QUESTION: A sixty-three-year-old man has been diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease . In nine months he has deteriorated drastically and now needs constant skilled nursing are. His wife, a school teacher, has discovered that her insurance does not cover such expenses which are more than$2,000.00 a month. The couple's savings will be entirely exhausted in a few years. Medicaid will not help until nothing except the house in which they live remains. The wife's lawyer has counseled her to seek a legal divorce, which will shield her resources so that she | may have some income when she reaches retirement in a few years. Without such a step she will become dependent upon the charity of her children and the general community. If she takes this step she will, of course, feel that she has abandoned her husband. His condition has degenerated to such an extent that he is unaware of his surroundings and does not fulfill his marital responsibilities. (Rabbi D. D. Weber, Elyria , OH )
ANSWER: These circumstances which you have described are tragic. Unfortunately, as modern medicine progresses, af gverincreasing group within our population reaches an advanced age, | and frequently one member is afflicted with an incurable debilitating disease which slowly destroys that life and drastically affects the life of the healthy spouse.
Let us see whether a marriage may be dissolved under these circumstances. Marriage, as the Hebrew designation kiddushin implies, is a sacred act which brings special sanctity tO the relationship established between husband and wife. The blessings recited(sheva berakhot) indicate the sanctity of the status into which the couple entered. Marriage and all aspects of family life have been discussed at great length in Jewish literature since the Mishnaic period. Provisions have, of course, also been made for