The limitations of the Orthodox procedure for granting a divorce are, therefore, quite clear. In theory, divorce should be easy to obtain; in practice, the stipulation that only a male may initiate the proceedings, the lack of enforcing power of the Jewish court and the many details necessary for the procedure make the ger virtually unobtainable for many women.
Civil Jurisdiction versus Religious Jurisdiction
The problem which faced the Assembly was the intrusion of French law into areas also governed by Jewish law. This concerns the issue of divorce as well as those of rabbinic appointments and jurisdiction and so was basic to this set of questions.
Jews through the centuries have had to deal with civil and criminal laws of the lands in which they resided which differed from Jewish law. The principle of“the law of the land is law”(dina d’malkhuta dina) was invoked to cover these matters. It has ancient roots and the struggle between Jewish and alien law is as old as the first occupation of the Land of Israel by a foreign conqueror in 586 B.C.E. We know virtually nothing about the relationship between the inhabitants and the occupying forces. The law of the conqueror was the ultimate law and the ruler appointed the supreme governor whether Jewish or an outsider. It seems that conquerors permitted local autonomy to the native population, so that through Ezra, Nehemiah , and their followers Jewish leadership controlled their internal affairs and governed. This policy was continued by Egyptian, Persian, Seleucid , Ptolemaic, and Roman rulers. The only major exception came through Antiochus Epiphanes and led to the Maccabean revolt. Unrest under the Romans was caused by a harsh taxation policy and occasional insensitivity to Jewish feelings about the images of the Roman legions and not through a clash of legal systems. We known little till Roman times about the extent of outside domination aside from the payment of taxes and the restraint on wishes for independence. We have no record