Rav Senderovic. Their opinion combined with the approach of the Chazon Ish allows one to conclude that the majority of poskim regard Hawaii as lying east of the date line159Rav Zvi Pesach Frank (Teshuvot Har Zvi O.C. 1:138) may be added to the list of rabbanim who endorse the practice of the small Orthodox community of Hawaii to observe Shabbat on Saturday and the ruling of Rav Senderovic. .
Conclusion
The holiness of the Jewish people is maintained in great part by exercising extraordinary care with the weddings and (heaven forfend) divorces of the members of our community. Thus, halachic authorities seek to achieve a balance between sensitively meeting the needs of people in a difficult time in their lives and scrupulously maintaining the integrity of the halachic process. Rav Senderovic’s treatment of the question of writing a get in Honolulu is a fine example of achieving such a delicate balance and keeping with the precedents and accepted standards respected by our people for countless generations.