In Halacha, the sin involved in creating mamzerim through Gett abuse is understood on two levels: the direct violation tied to the forbidden relationship, and the indirect culpability of the spouse who causes it through withholding a Gett.
1. The direct Halachic violation
A mamzer is a child born from specific forbidden sexual relationships outlined in Devarim 23:3. The primary case is a child conceived by a married woman with a man who is not her husband. Under Halacha, the act of adultery itself is prohibited by the Torah. The child’s mamzer status is a legal consequence of that relationship, not a punishment of the child. The mamzer remains fully Jewish and is obligated in all mitzvot, but carries marital restrictions: a mamzer may marry only another mamzer or a convert, and this status is inherited by descendants.
2. The role of Gett withholding
Gett abuse occurs when a husband refuses to give his wife a Gett, leaving her an Agunah, a chained woman who cannot remarry under Halacha. If she then has a child with another man while still halachically married, that child is a mamzer.
Within rabbinic literature and contemporary halachic discourse, the husband who withholds the Gett is often described as causing a michshol, putting a stumbling block before others. He creates conditions where the wife faces an impossible choice: remain alone indefinitely, or pursue a new relationship that would result in a child with mamzer status. Many poskim, halachic decisors, characterize this as gorem mamzerut, indirectly causing mamzerut.
Rabbenu Gershom’s cherem, around 1000 CE, prohibited marrying multiple wives and divorcing a woman against her will, partly to prevent this kind of entrapment. Modern batei din and organizations that address Agunah cases frequently frame Gett refusal as geneivat da’at, deception, and oshek, oppression, because it uses religious law to deny a person basic liberty.
3. The communal understanding
Because the mamzer status affects not only the child but subsequent generations, Gett withholding is treated in many Orthodox communities as a grave abuse of power. The sin is not attributed to the chained wife for wanting to move on with her life. Instead, the responsibility is placed on the one who maintains the halachic barrier to remarriage and thereby creates the circumstances for forbidden relationships to produce mamzerim.
In short: under Halacha, adultery is the act that creates a mamzer. Gett abuse is the coercive act that boxes a woman into a situation where that outcome becomes the only path to companionship or children. That is why it is discussed by rabbinic authorities as a form of oppression tied to lifnei iver, not causing others to sin.
Written with the help of AI.
Writing by Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal 