unorthodoxly with a girl-friend and, of course, doesn't require a divorce. So sir, what's the problem? Who cares what your girl-friend says? Let her be "linked" to you as long as she feels like it and you find yourself a nice young wife and, this time around, get married the legal way, according to Jewish law.

Could that be a record? I doubt it. Mr. Barak says that it is the Knesset which should rule on civil marriages. No! Marriages of any type are the domain of the Rabbinical courts ONLY. Personal status is a religious issue and not one for civil authorities to discuss let alone prepare laws and regulations about. Mr. Barak, who we thought had retired and left us alone, has taken yet another step in dragging Israel down, and away from achieving its goal as a Torah and G-d-fearing state. Another point. The article stated: "the woman pointed out that she was not prepared to divorce her husband" Now, how do you say Aguna in the masculine?

wants the Rabbinate to interfere with their lives anymore: they have had their heads were the sun don't shine for too long and they have become all but irrelevent in most people's daily lives.

First they get married in such a way that they are not really married. secondly the wife "regrets?" this proceeding and clings to her non-marriage buy insisting in abtaining the divorce-get she tried to avoid in the first place. Well this IS twisted thinking

Unintended consequences can be funny.

... for the day, when people can get married here in Israel in a civil marriage. It doesen't only concerne Jewish, but everyone. I couldn't marry my husband here, since I am not jewish and he is, so we had to go abroad. You can't get married civil nor reform only orthodox... this is dicriminating! I don't think it wrong to do it as in Europe for example- get yourself registered as married couple (civil mariage) and then have your religious marriage to get Gods blessing- which is for most couples the more important part anyway. I am sure many couples in Israel would choose this way too, if they had the chance.

Read the article, you retard. The Rabbinical said they have no authority in this case, but you still can't resist complaining about "interference" even when it does not apply! Reading is fundamental.

This is what happens when the Haredim refuse to take a more active role in the state. Israel is becoming a nation that is no longer willing to take action for its collective responsibility. Just another in a string of defeats as good men and women turn their backs claiming they are helpless. The price of inaction is injustice. If we are unwilling to act for ourselves, and for Hashem, who will. May Hashem have mercy on us all.

your on the ball as usual. thanx for the great insight. just one small thing, a man never gets the status of an Aguna. theoretically a man can marry as many women as he wants. the sages advised against it, and if i remember correctly there is a Medrash that says that the tribes were advised against it too. there is also the "Cherem D'rabenu Gershon" that was made to avoid strife and favoritism.

The case I love that shows this is when an infamous Israeli murderess married a an who was allowed by the rabbi's to remarry because he claimed that she left him and moved to America. He obviously didn't have to produce a lot of evidence, because a couple of years after he married wifey no. 2, she turned up dead, and in the end the man confessed to killing his first wife (after her body turned up). Had there been a status of "agun" in Judaism, his second wife would not have been able to marry him... But since she was a murderess to start with, it might be a case of what goes around comes around.

-- you need all the mercy you can get!

I am aware that there is no such thing as a male Aguna. Polygamy is permitted by the Torah, but denied by rabbinical decree. I meant, simply, to point out that it is not always the man in the relationship who refuses to grant a divorce, but there are cases when the woman will be the stubborn partner. This, too, can create havoc and headaches.

The haredim didn't try? Didn't they bring down Deri's party because of their power. My friend the whole orthodox community modern and ultra know there is a connection with sinning and G-d punishing. Sometimes we try to protest but we don't get our way.

You live in Israel, so you should know as well as I that every year there are a handful of men who get to take that second wife. It isn't so hard. But when a man refuses or walks out the woman is stuck. The number of cases where women have been allowed to marry can probably be counted on the fingers of one frostbitten hand.

Yes, there are male agunim. We just don't get much press. My former wife will not grant a get. The Orthodox rabbi in Philadelphia can/will do nothing. The Conservative rabbi performed a very dignified ceremony of divorce. The presence of male agunim need more recognition besides hidden surveys showing its prevalence. As for the Orthodox, Halacha as we know it was written by and for the rabbis. Halacha, if it were ethical, would not allow polygamy or refusal. It is not about ethics or even what we think G_d wants. It is what the rabbis want. They should be relegated to the splinter group that they are and lose their status as Jews. Just call them 'Orthodox'. Drop 'Jews' from their name. They are not one of us.