<p>Last week's shiur on wife beating implied (if I remember correctly) that wife beating is grounds for a get. I was reminded of a tshuva that I read many years ago, and that I have now found again. Node Beyehuda Even Haezer, mahadura kama, siman yud alef. The case there is of a man who beat his wife, because he suspected her (falsely, as it turned out) of being unfaithful. The wife consulted with a neighbor, who told her to admit that she was unfaithful, and therefore her husband would be forced to divorce her, and the beatings would stop. She did so. It then came out that she was not unfaithful, and the husband wanted her back. The wife then admits that she lied when she claimed that she was unfaithful. The Noda Beyehuda obviously will not let the wife remarry a man who beats her. But in the teshuva there is no mention of the man being a wife beater. The entire teshuva deals with whether the wife is to be believed the first time, or the second time, given that her statements contradict one another.</p> <p>To me, this suggests that the beating per se was not grounds for divorce, and therefore the Noda Beyehuda had to find other resons to deny the wife returning.</p> <p>I have been listening to your lectures for a few weeks. You regularly mention Rav Yerucham Gorelick's fierceness. I have a story that shows surprising gentleness. I graduated YU in 1970, and started graduate school. I wanted to continue learning, and so applied to the semicha program. When I was interviewed, I honestly said that I had no intention of becoming a rabbi, but that I wanted to continue learning for as long as I could while in graduate school. I was told that this was not the primary intent of the semicha program, but that they could nonetheless accomodate me. I entered Rav Gorelick's shiur, and I was totally honest with him. I told him that I had graduate classes in the morning, and that I would not be able to come most days to the Beit Midrash, but that I would prepare and attend the shiur as much as I could. Even this gradually petered out, as more and more of my time became devoted to research, and I pulled out of the program. But Rav Gorelick was totally understanding and accomodating, probably because I was honest. I also remember his behavior at the final. I knew the answers to the questions, and my chavrusa did not. Rav Gorelick turned to me and told me to help my chavrusa during the test. After all, torah is torah, and if he did not learn the sugiya earlier, he should learn it now, and I should help him. So I only saw a very gentle aspect of his personality.</p>