Gittin 46: Remarrying After Divorce Due to Vows

Husbands may or may not be permitted to remarry their wives after the have divorced because of one of her vows or because of rumours of promiscuity.  The rabbis discuss how important it is that women are reminded of the seriousness of adultery.  Husbands must be clear about why they are divorcing their wives.  

If a vow was taken in public, it cannot be dissolved.  But what is public?  Based on a proof text, Rabbi Nachman believes that at least three people create the public.  Rabbi Yitzchak states that at least ten people are required, as it is written that ten people create a congregation.

IF the wife's vow requires investigation by a halachic authority, her husband should not be allowed to remarry her.  Rabbi Meir says that husbands do not desire disgracing their wives in court, while Rabbi Elazar believes that husbands do not desire that their wives are disgraced in court. 

The Gemara then looks at examples of husbands who make vows regarding their wives.  Are they forbidden from remarrying, too? The rabbis discuss the sanctity of vows.  Vows are seen to be equal to building personal altars which is not permitted.  Vows are taken very seriously because their dissolution is not simple, and people may be bound to those vows and any related consequences of meeting - or breaking - those vows.

Before beginning a new Mishna, we learn that the rabbis agree: it is for the betterment of the world to not remarry one's wife only after she has made a vow, not after the husband has made a vow.

A new Mishna teaches that a man who marries a woman and then realizes that she is an aylonit (a woman who will not be able to have children as she is sexually not developed) may remarry her - though Rabbi Yehuda says that he may not.  If she then marries another man and has children, she could charge her ex-husband with payment of her ketubah.  Rabbi Yehuda says that she should stay quiet, for this claim could hurt her more that it hurts them.  

The Gemara notes that the rabbis are worried about potential harm to the wife.  Vows that lead to permissiveness are seen as particularly dangerous.  It is interesting that harm is not only about transgressing halacha.  Harm is also used as a means of understanding how we should create and recreate society.  What harmed women more, being unmarried and shunned?  Being married with a 'bad reputation'?  Going to court for what they knew they deserved?  Which of those things is most harmful to women today?