Presuming there is mutual consent or a valid divorce judgment from a rabbinical court having jurisdiction over the matter, depending on the circumstances, the divorce deed itself (the ‘get’) can be drawn up abroad, if there is a rabbinical court in that country which the Chief Rabbinate in Israel recognises as having jurisdiction . The husband can then give the ‘get’ to a ‘sending’ messenger of the rabbinical court who, acting on his behalf, can physically hand it over to his wife in Israel, or to a special ‘acceptance’ messenger representing her, either in Israel or abroad.

The actual technical steps must be followed properly for the divorce to be recognised in Israel, otherwise the husband could find himself in the unfortunate position of thinking he is divorced, getting married again, this time abroad and then risk facing criminal charges in Israel for bigamy. This is what happened in the case of singer Matti Caspi who was found guilty of bigamy by Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court in February 2002.