How is CWJ different from other organizations that help agunot?CWJ’s main goal is to figure out ways to prevent the problem of the agunah from ever happening. We take cases that we hope will change the way our courts, our rabbis, and our communities deal with the problem of the agunah. Each case that we take to the family court, the rabbinic court, or to the Supreme Court is with an eye to the possible precedent that may result from such representation.
For example, we sue husbands in the family courts for damages for get refusal to create precedents for using torts to inhibit the misuse of the get in the divorce process. We sue to dismiss divorce contracts signed under duress to prevent future extortion of women who are desperate to receive a get. We represent women who want to sue the government because of the judicial mishandling of their divorce cases in the hope that this will improve judicial practices in the bet din. We represent women who want to clear their children of the stigma of mamzer . Most organizations that provide legal services to the agunah offer legal-aid which focuses on making our courts work more efficiently on behalf of the goals of individual women.
We are always pleased when our activity helps an individual women, but our main goal is to set important principles that will have an impact on women as a group, and on the general Jewish public.As “vanguard (front-line) cause-lawyers” CWJ wants to change how our courts work and how they think about "justice."
Does CWJ support civil marriage for Israeli Jews?
CWJ’s goal is to enable the Jews who marry under the hupah to do so without compromising their civil liberties. CWJ’s main goal is to make Jewish marriages user-friendly and just. We want our tradition to be a living tradition.
We are currently examining suggestions made by such thinkers as Prof. Pinhas Schiffman and Dr. Ariel Picard regarding civil marriage as a possible solution to the problem of Jewish women and divorce. |
What’s CWJ’s solution for agunot?
CWJ believes that there are many ways to solve the problem of Jewish women and divorce within the rubric of Jewish law.
Women can sign prenuptial agreementsthat appoint an agent who will give the get instead of their husbands and void the marriage if the parties are living apart (See Contract for a Just Marriage). Women can insist on changing the marriage ceremony so that it’s no longer based on the notion of kinyan.
Religious courts can declare a marriage overthrough several mechanisms that have been suggested in the halakhic literature and invoked in the past (hafkaah) (mekah taut).
Religious courts can apply penalties against recalcitrant husbandsto pressure them into giving their wives a get (on the basis of prenups signed, or on the basis of expanded grounds for divorce).
CWJ encourages Jewish communities and their leaders to adopt comprehensive solutions that will protect women from becoming victims of get refusal in the first instance. Until such time, we insist that our
civil courts condemn and hold husbands responsible for the damage caused when they exploit the power given them under religious lawsto infringe on the personal autonomy and freedom of their wives. |