- Israel's High Rabbinical Court -- the country's highest
authority on personal status -- has made halachic history by jailing for
one year a woman who refused to accept a get (bill of divorce) from her
husband. In a precedent-setting ruling, Rabbi Shlomo Dichovski wrote for
the court that it was exercising its authority in this matter for the first
time because married life for this couple (both in their fifties) was "long
since dead," they detest each other, and the wife was holding her
husband hostage in the hope of extorting $300,000.
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- The rabbis found that "affirmative action"
legislation passed by the Knesset in this regard discriminated against
husbands who refuse to divorce their wives, in favor of women who do the
same. Rabbi Dichovsky, who is well-regarded by womens' rights organizations,
noted that the rabbinical courts had done much to liberate women from untenable
marriages "but it must be remembered that men have rights also."
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- The sentence sending the woman to jail for a year or
until she accepts the divorce must yet be approved by the President of
the High Rabbinical Court, Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
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- The husband's lawyer, attorney Avner Singer, said the
ruling was a step forward. "Recalcitrant wives should take warning."
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- http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=5666
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