Aguna

Rabbinical court chaos leaves Israelis trapped in a broken system - opinion

System failures, from missing files to postponed hearings, in Israel’s rabbinical courts are delaying justice and trapping families in legal limbo.

|BySETH FARBER
THE CHIEF RABBINATE’S Supreme Court for Appeals in Jerusalem: Israelis deserve a religious court system that honors both Halacha and human dignity, the writer asserts.
A room at Camp Shura designed for families to part from the deceased who have fallen in Israel's wars.

The 'unspoken agunot': The wives of men whose deaths by Hamas were never confirmed - opinion

In contrast to the victim of get-refusal, the war widows desperately wanted to stay with their husbands. They became agunot due to evil forces from without.

|ByRACHEL LEVMORE
THE POSSIBILITY that a woman whose husband is in the IDF reserves can become ‘chained’ became an increasing problem after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War.

IDF soldiers’ wives at risk: The urgent case for conditional divorces

The Israel-Hamas War has increased the risk of women becoming "chained" in their marriages because they can't get a Jewish divorce.

|ByEVE YOUNG
A WOMAN seeking divorce in a ‘beit din’ was the sole female in the room until the advent of ‘toanot.’ (Illustrative)

Divorce refusal will only be solved if everyone does their part - opinion

The bill dictates “divorce refusal” as the situation in which a court has issued a ruling requiring the husband to give a divorce that the husband subsequently ignores. 

|ByALI ZAK

Is this the end of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel?

They have no place in Judaism at all, certainly in the 21st century.

OCTOBER 12, 2020ByELI KAVON
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau.

Get refuser grants divorce after being arrested at coronavirus checkpoint

"The get has become a halachically endorsed tool that can be abused to extort, control and threaten a spouse," said Director of Yad La'isha.

OCTOBER 9, 2020ByEVE YOUNG
An Israeli police officer and an Israeli soldier at a temporary "checkpoint" in Jerusalem, to check people are not disobeying the governments orders on a partial lockdown, in order to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus on March 31, 2020.

How Israel's Rabbinical Court saves agunot in the Diaspora – opinion

The only rabbinical court in the world that has the legal power to levy sanctions or even incarcerate a man until he gives the get, is Israel’s Rabbinical Court.

SEPTEMBER 9, 2020ByRACHEL LEVMORE
RABBI PINCHAS GOLDSCHMIDT says that beyond the 57 women freed in Israel, more than 25 women were freed in rabbinical courts in Europe simply due to the very existence of the Israeli law.

In the Netherlands, judges can lock up Jewish men who refuse divorce

The Netherlands is the only country that comes close to that system.

AUGUST 20, 2020ByCNAAN LIPHSHIZ/JTA
A Dutch judge, Hendrik Steenhuis, presides over a hearing at the Schiphol Judicial Court complex in Badhoevedorp, March 9, 2020.

Aguna receives get, able to divorce husband after 14-year battle

"No woman deserves to live in constant torture for 14 years waiting to be released."

JUNE 8, 2020ByAARON REICH
Vicky Tzur (left) is seen with attorney Tamar Oderberg holding the get.

‘Aguna’ – a midcourse Jewish history correction

Anecdotes are not scientific research. But these and 100 others like them define the widely held communal paradigm regarding iggun. Let us extrapolate some views:

MARCH 9, 2020ByBLU GREENBERG
THE BUILDING of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel in Jerusalem.

Yad La’Isha marks record-breaking number of resolved ‘aguna’ cases

The 'agunah problem' is an ongoing Jewish legal (halachic) issue in which women wishing to get a divorce require the consent of their husbands, who may refuse.

FEBRUARY 25, 2020ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
Photo of Sarah M., one of the 12 cases resolved this month by Yad La’Isha of Ohr Torah Stone.

Is the Rabbinical Court’s best good enough?

The Rabbinical Court must set itself free to set the agunot free.

FEBRUARY 23, 2020ByRACHEL LEVMORE
THE RABBINICAL court of Tel Aviv. It has been said that rabbinical courts allow men to hold back consent to divorce their wives in order to extort the women into agreeing to unfair overall terms.

Beautiful dishes created to support 'agunot' or 'chained women'

'Duck meat is never fully wrapped in dough, so it represents freedom'

FEBRUARY 11, 2020ByLINDA GRADSTEIN
The dishes made in the spirit of freedom for agunot, including Café Michael’s decadent French toast

Rabbinical courts' use of polygraphs in divorce proceedings ‘unnecessary’

A women's rights organization expressed concern regarding the use of polygraphs tests by the rabbinical courts in divorce proceedings.

JANUARY 21, 2020ByJEREMY SHARON
THE RABBINICAL court of Tel Aviv. It has been said that rabbinical courts allow men to hold back consent to divorce their wives in order to extort the women into agreeing to unfair overall terms.