For the first time ever, Israel will assist Agunos no matter where they are in the world. Both men and women will qualify for assistance from Israel and the Israeli rabbinate, even if they are not Israeli citizens. On Sunday, a governmental law memo that appropriate international jurisdiction to determine all cases of agunos via the Rabbinical court in Israel.
Additionally, the law allows for both men and women, many of whom were citizens of the former Soviet Union, whose relationships with their spouses abroad has dematerialized or been lost, to remarry. Until now, even if one had no connection with their former spouse, they would not be allowed to remarry without an halachic get. Under the new law, courts would be allowed to and encouraged to disavow these marriages if they saw the possibility to do so, in order to allow the agunim and agunot to remarry.
Until now, Israeli courts were only allowed to deal with the agunot issue if one or both of the married parties had Israeli citizenship or declared residency. Therefore, women who were refused bills of divorce in the diaspora, were left without recompense, as sanctions could not be enforced upon those who were refusing the divorce even in cases where the refuser came to Israel. That has now changed.
Part of the governmental memo made clear the reason for the appropriation of jurisdiction. “The centrality of Israel as the national homeland for all Jews, and the important role that it plays in the Jewish world, justify the appropriation of jurisdiction with regards to the agunot question to the authority of ISraeli rabbinic courts. This is compounded by the inability of local courts to enforce their decisions regarding placing sanctions upon those who refuse to issue bills of divorce to their spouses in the diaspora.”
The Director of the Rabbinic Courts of Israel, Rabbi Shimon Yaakobi gave his thanks to all the organizations, individuals and elements that were instrumental in making this important governmental memo a reality. “This is a meaningful and necessary step for so many women around the world and will give them the support they need in their time of crisis. These women and men in similar situations will now be able to bring a close to a failed relationship and free them from their entrapment.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
I’m not a big fan of the government administered “Chief Rabbinate” but in the case of Agunos, where there are too many cases of simply abandoning women by batei din saying “there is nothing we can do”, having a centralized body with awareness of all the halachic tools available to give these women back their lives is probably a new positive.