Women's rights are at risk under Israel's 37th government. The coalition agreements signed between the governing parties include provisions that threaten women's rights, including the expansion of the power of the Rabbinical Courts. According to the coalition agreements, the new government will pass legislation in which any case where both parties consent will be able to be tried by the rabbinical court.
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Essentially, this will create two separate legal systems in Israel, one of which is governed by the laws of the Knesset and one which is in the hands of Ultra-Orthodox rabbinical judges (who are exclusively men). Currently, the Ultra-Orthodox rabbinate and rabbinical courts have absolute jurisdiction over every Jewish marriage, divorce, and conversion. This means that these crucial life cycle events must take place in accordance with an interpretation of Jewish law (Halachah) that generally favors the rights and desires of men over those of women. Already this system has empowered the abuse of women. The abuse currently allowed under the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts is most clear in the realm of divorce. According to Halachah, a divorce is only legal if a man freely and willingly grants his wife a bill of divorce. Until a man gives his wife a bill of divorce, she has no choice but to remain married to him.
There are several halachic solutions to this problem, but they are not recognized by the ultra-Orthodox rabbinate that controls the Israeli rabbinical courts. Under this current system, approximately one in five Israeli women are unable to get a divorce meaning they are
trapped, sometimes for decades, in unwanted and abusive marriages.
Under the coalition agreements, the patriarchal interpretation of Halacha, which today is confined to the jurisdiction of family matters, will be expanded to include any matter in which both parties consent to be tried before the rabbinical court. This is alarming primarily because the Israeli government is essentially signing off on the use of an ultra-Orthodox interpretation of Halachah to arbitrate
non-family matters (depending on which coalition agreement makes it into law), an interpretation of Halachah that has already been proven to be problematic for women in the realm of marriage and divorce.
While women's equal rights are explicitly protected under Israeli law since 1951, there is no such legal assurance of equal treatment under Halachah. For example, while women can appear as witnesses in secular Israeli courts, women are not permitted to serve as witnesses in rabbinical courts. Although women clearly inherit property under Israeli secular law, women's inheritance of property is complex under Halachah and not assured.
In regards to labor laws, under secular law, any person who works for another person is entitled to a salary, including women who work for their husbands. However, according to an ultra-Orthodox interpretation of Halachah, a wife's labor belongs to her husband and he is only required to give her as much money as he thinks she needs to fulfill her basic needs. If this legislation passes, it could be up to the discretion of individual rabbinic judges to decide whether or not a husband is required to compensate his wife for her labor. There are many tools within Halachah to ensure that women are treated equally under the law but they are unlikely to be used given the past decisions of most of these rabbinical judges.
The expansion of the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts won't be relevant for everyone, because according to the language of the coalition agreements, all parties have to consent in order for non-family matters to appear before the rabbinical courts. However, it is likely that for those within religious communities, and especially within the ultra-Orthodox community, those who refuse to agree to have non-family matters tried by the rabbinical courts will be ostracized from within their communities. This is especially dangerous for those who are already disempowered within these communities, namely women and especially young women.
The expansion of the power of the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical courts in the fashion proposed in the coalition agreements is progress in the wrong direction, pulling the state back into a time where women were viewed not as equal beings under the law, but as inferior. Jewish law is not inherently sexist, there are plenty of rabbis and traditions of legal interpretation that value women's rights. The interpretation of Halachah in the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical courts is not one of these traditions.
Therefore, the state's explicit support of their interpretation of Halachah, and the new government's plan to expand the jurisdiction of the rabbinical courts should alarm anyone who cares about equality and justice and who believes that the rights of women should be valued in both theory and practice.
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