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Proposed ketubah addendum would annul marriage if you refuse divorce By Anshel Pfeffer A select group of rabbis and Jewish theologians attended a clandestine gathering at Britain's Manchester University some 10 days ago, to begin formulating solutions to the phenomenon of women denied a Jewish bill of divorce. Participants included Rabbi Shlomo Daichovsky, the most veteran judge at the rabbinic High Court in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, chief rabbi of Haifa and a member of the Rabbinate's supreme council. Advertisement The preferred proposal at the meeting was to draft an addendum to the ketubah, or Jewish marriage contract, that would make it possible to annul the marriage if a spouse is refused a divorce. Womens' organizations say there are thousands of women and several hundred men in Israel who have been denied a get. According to Jewish law and the practice of rabbinic courts, if a husband refuses to grant his wife a divorce, she remains an agunah (literally anchored, or chained), and cannot remarry. Manchester University Centre for Jewish Studies has an Agunah Research Unit, headed by Prof. Bernard Jackson, which is trying to frame solutions that will be compatible with Orthodox law on get denial. Two weeks ago the center hosted rabbis and scholars, all Orthodox, to examine a series of solutions. The conference was not publicized, and all of the discussions were closed to the public. "We maintained secrecy to enable everyone, the rabbis too, to express themselves freely," one participant said. Besides rabbis Daichovsky and Cohen, veteran senior members of the rabbinic establishment in Israel, the meeting was attended by Efrat's Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Rabbi Michael J. Broyde, a member of the Rabbinical Council of America, and others. Among the alternatives considered during two days of concentrated discussions were granting rabbinic courts the authority to expropriate the marriage contract on which the marriage ceremony rests, and introducing civil marriage. But those proposals were deemed too bold, and incapable of securing rabbinic establishment consent. Another idea floated was to employ pre-nuptial agreements, a proposal raised in the past in Israel. The pre-nup makes it possible to levy a fine on a husband for every day he refuses to grant his wife a divorce, and it is already in broad use in Orthodox communities in America. In Israel the ultra-Orthodox rabbis opposed introducing it. The proposal that won the most support is to make the marriage ceremony "probationary" by means of an addendum to the ketubah. The addendum would stipulate that if the couple separates and one spouse refuses to grant the other a divorce, the marriage would be annuled after a period of time determined in advance. This is already the custom among French Jews, but many rabbis objected to it. Now, the colloquium participants believe, there is a chance of persuading the rabbinic establishment to accept such a solution. Jackson's Agunah Research Unit in Manchester will spend the coming months drafting the addendum to the ketubah, after which it will be submitted to the biggest rabbis with the hope they will endorse its use. "It's only at an early stage," one of the participants said, "but the participation of senior rabbis like Daichovsky in such a proceeding provides hope it will succeed." Daichovsky confirmed that he attended the gathering, but dampened hopes of a speedy revolution. "I did not propose anything, only commented on proposals others raised," he said. "It was merely a brainstorming session, and we did not reach any decisions. I think we are perhaps laying the foundations for solutions in future generations." Bookmark to del.icio.us   New bestsellers Three children's books about the US presidential race to be published soon. False accusation Pentagon admits it wrongly accused Jewish army engineer of spying for Israel.

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