The relationship between Israel’s state-sponsored rabbinical courts and
Israeli women’s organizations reportedly reached a new low this week
after a judge from the city of Netanya’s rabbinical court abruptly
canceled his participation in the annual conference of Bar Ilan
University’s Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of
Women's Status. Rabbi Yair Ben-Menachem was allegedly ordered by Israel’s state-sponsored
haredi-controled chief rabbinate, which runs the state’s rabbinical
courts, to boycott the conference due to what it considers to be an
assault on the rabbinical court system by women’s groups.
Chief Rabbinate Allegedly Orders Rabbinic Judge To Boycott Leading Women’s Conference
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The relationship between Israel’s state-sponsored rabbinical courts and Israeli women’s organizations reportedly reached a new low this week after a judge from the city of Netanya’s rabbinical court abruptly canceled his participation in the annual conference of Bar Ilan University Law School’s Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women's Status, Ynet reported. Bar Illan is a Zionist Orthodox university, and many faculty members are Zionsit Orthodox; some are haredi.
Center officials reportedly say that they have reason to believe that Rabbi Yair Ben-Menachem was ordered by Israel’s state-sponsored haredi-controled chief rabbinate, which runs the state’s rabbinical courts, to boycott the conference due to what it considers to be an assault on the rabbinical court system by women’s groups like the Rackman Center which are upset by the courts’ treatment of women in divorce cases. Because of a loophole in Jewish law and the rabbinical courts reluctance to close it, women can suffer for years or even decades in limbo, forbidden to marry or have children, while their husbands take lovers and live normal lives. Women and their families are often extorted by these husbands and compelled to give up custody of children, alimony and ownership of communal property in order to be granted a divorce.
As a result, the Rackman Center and other women’s groups are lobbying to have a woman appointed as administrator of the rabbinical courts and many would eventually would like to have women appointed as rabbinical court judges, as well.