The Chained Women: When Religion and the State Intersect :: Free Essays Online

The Chained Women: When Religion and the State Intersect When Israel was conceived as a Jewish state, questions arose over the division between the religious and the secular. Judaism is grounded in halakha, a detailed set of laws which guides observant Jews, but debate continues over whether Israel should adopt these religious laws to govern a largely secular population. Contradictions exist between the ancient laws and modern ideals, especially regarding women’s rights. Most developed states strive to enact laws that treat men and women fairly, but in Israel, where the rabbinical courts still adhere to ancient Jewish law, women’s rights suffer. Divorce laws in particular give men excessive power over their wives, resulting in large numbers of women being denied their basic human right to marriage and family. According to halakhic law, a marriage can only be terminated in two ways: the death of a spouse, or the giving of a get. A get is a formal statement of divorce which can only be granted by the husband to his wife, and he can refuse to give a get indefinitely. Until a get is both given and accepted, the wife remains an agunah, a chained woman. She cannot remarry, and any child born to an agunah becomes a mamzer, a bastard child (Haut 17). A husband who withholds a get is guilty of violating Article Sixteen of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the right to marriage and family), but is not violating halakhic law and has the support of the rabbinical courts in Israel. Usually giving and accepting a get is a routine part of divorce proceedings in Israel, but a get is sometimes used as a bargaining tool during a divorce. A man can refuse to release a â€Å"chained woman† until he receives a divorce settlement he prefers. If she refuses to accept an unfair or demeaning settlement, then she remains an agunah. According to the Israel Women’s Network, â€Å"estimates of the number of ‘anchored’ women in Israel today vary, the rabbinate claiming that there are ‘only’ some 500, while women’s organizations claim that there are thousands† (IWN).