According to a report filed by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, divorce in Israel is on the rise, by 5.8%. Filing its end-of-year statistics for 2013, the Chief Rabbinate reports that 11,219 couples were divorced in 2013 while 10,602 couples divorced in 2012.

Yerushalayim leads in divorce documenting 733 cases, followed by Tel Aviv with 678. Haifa took third place with 502, pushing Rishon L’Tzion into fourth place with 492. The municipality with the least divorce is Tirat HaCarmel, listing 40 couples.

In 2013 the Chief Rabbinate of Israel opened 90,237 files as compared to 88,051 a year earlier. There was a ten day reduction in the time required to deal with a file from opening to completion, averaging 96 days as compared to 106 days in 2012. 9,515 divorce files were opened in 2013, 4,373 cases to certify one’s Jewishness, 3,569 cases dealing with inheritance and 62 adoption files.

The rabbinate’s special unit that seeks to release agunos succeeded in obtaining a get for 159 women whose husbands disappeared out of the country. That number stood at 163 in 2012. Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon, who heads the Agunah Unit, added that since its inception four years ago, the unit has addressed 400 cases on different levels. It is reported there was a 180% increase in imposing sanctions against recalcitrant husbands for in 2013 there were 168 piskei din approving sanctions against 46 men refusing to give a get. In 2012 there were 60 piskei din against recalcitrant husbands. These sanctions included;

1. Not permitting one to have a bank account

2. Not permitting one to have a drivers license

3. Not permitting one to have a public sector job

19 arrest warrants were issued and private investigators were hired in five cases to track down recalcitrant husbands abroad as opposed to three such cases in the previous year.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)