Orthodox Rabbis Want Couples To Sign Pre-Nup
An Orthodox rabbinic group is requiring its members to use a prenuptial agreement in the weddings in which they participate.
According to a resolution passed by The International Rabbinic Fellowship, its member rabbis may not officiate at or participate ritually in a wedding ceremony in which the man and woman have not signed a halachic prenuptial stating that if the marriage dissolves, they will agree to a Jewish divorce.
That means the husband must give his wife a get, a Jewish divorce decree, and the woman must accept it.
The resolution is an effort to prevent future agunot, or chained women, whose husbands have refused to give them a get, said the rabbinical group’s president, Rabbi Joel Tessler.
Agunot may not remarry in a Jewish ceremony.
“We’re the only rabbinic organization that demands from all of its members that they can only officiate in a wedding if the couple has agreed and signed a prenup before the wedding,” Tessler told JTA. “There will be a process of censure for any rabbi in the IRF that participates in a wedding without these guidelines.”
The rabbinical group, which represents 150 Modern Orthodox rabbis, has not yet decided what that process will be.
Tessler acknowledged that the resolution does not help current agunot or women who already are married and may later divorce.
The resolution was passed last week during the group’s annual conference in New York City.
A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren
We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.
With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.
— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief
