YN: In response to the growing concerns about Agunot and the pressing need for international cooperation, Israel Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has invited 50 leading Rabbis and the heads of the Batei Din (Rabbinical Courts) of 15 countries to a closed-door conference in November.This first Conference of the Global Rabbinic Task Force on Agunot is being organized by the Israel Rabbinical Courts in conjunction with the International Council of Jewish Women (ICJW), which represents 52 Jewish women�s organizations around the world.

As President of the Rabbinical Courts in Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Amar takes the problem of Agunot very seriously and is keen to work with Rabbis from around the world to coordinate solutions to help women who are, according to Jewish law, unable to remarry. The two-day conference will discuss how halacha (Jewish law) deals with Agunot, and financial, religious and economic sanctions that can be imposed on recalcitrant husbands, including international cooperation towards the issuing of arrest warrants by Israel�s civil courts.