In a rare move, Israel’s Supreme Court overruled the Supreme Rabbinical Court to block the release from prison of a recalcitrant husband. The rabbinical court presiding over the divorce case is headed by Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shlomo Amar Shlita, ruled that while the husband deserved to remain behind bars, he would be released unless the wife agreed to drop a civil suit against him.
The case began back in 2002 and it took four years for the Rabbanut to issue a ruling compelling the husband to give a get. In 2010, the wife filed a civil suit seeking damages against her husband in a family court. The husband was imprisoned in October 2012 for six months, but two months later the Supreme Rabbinical Court ruled if the woman does not drop the civil suit the husband would be released. The wife moved to the secular courts, seeking the intervention of the Supreme Court. She got a temporary injunction blocking his early release.
The Supreme Rabbinical Court explained that the civil suit was tantamount to unacceptable interference into the beis din’s ruling by the wife, adding that a get must not be given against the husband’s will, seeking to have the wife withdraw the civil action with the explanation that if he agrees to a get because he is forced, it may be invalid.
In the petition to the Supreme Court last week, supported by women’s right organizations, they approached the case from a different angle, arguing the Supreme Rabbinical Court’s actions represents the rabbinate’s rejection of the judicial system, the family court system in particular, and it was abusing its authority to drive this point home, accusing the Supreme Rabbinical Court of wishing to maintain total control over matters of marriage and divorce.
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(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
As your article so correctly states, “Get Me’usoh” at best, would raise serious issues.
But there is no mention made, if the wife is refusing visitation to the Father, and from my experience in these Inyonim, this almost always is what triggers Husbands to become recalcitrant.
It seems that it is the Supreme Court which is “abusing it’s authority” and trying to usurp control of matters of marriage and divorce which properly belong to the rabbinical court system. How can a secular court determine what is a get me’useh?
However, in this case there is a lot of information missing, since refusing to give a get alone is not enough reason to have the husband incarcerated. There must be more here, and the case cannot be judged by the information in the article.