The Tzohar Rabbonim organization held a kenos to discuss introducing a prenuptial agreement into chasenahs performed by the organization’s rabbonim. To the surprise of many, Chief Rabbi David Lau was in attendance.
The rabbonim are in favor of a prenuptial and they hope its widespread use will eliminate or at least minimize cases in which a husband refuses to give a get (writ of divorce).
The prenuptial that will be used by Tzohar Rabbonim states that if a husband refuses to give his wife a get, he will be required to pay her a sizable sum of money, making it less likely that he will opt to leave her in an agunah state.
Tzohar will be asking thousands of couples that marry via the rabbonim of the organization annually to sign the prenuptial. Tzohar hopes the Chief Rabbinate of Israel will decide to incorporate the prenuptial agreement as well, and if this is so, all couples marrying via the Chief Rabbinate will be asked to sign such an agreement.
Rav Lau asked the rabbonim to work in cooperation with the Chief Rabbinate, adding he decided to participate because of the importance of the matter on the agenda.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Kol haKavod to the Tzohar Rabbanim for this initiative – and Kol haKavod to Rav Lau for coming to the meeting.
an Israeli Yid
Keep your friends close.
Keep your enemies closer.
You don’t really need a prenup for that. A husband is required to support his wife. That’s established law. A Beis Din can seize his assets to support his wife. The only way to turn off that drain on his assets is to give her the “get”. If a husband ceases to support his wife, and refuses to give a “get”, Jewish law already allows the court to make him keep paying, perhaps by seizing all his property and garnishing all his wages – in order to enforce his marital support duty. In fact, if he’s shaking her down for money, that is money she now needs to come up with, so the Beis Din is justified in making her husband (remember, he’s her husband until he writes the “get”)cough up the money.
And in the Beis Din is too weak (and politically impotent)to enforce the law, all the prenups in the world won’t help.