“Noefet” is the term that Jewish law uses to refer to a married woman accused of having a sexual relationship with a man outside of her marriage. Jewish law does not permit a noefet to remarry her divorced husband or to marry the man with whom she had a relationship during the marriage. There is no equivalent term for a husband who has sexual relations with a woman other than his wife. Under Jewish law, a husband who has had sexual relations with another woman is permitted to remarry his ex-wife, or to marry his paramour, without question or calumny of any sort.
Since Israel state imposes religious laws on its citizens with regard to marriage and divorce, state rabbinic courts will tag a woman as a noefet if her husband suspects that she had relations with another man. She will be placed on Israel’s state blacklist to prohibit her from marrying her companion or remarrying her ex-husband. Should she wish to marry her ex-husband or partner, or simply to clear her name, the state requires the noefet to undergo a trial to determine if she did, or did not, have sexual relations with the alleged partner during the marriage.
The state permits husband to marry their companions without question.
CWJ argues that the rule of noefet discriminates against women and that sex trials are an invasion of privacy. The rule of the noefet is best left for the religious communities that want to protect and adhere to such a rule.