Marriage and Divorce Laws
Further information: Marriage in IsraelSince the establishment of the state, Israeli law gives jurisdiction for matters of personal status, including marriage and divorce, to the rabbinical courts. In these courts, which operate according to halakha (Torah law), a Jewish woman is allowed to initiate divorce proceedings, but her husband must give his consent to make the divorce final. If the husband disappears or refuses to grant the divorce, the wife is considered an "agunah" (lit. "chained woman") and may not remarry or give birth to halakhically legitimate children. Rabbinical tribunals may, and sometimes do, sanction a husband who refused divorce, but still do not grant a divorce without his consent.
A Muslim woman may petition for and receive a divorce through the Sharia courts without her husband's consent under certain conditions, and a marriage contract may provide for other circumstances in which she may obtain a divorce without her husband's consent. A Muslim man may divorce his wife without her consent and without petitioning the court.
Christians may seek official separations or divorces, depending on the denomination, through ecclesiastical courts.
Read more about this topic: Israeli Women
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and, marriage, divorce and/or laws:
“I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.”
—Gloria Steinem (b. 1934)
“Women hope men will change after marriage but they don’t; men hope women won’t change but they do.”
—Bettina Arndt (20th century)
“Ever since you came back from Tibet I’ve had a feeling you were planning to divorce me and marry a laboratory.”
—John Colton (1886–1946)
“At present the globe goes with a shattered constitution in its orbit.... No doubt the simple powers of nature, properly directed by man, would make it healthy and a paradise; as the laws of man’s own constitution but wait to be obeyed, to restore him to health and happiness.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)