The bill would deprive recalcitrant husbands sentenced by the religious courts to prison over get refusal of all special religious accommodations in prison. These men would no longer be allowed to serve their time in a prison’s yeshiva wing or receive special mehadrin (glatt kosher, as opposed to regular kosher) meals.
Bill To Stop Imprisoned Get-Refusers From Serving Time In Yeshiva Prison Passes First Knesset Reading
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A bill to amend the Rabbinical Courts Law to impose new sanctions on imprisoned recalcitrant husbands who refuse to grant their wives a religious divorce known as a get passed its first Knesset reading yesterday, Ynet reported.
The amendment would deprive recalcitrant husbands sentenced by the religious courts to prison over get refusal of all special religious accommodations in prison. These men would no longer be allowed to serve their time in a prison’s yeshiva wing or receive special mehadrin (glatt kosher, as opposed to regular kosher) meals.
On top of those specific restrictions of special religious accommodations, the bill also would stop such inmates from making phone calls to anyone other than immediate family or their attorneys.
"The existing law does not provide a solution to cases in which the divorce recalcitrant persists in his refusal to divorce his wife even after being imprisoned. Experience shows that divorce recalcitrants are prepared to stay in prison for a long time, leaving many women chained to their marriage,” the bill’s proposal says.
"In such cases, all the tools the law currently has (a stay of exit order, revocation of the person's driver's license, confiscation of pension funds, etc), which violate the rights of a free person, are ineffective when the divorce recalcitrant is in jail,” the proposal continues.
MK Rabbi Dov Lipman of the largely secular centrist Yesh Atid Party and several other lawmakers sponsored the bill.
"Our goal is that there will be no agunot (women chained to their marriage) in the State of Israel, and we have the tools to fulfill that. People who fail to obey a rabbinical court's ruling must not be allowed to reside in a prison's religious section, claiming they are religious,” Lipman reportedly said.
The bill passed its first reading 39-0. It now will be sent to the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee for approval before it returns to the floor of the Knesset for its second and third votes. If it passes those, it would become law.