Rabbi David Lau, Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, announced on Monday that he would be establishing a special rabbinical court to tackle the challenge of religious divorce during the Israel-Hamas war.
Jewish religious law, Halacha, has strict requirements for divorce some of which cannot be met during a war, this leaves many women who lost husbands in the war in a status called aguna (chained or anchored).
Because their husband has gone to battle and his whereabouts are currently unknown he cannot give the woman a divorce.
Under Halacha, a man is required to give his wife a get, a document which finalizes the divorce, without a get the woman is unable to get remarried and any children she might have with another man would become a mamzer (bastard). Men have no such restrictions.
Special conditions for divorce
Under certain circumstances, a woman can receive a posek, a religious ruling, granting her a divorce. This ruling must be based on evidence the man is dead and there is no evidence he is alive.
Rabbinical courts are often reluctant to grant divorces without a get.
The Rabbinate announced that the establishment of the special court was due to many families bringing cases arising from the war that could not be easily tackled.
The court will be composed of three judges Rabbi Lau, Rabbi Eliezer Igra, and Rabbi Zvi Ben-Yaakov.
The director of all Rabbinical courts, Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, announced that all cases relating to the war be referred directly to the special court.
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