For the source text click/tap here: Gittin 88
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Throughout Massekhet Gittin, according to Torah law only the husband can act to divorce his wife; the wife does not have the power to create a divorce. Are there any situations where she can appeal to the courts to force her husband to offer her a divorce?
The Mishna on our daf teaches that if a beit din compels the husband to give his wife a geṭ, the divorce will take effect. If it is a non-Jewish court that forces him to give a geṭ, no divorce takes place. If, however, the Jewish court rules that the husband should divorce his wife, but they do not have the power to force him to present a geṭ, they can turn to the secular courts and arrange for them to force him to follow their ruling.
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