By Susan Weiss
Published in the Times of Israel Blogs
SEP 28, 2022, 8:24 PM
In a recent case hailed as a victory for the plight of the agunah, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the Rabbinate to declare whether it’s ok to delay the Israeli burial of a foreign national. The Rabbinate said “yes.”
The case involves a woman from New York whose ex-husband has been refusing to give her a get, a Jewish divorce. The woman has a civil divorce, as well as a halachic annulment from the International Beit Din. But she wants a get from the RCA, the Rabbinic Council of America. Her ex refuses, insisting that she submit all matters relating to their marital property to a rehearing in a different US-based beit din. In order to pressure her ex into agreeing to a get without any strings attached, the woman has appealed to Israeli courts, requesting that Israel refuse to bury her ailing ex-father-in-law. The Rabbinate agreed.
Great Decision. Right? A victory for women?
No. Not really. It may eventually help our NY agunah, assuming all Israeli institutions and actors fall in line with the Rabbinate’s declaration, but such targeted and limited relief comes at the expense of the rest of us. It embroils Israel deeper and deeper into human rights violations; it forces Israel to compromise on the international rules of reciprocity and due process; and it pushes all of us Jewish women further away from achieving a systemic solution to the problem of marital captivity (aginut).
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