The haredi-controlled official state Jerusalem Rabbinical Court ruled earlier this month that a haredi man does not have to pay his ex-wife child support for their two daughters because his ex-wife is no longer Orthodox and blocked her from seeing her sons.
Official Haredi-Controlled State Rabbinical Court Blocks Mother From Seeing Her Children Because She Is Now Secular
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The haredi-controlled official state Jerusalem Rabbinical Court ruled earlier this month that a haredi man does not have to pay his ex-wife 1,350 shekels ($350) in child support for their two daughters because his ex-wife is no longer Orthodox, Ha’aretz reported based on a report in Walla! News.
The man – who is a haredi ba’al teshuva – reportedly asked to be exempted because "he does not want to fund [his daughters’] secular lifestyle.”
He also asserts the 2010 divorce agreement between him and his ex-wife stipulated that the children would be educated in Orthodox schools and would live a lifestyle that follows halakha (Orthodox Jewish law).
The haredi rabbi-judges reportedly gave no explanation for their ruling. They did, however, rely on the man’s claim that his ex-wife "chose to violate the divorce agreement and raise [their] daughters in a lifestyle identical to hers" – i.e., a secular lifestyle.
The girls are 17-years-old and 12-years-old.
The couple also has three sons, all of whom live with their father.
Two of those boys are still minors, and the haredi-controlled rabbinical court reportedly also ruled that their mother may not see them because she is secular.