In 1953, Israel’s parliament enacted the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law, which states: "Marriages and divorces of Jews shall be performed in Israel in accordance with Jewish religious law.”
Regardless of whether a person identifies as Orthodox, their marriage must go through Orthodox channels. If a Jewish person wants to be legally married in Israel, their wedding needs to go through the Rabbinate, the religious governing body in the country.
Divorce follows the same logic. State law, which follows Jewish law, dictates that for a divorce between Jews to be legal, the husband must provide the woman a "get", a Jewish document that finalizes the divorce.
Some husbands, however, refuse to give the get, forcing women to remain legally in marriages they no longer want to be in. In Hebrew, there is a word that refers to women stuck in this situation: Agunot, which translates quite literally to “chained".
“It's a form of abuse, it's holding someone hostage,” said Keshet Starr from the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA).
“It inspires enormous fear in people, and it is fundamentally wrong and something that we can't tolerate on a communal level.”
“There’s often a misconception about 'get' refusal that, ‘hey, divorce is a dirty business, everyone's playing their cards, this is one of them,’” Starr explained. “But what happens is that when a 'get' is used as leverage, it can inspire so much fear on the other side that people under-negotiate at times. And what that can do is leave people in poverty following divorce, with custody arrangements that make no sense.”
Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana, planned to reform kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) certification and conversion throughout the country. These reforms are the subject of controversy in the religious world, with two of Israel’s chief rabbis calling on Kahana to retract his proposals.
The chief rabbis, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, are aligned with opposition parties United Torah Judaism and Shas respectively, whereas Kahana is a member of the governing body’s Yamina party.
While the ultra-Orthodox protest the reforms, others believe it’s a step in the right direction, and call for more reforms — specifically in the world of marriage, which until recently, the coalition hasn’t touched.
“Those things are great, because they're changing the way that the average person thinks about the state's role in their religious lifestyle," said Rachel Stomel, English Communications Director for the Center for Women’s Justice in Israel.
“That's important, but I think that the last thing to fall, the last thing that anyone is going to want to touch, is marriage and divorce... People are very afraid to touch it; they’re afraid to mess with it. These are things that bring down coalitions."
Stomel postulated that a limiting factor in marriage reform is "mamzerim" — referring to a religious status imposed on children conceived from relationships forbidden in the Torah. This includes a child born of a married woman and a man other than her husband. Mamzerim, often the children of chained women, face difficulties in life due to their status, including limitations in marriage.
“It’s not just a religious stigma,” Stomel explains. “It's also a legal stigma because, in Israel, there's no separation of religion and state.”
“The state maintains a blacklist of individuals who are prevented or restricted from marrying in whatever capacity. And on this list, mamzer is one of the categories.”
Stomel believes that overturning these laws and enacting new ones won’t come from the top-down but rather from continued resistance from citizens and the work of NGOs such as the CWJ.
"I think a third, or a very big number of people who get married in Israel, are not marrying via the Rabbinate,” she said.
Some people who want to be married outside the Rabbinate choose to go abroad for their wedding and register it as a civil marriage inside Israel.
However, the civil union does not exempt a Jewish couple from divorce via the Rabbinate should they decide to separate. If a couple decides to get civilly married, the man would still have to present the woman a "get" to finalize the divorce. If you’re Jewish in Israel, you need to get the "get".
“There is really no way to escape the court’s jurisdiction,” Stomel explained. “The only way to do that is to not get married, and we can’t expect that of people.”
While civil marriage finally faces debate in Israel’s parliament — with conditional support from Minister Kahana — whether that involves civil divorce is unanswered.
“There isn't a halachic [following Jewish law] consensus on how to view civil marriage,” says Rabbi Seth Farber, founder of the organization "Itim" — an advocacy organization working to build a Jewish and democratic Israel.
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Civil union does not exempt a Jewish couple from divorce via the Rabbinate
(Photo: Shutterstock)
Farber noted some authorities recognize civil marriage as a religious marriage, and others do not, leading to confusion regarding divorce.
He, like Stomel, mentioned "mamzerim" as a reason why separating religious marriage and divorce from civil marriage and divorce is problematic in the eyes of the Rabbinate and the government.
“Because there is no consensus, the Rabbinate or the rabbinical court says we want to protect the interests of the future child.”
This leads to a lack of civil divorce, regardless of how the couple decides to get married, as the Rabbinate attempts to prevent the creation of mamzerim. If a couple gets a civil divorce, but not a religious one, the women’s children from a future relationship would be considered mamzerim.
“For now, at least, they're not entertaining the possibility that people who get married civilly will still be able to get divorced outside of the Rabbinate.”
However, mamzerim are not the only issue that can affect a chained woman, according to Stomel.
“If you’re an agunah, you can’t get single parent benefits; you can’t get discounts on property tax. All these things that are so small, that really make a difference.”
Stomel mentioned a story of a woman stuck in a marriage attempting to separate her financials from her husband, who racked up substantial debt, and was told, “Why don’t you get a divorce?”
“You can't just ‘go get a divorce,’” said Stomel. “There is no way to get a divorce. If you're a woman, you have to wait for your husband to release you.”
She explained that, in other countries, civil divorce while waiting for a get is an option. “But in Israel, you don't have that luxury. The state tells you what your religious obligations are.”
Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana declined to comment on the question of civil marriage and divorce.