Rabbinical and legal experts met Sunday to formulate a legal loophole that will enable women to file for divorce in a Jewish court of law — an attempt to mitigate a practice whereby only a man can issue a get or Jewish divorce.
According to Jewish law, if a husband refuses to issue his wife a get despite her appeal, she remains chained to the marriage — a status known as aguna in Hebrew — and is unable to remarry in a rabbinical court, even if the couple is de facto separated.
Sunday’s marriage registration reform, spearheaded by Tzohar, an organization of Orthodox rabbis that seeks to streamline and improve rabbinic services, walks a fine line between demands to implement civil marriage practices — currently unavailable in Israel — and adherence to the stringency of Jewish law.
Read the full story at Times of Israel.
The words of this author reflect his/her own opinions and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Orthodox Union.