Deputy Minister of Religious Services Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan has introduced a bill seeking to harshen conditions for recalcitrant husbands, those who refuse to give their wife a get, preferring to leave them as agunos. The bill stipulates that if such a husband is imprisoned for his refusal, he will no longer be entitled to mehadrin food in prison. The deputy minister, who is a former CEO of the nation’s batei din, is pushing the bill through the Ministerial Legislative Law Committee.

“We will deal harshly with recalcitrant husbands. A man cannot ignore religious law on the one hand, ignoring a psak din instructing him to give his wife a get and on the other hand make demands to accommodate his heightened religious observance”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)