I was talking to a friend once, a woman who’s been married for a few years, and she said, “There will be times when you’ll think to yourself, ‘Why did I marry him? Did I make a terrible mistake?’ And that’s okay.” Out of relief, out of gratitude for her speaking so honestly, out of…
I cannot fathom the idea of working on a problem for 40 years. And yet, there is a whole group of Jewish women — and a handful of men — who have been doing just that. These are the agunah activists, some of whom have been fighting to find solutions for agunot — women trapped…
To get married in Israel, Dima Motel had to bring his family photo album and two of his ancestors’ birth certificates to a rabbinical court. Then an investigator quizzed his mother in Yiddish. Israel’s Chief Rabbinate often asks Russian immigrants like Motel to prove that they’re Jewish, sometimes requiring documentary evidence that can be hard…
The National Council of Jewish Women called on the Jewish state to create a system of civil marriage and divorce in what was seen as a landmark move. “The monopoly of authority given to Orthodox rabbinical courts in Israel regarding issues of personal status, particularly marriage, weakens rather than strengthens the state itself by causing…
Hollywood couple Diane Lane and Josh Brolin are divorcing after more than eight years, their representatives said on Thursday. “I can confirm Diane Lane and Josh Brolin have decided to end their marriage,” said Lane’s spokeswoman, Kelly Bush. A source close to the couple termed the split as “amicable” and said it was a mutual…
For the first time, a state court has affirmed the constitutionality of a Modern Orthodox-sponsored prenuptial agreement meant to protect agunot — Jewish women “chained” by husbands who refuse to grant them a religious divorce. The agunah in this case, Rachel Light, may even be eligible to demand more than $100,000 from her husband under…
A British judge reportedly has accepted a U.S. rabbinical court’s ruling in a dispute between a haredi Orthodox man and his ex-wife. A judge of the London-based High Court of Justice last month adopted the rulings of a New York Beth Din on a case involving a British haredi Orthodox man and woman, according to…
A new paper entitled “Does the Shape of Families Shape Faith?” from the Center for Marriage and Families looks at the spiritual life of children of divorce as adults. It found that those whose parents split are less likely to feel religious or act religiously as adults than those whose parents stayed married. The report…
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