In Rare Move, Rabbinical Court Sanctions Woman For Refusing Divorce

An Israeli rabbinical court has sanctioned a Jewish woman in a divorce case, prompting the Education Ministry to suspend her from her job as a teacher in the northern city of Haifa, Times of Israel reports.

The woman, who was not named, has declined to accept the religious bill of divorce, or get, for over eight years, according to a statement from the rabbinical courts on Wednesday. After a dayan made 285 separate rulings in the case, most of them related to the woman’s recalcitrance, the Haifa bais din in May 2017 approved a series of sanctions against the woman. Those went into effect in June 2018, the statement said.

The penalties — which were also approved by the Great Rabbinical Court’s president, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzchok Yosef — include a ban on leaving the country or receiving a passport, a suspension of her driver’s license, restrictions on her bank account, and the termination of her employment The court said Wednesday’s decision marked “the first time in the history of the rabbinical courts” that its sanction power was being directed against a female divorce-refuser, but although such moves are indeed rare, it was not unprecedented. The Haifa rabbinical court also threatened to release the woman’s name, levy fines against her, and even imprison her if she does not approve the divorce in the coming weeks, TOI reports.

{Matzav.com Israel}