Legally, a man may divorce a woman if she does not bear children after ten years of marriage. Both are free to remarry, as the Talmud states, “it is possible that he was unworthy to have children from her.”
A couple who lived in Sidon had been married for ten years without having children. The husband demanded a divorce and the couple went to see Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. The rabbi, who opposed divorces, tried to convince them to stay together but the husband was adamant.
“Since you are resolved to divorce, you should give a party to celebrate your separation just as you gave one to celebrate your wedding,” the rabbi told them.
The couple agreed. During the course of the party, the husband, who had drunk too much wine, said to his wife, “My dear, before we separate choose whatever you consider most precious in this house and take it with you when you return to your father’s house to live.”
After her husband had fallen into a drunken sleep, the woman ordered her servants to carry him to her father’s house and put him to bed there. In the middle of the night he awake.
“Where am I?” he called out.
“At my father’s house,” the wife replied. “You told me to take whatever I considered most precious to me. There is nothing in the world more precious to me than you.”
-Song of Songs Rabbah, 1:4
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