Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Elisha and Viviane Amsalem have been married for over twenty years with only one of their four offspring still living at home. He being devoutly Jewish and she living largely secular is only one of the major differences between the two. It is because of the many differences that Viviane has long known that she no longer loves him and that they were incompatible as husband and wife. As such, she moved out three years ago to live with her sister and her family, has supported herself as a hairdresser, has remained faithful in not carrying on with any other man but has not communicated with Elisha directly, and has maintained her family duties in cooking for Elisha and their son at home, the food which she has sent to them. She has approached the rabbinical court to obtain a gett, the equivalent of a divorce. It is more a religious document in which the husband releases the wife from her marital duties, including intimate relations. Grounds for divorce could be such things as adultery or physical abuse. Incompatibility or falling out of love are not reasonable grounds. Without these grounds, the courts cannot force Elisha to oblige her request. Although the courts can invoke penalties for failure to appear - which Elisha does often in an effort to ignore the problem - they still cannot grant her request without either these previously stated grounds or his consent. When Elisha does eventually appear in court, he denies her request despite their marriage largely being in name only. Over the course of the very drawn out proceedings, the nature of Elisha and Viviane's life in all its aspects over their entire marriage is not only exposed, but so is the nature of their society and the courts where all of the power lies with the belief in God in the male dominated culture.