Exile — Divorce
The Midrash1 compares and equates the period of exile with the state of divorce.
At the time of Matan Torah and during the times when the Jewish people lived in Eretz Yisrael, G‑d’s closeness to the Jewish people was plainly revealed. That period is likened to the state of betrothal and marriage between G‑d and the Jewish people. The period of exile, when G‑d banished the Jewish people from their land of Eretz Yisrael — the time when G‑d’s relationship with His people is concealed — is likened to divorce.
However, just as divorce can only bring about an external change in the essential relationship — for the former husband and wife remain one spiritual essence for all time — the same is true with the relationship between G‑d and the Jewish people.
The Jewish people’s exile and “divorce” from G‑d is wholly external and peripheral, relating only to their physical and external selves. Internally, however, the Jewish soul remains connected and united with G‑d even during their state of exile.
This concept finds expression in Jewish law as well. Rambam rules2 that a divorce can only be valid when the husband divorces his wife entirely of his free will and without any coercion. However, in those instances where the Torah obligates the husband to divorce his wife and the husband refuses to do so, then “he is to be beaten until he states, ‘I wish to do so,’ [i.e., ‘I wish to divorce her’].” He then gives her the get and the get is entirely valid.
What possible benefit is there in the husband’s saying “I wish to do so,” when the only reason that he “wishes to do so” is for the beating to stop? Such a statement seems to be entirely based on coercion, and as stated above, a get obtained by coercion is invalid.
However, in his essence, every Jew is close to G‑d and fully desires to fulfill His will. Therefore, as Rambam writes: “Since he, [the balking husband,] surely wishes to act like a Jew, desiring to perform all the mitzvos and distance himself from sin, and it is only that his evil inclination has forced him to act in this manner, then once the court smites him to the extent that his evil inclination becomes weakened and he says ‘I wish to do so,’ he is surely issuing the divorce of his own volition.”
We thus see that even on an external level, when a Jew balks at performing Torah and mitzvos — which he does because he is in a state of exile — his internal being remains one with G‑d, desiring to obey His will and fulfill His commandments.
How Can G‑d Possibly Divorce the Jewish People?
In light of the above, a number of questions regarding the exile of the Jewish people will be resolved.
a) As stated earlier, “A man is prohibitedfrommarrying a woman whom he plans to divorce.” At the time of His betrothal and marriage with the Jewish people, G‑d was aware that He would eventually exile — “divorce” — them. Isn’t this entirely similar to an individual who commits the transgression of marrying a woman with the intention of divorcing her at a later date?
We cannot say that G‑d is not responsible for the “divorce” since it was the “wife’s” fault — i.e., “Because of our sins we have been exiled from our land”3 — for this law does not specify the reason for the divorce: one is always prohibitedfrommarrying a woman whom he plans to divorce, even if he knows that he will eventually divorce her because of an inevitable blunder on her part.
b) The verse states,4 “He shall write a bill of divorce for her and place it in her hand.” In order for the divorce to be valid it must leave the husband’s domain and enter the wife’s possession. Since G‑d is everywhere and the entire world is His domain, as the verse attests,5 “I fill heaven and earth,” how can He possibly divorce the Jewish people when the bill of divorce never leaves His possession and domain?
c) One who remarries his divorced wife must once again perform kiddushin. Why, then, is it not stated that at the time of the Redemption, when G‑d and the Jewish people will once again become “husband and wife,” there will be a fresh act of kiddushin?
It Only Seems to Be a Divorce
The matter will be understood in accordance with that which has been explained above, that the divorce and separation between G‑d and the Jewish people is wholly external. In reality there was no divorce and separation at all.
In fact, this is explicitly stated in the words of the Prophet when he states6 that G‑d declares to the Jewish people: “What bill of divorce have I given your mother (i.e., the Jewish people) when I sent her away? ... It is only because of her iniquities that she has been sent away.”
Thus even during the time of exile, G‑d remains the “husband” of the Jewish people. Since He remains their husband, like any husband, He is obliged to provide His “wife” with much goodness — “abundant goodness to the House of Israel,”7 spiritually and materially.
Moreover, although according to the Gemara,8 a man may marry more than one wife, Rabbeinu Gershom Maor HaGolah instituted that a man may only marry one wife.9
The same is true regarding the connection between G‑d and the Jewish people. Our Sages relate10 that G‑d took an oath “never to exchange us for another nation,” and, as such, the Jewish people forever remain G‑d’s solitary nation. In other words, not only can He not “divorce” them and choose “another wife,” He cannot even take a second “wife” in addition to the Jewish people.
