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DEBRA NUSSBAUM-COHEN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

New York

A

group of influential
Orthodox rabbis has
thrown its weight behind
prenuptial agreements in an
effort to persuade more young couples
to sign such documents before they
marry.
Eleven roshei yeshiva, or senior pro-
fessors of Talmud, at the rabbinical
school of Yeshiva University, have
signed on to a statement urging
greater use of pre-marriage
agreements as "a critical step in
purging our community of the
distressful problem of the mod-
ern-day Aguna," or women
"chained" to dead marriages by
husbands who refuse to give
them a religious divorce.
The prenuptial agreement, widely
endorsed by centrist Orthodox
authorities in 1994, commits a hus-
band and wife to seek arbitration
from a beit din, or religious court, or
in the event that they want to dis-
solve their marriage, and fines the
husband a significant amount —
usually $100 — for each day that he
refuses to go.
The rising rate of divorce and the
growing number of cases in which
husbands withhold the get, or Jewish
divorce, as a bartering chip sparked
the need for the development of the
prenuptial agreement. Now the rabbis'
statement says, there is a need for its
wider implementation.
"We are painfully aware of the
problems faced by individuals tied to
undesired marriages. Many of these
problems could have been avoided
had the couple signed a halachically
and legally valid prenuptial agreement
at the time of their marriage," they
wrote -in their statement, which was
first developed at-a December 1999
conference.
Orthodox feminist leader Blu
Greenberg welcomed the statement.
While these Orthodox rabbis
haven't publicly articulated the seri-
ousness of the aguna issue before,
maybe in the hope that the prob-

lem would go away or because it was
an embarrassment, moving this on to
the communal leadership agenda is
an important step forward," said
Greenberg, president of the Jewish
Orthodox Feminist Alliance.
The prenuptial agreement is
already being widely used, according
to Rabbi Robert Hirt, a vice presi-
dent of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan
TheologiCal Seminary at Yeshiva
University.
The roshei yeshiva hesitated to
endorse the agreement earlier because

From the pages of the Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.

Orthodox Rabbinical Council of
America were surveyed a couple of
years ago, Hirt said, and about 40
percent said that they used the
prenuptial agreement. A small
minority of Orthodox rabbis
requires that it be signed before offi-
ciating at a wedding.
Greenberg urged the rabbis to go
further in addressing the issue of
agunot.
"A priority should be to find a
halachic way to eliminate the suffering
and the injustice," she said. ❑

Orthodox prenuptials would save couples
t om future grief rabbis say.

"

they weren't sure how it
would be accepted and
wanted to gauge its
public use. "In
halacha, there's a
rule that an enact-
ment that cannot
meet with the
acceptance of the
community will
not necessarily
stand," Hirt said.
"With the
passage of time,
we've seen a
receptivity on
the part of fac-
ulty, parents
and young cou-
ples, and now
there's a desire to
accelerate its
use.
Members
of the

Yeshiva Beth Yehuda girls' school and
pre-school program will be moving
to the former Congregation B'nai
Moshe building in Oak Park.
The Detroit Jewish Community
Center varsity basketball team took
fifth place in the JCC Midwest
Boys Basketball Tournament.

Israeli soldier-statesman Yigal Allon
died.
The first Israeli embassy in an Arab
country was opened in Cairo, Egypt.
Restaurateur Irving Guttman
was honored as Man of the Year by
Einstein Lodge of B'nai B'rith.

A'oliAWitrOMIT4-1NIAP.
Dick Edwards, a black journalist
fromthe New York Amsterdam
News, wrote from Israel recom-
mending Israel's kibbutz way of life
as an example for the black com-
munity in America.
Mrs. Paul Mittleman and Mrs.
Robert Sosnick were co-chairs of
Young Israel of Greenfield's first art
auction.

\.,"4,* •

An exhibition of the contributions
by Jewish doctors in America went
on display at the B'nai B'rith
Building in Washington, D.C.
Harry Shulman, president of the
local Moies Chetim Organization
issued an appeal for assistance for
Passover.
Mrs. Albert Rosenblum of
Huntington Woods has been
appointed chairman of the Southern
Oakland County Committee of the
Jewish Community Council.

"

Blu
Greenberg

Former Detroiter Sammy
Reshevsky, one of the world's fore-
most chess players, played an exhi-
bition with 40 players at the Detroit
Edison Company auditorium.

— Compiled by Sy Manello,
Editorial Assistant

IN

3/3

2000

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