Increasing Interest In ‘Halachic Pre-Nup,’ Rabbinical Group Says
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
JERUSALEM (JTA) — In honor of the “Jewish day of love,” Tu B’Av, the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization reports that there is increasing public interest in its halachic prenuptial agreement.
The Heskem B’Ahava, or Agreement of Love, was introduced in 2015 in order to prevent legal and halachic, or Jewish legal obstacles in the event of the dissolution of a marriage.
Nearly 2,000 couples have signed the Agreement of Love contract before their weddings since its launch, with many more inquiring about it in recent months.
Tzohar hopes to make the agreement standard practice ahead of all Jewish weddings in the hopes of avoiding such issues as agunot, or trapped wives. The agreement was drafted by both rabbinical and legal scholars to address cases of “get refusal” where one spouse refuses to allow the other to be removed from the marriage, often demanding large sums of money or child custody in exchange for allowing the spouse out of the marriage.
“Every couple who goes under the chuppah deserves to play a part in addressing the growing problem of people trapped by their spouses because of the absence of these types of agreements,” said Rabbi Uri Ganzel, director of the Heskem B’Ahava (Agreement of Love) Program, in a statement. “So by signing on, a couple is able to help make this process more mainstream and combat that trend with the hope that it will one day be completely eradicated from our society.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
