[lit-ideas] Rabbinical court gets tough
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 05:20:36 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=5666
Israel's High Rabbinical Court -- the country's
highest authority on personal status -- has made
halachic history by jailing for one year a woman who
refused to accept a get (bill of divorce) from her
husband. In a precedent-setting ruling, Rabbi Shlomo
Dichovski wrote for the court that it was exercising
its authority in this matter for the first time
because married life for this couple (both in their
fifties) was "long since dead," they detest each
other, and the wife was holding her husband hostage in
the hope of extorting $300,000.
The rabbis found that "affirmative action" legislation
passed by the Knesset in this regard discriminated
against husbands who refuse to divorce their wives, in
favor of women who do the same. Rabbi Dichovsky, who
is well-regarded by womens' rights organizations,
noted that the rabbinical courts had done much to
liberate women from untenable marriages "but it must
be remembered that men have rights also."
The sentence sending the woman to jail for a year or
until she accepts the divorce must yet be approved by
the President of the High Rabbinical Court, Sephardi
Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
The husband's lawyer, attorney Avner Singer, said the
ruling was a step forward. "Recalcitrant wives should
take warning."
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