Give rabbinic monopoly a get
Op-ed: Bayit Yehudi MKs have a rare chance to make a real change, allow freedom of choice in marriage in Israel.
The first – despite the terrible violence she has been suffering for five years now – has sent by the religious judges time and again to try to achieve "marital harmony." The second one has been denied a divorce for eight years, she has no children and her biological clock is ticking loudly.
The third woman's husband has been in a coma for seven years now, and a solution for her has yet to be found. The fourth woman's husband was released from a short imprisonment by the rabbinical court after refusing to grant her a divorce for 12 years, because she would not pay him NIS 300,000 (about $86,000) in exchange for the divorce. And the last one – she has already lost and will never be able to have children.
All these, by the way, are the real stories of real women, who are being cared for and aided by the Mavoi Satum ("dead end") association for agunot (women whose husbands have disappeared) and mesoravot get (women who have been refused a Jewish divorce).
The anger, the rage and the helplessness we feel upon reading about this is shared by both secular and religious Jews – and yes, by haredim as well. But only a few people, like members of the Bayit Yehudi faction at this point in Israeli politics, have the option and responsibility to stand up and do something. They have a rare chance to make a real change, give up on the marriage monopoly, allow freedom of choice in marriage – and finally introduce a civil track for marriage in Israel.
Monopoly corrupts
In a democratic and multi-cultural country like ours, a monopoly can only rarely be a positive thing and serve a value which is superior enough to make so many sacrifices for. I believe that in recent years, the sacrifices are not being made for the sake of a Jewish and united state.
The result is disastrous, and there are only losers: There is an erosion in the legitimacy – not just of the Rabbinate, but also of "Judaism." Rabbis are perceived as anachronistic and as people "living at the expense of a state" which has become a systematic violator of human rights, and Halacha is seen as discriminatory and depriving man of his welfare.
Granting freedom of choice in marriage, and creating a civil track for marriage and divorce, will solve a fundamental problem of a state in which entire publics cannot get married and fulfill their right to start a family and exit it. Moreover, this will create a "free market" between the two institutions: The halachic-rabbinic institution on the one hand, and the civil institution on the other hand; a competition which unlike today, will not only not subject the religious law to the civil law, but will also help keep it relevant.
Crumbling from the outside and inside
The fear of innovating, of relieving agunot and setting them free, stems among other things from an almost unrestrained position of power of the religions establishment on the one hand, and activity conducted under threats and defense on the other hand. The result is a degeneration in the halachic, as well as the moral, area.
The greatness of the Halacha and what made its existence possible all these years was undoubtedly its ability to update itself according to the challenges of time and become relevant to the lives of those who accepted its authority.
Exclusively applying the religious law corrupts and shatters the Israeli society from within, and this is much more serious than the future fear of a formation of two nations (which will not marry each other), as it obligates us, as a society, to ignore human distresses and distortions (agunot, people barred from marrying under Jewish law).
Entire communities in the Israeli society are already expressing alienation from the religious establishment and the state, basically saying "we shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel" if "these are your gods, Israel," and that includes traditional-religious populations, which are the foundation of Judaism's existence here.
Only a matter of time
Religious Zionism's classic role has recorded glorious chapters of leading constitutional "compromises" between containing a democratic state and its influence on the state's Jewish identity. It's time to lead a change for granting freedom of marriage in divorce, a change which will prevent the separation of state from religion, as the religious establishment has some time ago ceased being a tool which may preserve the state's Jewishness for us – despite the power it is given by the law.
Leaders and rabbis of the Bayit Yehudi party, you too understand that canceling the monopoly is just a matter of time. We are now in a political situation in which there is a majority in the Knesset for enacting the "civil union" law. The political power you received in the recent elections may tip the scale. Use it! Give up on the monopoly on marriage and divorce – and strengthen the Jewish state. Free it of the religious establishment.
Adv. Batya Kahana-Dror is the executive director of Mavoi Satum association for agunot and mesoravot get, and a member of the forum of Israelis for Freedom of Choice in Marriage.
