A Jerusalem rabbinical court is making the already complicated divorce process even more inconvenient for couples who sign prenuptial agreements, according to the Hebrew website Srugim.
The Rabbinical Courts Administration has been instructed by the Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court to discuss opening a criminal investigation with the attorney general into the father of a man who is refusing to grant his wife a divorce.
The Rabbinical Court of Jerusalem has reversed itself not once but twice over issues of jurisdiction regarding the case of an eight-year agunah, and is now enabling her estranged husband to condition his granting of a divorce on the division of assets from the marriage.
In a first for Israel, rabbinical judges in Jerusalem and Haifa recently approved the opening of criminal proceedings against men who refused to grant their wives a get (religious divorce), acting upon instructions from State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan to increase the pressure on the men.
“In the middle of the wedding, my wife stepped on my foot,” a husband from Samaria told the rabbinical court in the Samaria city of Ariel. “It’s a custom of sorts, that instead of the husband ruling the home, the wife steps on his foot so that she will rule him.”
The Chief Rabbi of the Rabbinical Court, Rabbi Eliezer Igra, referred to the issue of refusal to grant a divorce during a conference of the Bar Association.
The Be’er Sheva Rabbinical Court published a ruling that a person previously considered to be a mamzer was “permitted to marry an Israelite,” which is the official way of saying he is, in fact, not a mamzer.
The Haifa Rabbinical Court has published the details and photo of divorce-refuser Sharon Ben Haim.
A Man in northern Israel has filed for divorce from his wife citing her love of their dogs and puppies and her alleged preference for them over him, to the point where the dogs share the couple’s bed and thus interfere with their sex life.
Israel’s Rabbinical Court system statistics for the past five years paint an interesting picture regarding the number of estranged spouses who refuse a divorce (unless their conditions are met), the low number of dispensations given to men to marry a second wife, and more.