Bill to grant haredi women okay to remarry

Maryland legislators to propose bill to eliminate inequality between men and women in Orthodox communities in effort to put an end to extortion of women seeking divorce as they require husband's permission to remarry. New law will make it illegal for a woman to be declared 'agunah'
Associated Press

Concerned that religious tradition puts Orthodox Jewish women at a disadvantage in divorce, Maryland lawmakers are considering a bill to require people filing for divorce to grant permission for their spouses to remarry.

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The bill, which has been considered before without success, is aimed at Orthodox Jewish women, who are not on equal footing with men in divorce proceedings. That’s because under Jewish law, a man must give his wife permission to end a marriage. Without it, she may not remarry.

Supporters of a bill say the religious law results in Orthodox Jewish women making unfair concessions in divorce proceedings. Some husbands have used the religious law to get favorable child custody rulings, even money from the wife’s family, according to The Baltimore Sun.

“It becomes a bargaining chip, and a bargaining chip that only one side has,” said Nancy Aiken, director of CHANA, an agency of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore.

A sponsor of the bill in the House, Democratic Delegate Samuel Rosenberg, said the legislature should intervene to prevent women from unfairly being considered an agunah, or “chained woman.”

“We have to persuade people that the rabbis cannot address this problem on their own, that they cannot undo what the Torah commands,” Rosenberg told the newspaper.

The bills are up for consideration in legislative committees this week.

Aiken, whose group works for victims of domestic abuse, said threat of becoming an “agunah” can keep women in abusive marriages.

“A woman is left with the very really unfair and difficult choice of abandoning an Orthodox way of life or having a happy, healthy relationship for herself and the kids,” Aiken said.

If passed, the bill would require divorcing couples to file an affidavit stating that they had removed all religious barriers to remarriage within their power.

Separation of church and state?

The idea has been considered before by Maryland lawmakers but never became law. One concern was that such a law may conflict with other religions. Others have said the bill may violate constitutional protections of religious freedom.

The Maryland Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington, issued a letter this month stating the bill does not “conflict with the marriage, divorce and annulment standards and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.”

New York state passed a similar law in the early 1980s. Michael J. Broyde, a law professor at Emory University and an ordained rabbi, told the newspaper that New York’s law hasn’t been tested in court. However, he said he believed it would withstand court scrutiny.

States such as New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida considered similar provisions but did not pass them.

Maryland’s attorney general’s office issued an opinion in January saying that although the bill would raise “substantial issues” under the constitution, it likely would be upheld if challenged in court.

Some disagree. Marc Stern, general counsel of the American Jewish Congress, an advocacy group, told the newspaper a bill would violate the separation of church and state.

“The problem is a real one and needs to be addressed within the Orthodox community urgently,” Stern said. However, “they’ve chosen a means that’s fundamentally inconsistent with our constitutional system.”

David Conn, deputy director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, said that historically social pressure was used to pressure husbands who wouldn’t release their wives. Conn referred to days when Jews lived almost exclusively in Jewish villages or neighborhoods. Today, he said, not all Orthodox Jews agree what should be done about divorce proceedings.

“There’s a difference of opinion across the spectrum of Jewish thought,” Conn said.