What Is a Seruv? Understanding Get Refusal and the Jewish Divorce Process (286)

What Is a Seruv? Understanding Get Refusal and the Jewish Divorce Process (286)

April 12, 2026 · 1h 11m · Season 9 · Episode 22

About this episode

This episode explores the complexities of the Jewish divorce process, focusing on the concepts of seruv and get refusal.

Check out Orthodox Conundrum Commentary on Substack and get your free subscription by going to https://scottkahn.substack.com/ - and paid subscribers get this and other episodes of the Orthodox Conundrum Podcast ad-free and with early access and additional bonus content! Today's episode deals with a topic that many people have heard about, but far fewer people actually understand. Terms like get refusal or seruv are often mentioned, sometimes with strong reactions, but often without a clear sense of what they mean in practice. So in this conversation, we're going to take a step back and try to understand the system itself. What exactly is a seruv? How does the Beit Din process work when a couple is going through a divorce? At what point does a difficult or contentious situation cross the line into something more serious? And where does the system function as it is meant to, and where does it sometimes break down? My guests today are Jen Lankin, co-CEO of ORA, the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, and Rabbi Jonathan Hefter, ORA's Director of Partnerships and Innovation. ORA works closely with individuals navigating some of the most complex and painful cases in the Jewish…

People in this episode

Host: Scott Kahn

Guests: Jen Lankin, Rabbi Jonathan Hefter

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ORA, Organization for the Resolution of Agunot

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