Mareh Makom

Divorce

• When the altar weeps: on the cosmic rupture of divorce
  Why does the altar, having witnessed all of humanity's sins, weep specifically over a couple getting divorced?
  Whoever divorces his first wife – even the altar sheds tears over him
• Divorce: The finality of the written word and the freedom of severance
  How can 12 lines on parchment cut cleaner than a thousand words of pain?
  "And he [the husband] writes her a scroll of severance [a get] and places it in her hand... it must contain twelve lines [12 lines] corresponding to the twelve lines in the Torah...
• Divorce: The voice of the flute from the heart cleft in two
  What happens when we stop waiting for the wind to play the reeds and start sounding our own melody alone?
  I seek a heart, a heart cleft in two, to share my grief with, to recount before it my longing for my home.'
• Divorce: The art of victory in letting go
  What happens when justice becomes more dangerous than the enemy itself?
  When you besiege an army, leave it a way out.
• Divorce: When the break turns to gold and the scars tell a story
  What if the cracks in our lives are precisely where the light gets in?
  The centuries-old practice is often used to mend treasured objects by beautifying the cracks, which serve as a visual record of the object's history.