The Agunah in American Secular Law

One cannot fail to be deeply sympathetic to the sorrowful plight of the agunah (one who is tied) under Jewish religious law. An agunah is a woman who is no longer living with her husband but who cannot remarry because she has not been di vorced according to religious law. While the extent of the prob lem is not known, there are enough publicly reported incidents to permit the inference that there are many more unpublicized examples.1 Such at least is the view of significant elements of Orthodox (traditional) and Conservative (moderate) Judaism, who have looked to the state to resolve a problem that they can not deal with internally. However meritorious their motives, though, their proposed solutions cannot pass constitutional muster.

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• The Agunah and the Missing Husband

  Yael V Levy•Journal of Law and Religion•1993

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