Our Gemara discusses the halakha of Machazir Gerushaso, which is the prohibition to remarry a divorced wife, once she married someone in between.

Instead of discussing the halachos, let us look into the mystical and symbolic teachings that have been triggered by this human pattern of connection and disconnection.  We have noted many times in Psychology of the Daf the ways in which the relationship between God and the Jewish people is described, and even lived, as a marriage (See for example Psychology of the Daf Rosh Hashana 30).. And mind you, as we shall see, a stormy and difficult marriage. The relationship is so stormy, like any seriously messed up marriage, there are even multiple versions of the story and contradictory declarations.

In Hoshea (2:21), despite the sins of the Jewish people, God declares:

וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִ֖י לְעוֹלָ֑ם וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִי֙ בְּצֶ֣דֶק וּבְמִשְׁפָּ֔ט וּבְחֶ֖סֶד וּֽבְרַחֲמִֽים׃ וְאֵרַשְׂתִּ֥יךְ לִ֖י בֶּאֱמוּנָ֑ה וְיָדַ֖עַתְּ אֶת ה

⁦And I will be betrothed to you forever:I will be betrothed to you with righteousness and justice, And with goodness and mercy. ⁦And I will be betrothed to you with faithfulness; Then you shall know the LORD.

That’s quite the pledge of everlasting love. However, it gets more complicated. Yeshaiyahu (50:1), knowing things have gone quite sour, still offers the last ditch reassurance:

כֹּ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר ה׳ אֵ֣י זֶ֠ה סֵ֣פֶר כְּרִית֤וּת אִמְּכֶם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר שִׁלַּחְתִּ֔יהָ 

Where is the bill of divorce Of your mother whom I dismissed?.

But then, it seems, that the divorce actually did happen, as we find in Yirmiyahu (3:1)

הֵ֣ן יְשַׁלַּ֣ח אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־אִשְׁתּוֹ֩ וְהָלְכָ֨ה מֵאִתּ֜וֹ וְהָיְתָ֣ה לְאִישׁ־אַחֵ֗ר הֲיָשׁ֤וּב אֵלֶ֙יהָ֙ ע֔וֹד הֲל֛וֹא חָנ֥וֹף תֶּחֱנַ֖ף הָאָ֣רֶץ הַהִ֑יא וְאַ֗תְּ זָנִית֙ רֵעִ֣ים רַבִּ֔ים וְשׁ֥וֹב אֵלַ֖י נְאֻם ה׳

If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and marries another man, can he ever go back to her? Would not such a land be defiled? Now you have whored with many lovers: can you return to Me?—says the LORD.

Indeed, the Gemara Yoma (86b) notes the contradiction and says an amazing idea, showing how God’s love transcends all:

Great is repentance, as it overrides even a prohibition of the Torah. How so? As it is stated that God said: “…Saying: If a man sends away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have committed adultery with many lovers; and would you yet return to Me, said the Lord” (Jeremiah 3:1). Indeed, the Torah states: “Her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she has been made impure” (Deuteronomy 24:4). The relationship between the Jewish people and the Holy One, Blessed be He, is compared to that between a husband and wife. Just as it is prohibited for an adulterous wife to return to her husband, it should be prohibited for the Jewish people to return to God from their sins, yet repentance overrides this prohibition.

Remarkable! Hashem’s love is so strong that it, so to speak, even subverts the halakha!

Agra Dekallah suggests a clever way to resolve this metaphysical halakhic conundrum, based on a Bereishis Rabbah (11:5):

Tyranos Rufus mocked the Torah, challenging Rabbi Akiva as follows: How can God bring rain on Shabbos, isn’t that carrying in a public domain? To which Rabbi Akiva responded, the entire universe is God’s private domain, thus it is no problem for him to carry. Likewise, Agra Dekallah argues that even though God went through the motions of giving a Get, it was invalidated on a technicality. Since the entire universe belongs to God, it is as if a man gave a woman a Get by placing the Get in his courtyard. In such a case, she is not divorced because she never acquired the Get and was never sent away. So too, the Jewish people were never divorced and never truly sent away since God is everywhere, not could they acquire this Get because all belongs to God.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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