Total Divorce Blog

A Maryland divorce bill would strive to put Orthodox Jewish women on an equal plane with their husbands during divorce proceedings, according to an interesting story in the Baltimore Sun. In order for a divorce to occur under Jewish law, a man must grant his wife a divorce decree, or get, the Baltimore Sun story explains. If an Orthodox Jewish woman does not get this divorce decree from her husband, she is considered an agunah or “chained woman” and is unable to remarry within the faith. According to the Maryland divorce bill proposed by House Delegate Samuel I. Rosenberg, Orthodox Jewish men filing for or contesting a divorce would have to file an affidavit acknowledging that they have removed all religious barriers to remarriage within their power.

According to Rosenberg and proponents of this Maryland divorce bill, many Orthodox Jewish men use this power to make favorable child custody and visitation requests and even demand money from the wife’s family during divorce negotiations. Other proponents of this Maryland divorce bill say that such power puts abused Orthodox Jewish women in the unfavorable position of having to abandon their faith in order to protect themselves and their children from dangerous situations.

Rosenberg offered a similar Maryland divorce bill for Orthodox Jews in the late 1990s, according to the story. However, that bill failed. Opponents to the current Maryland divorce bill have wondered whether such legislation would be a clear instance of the government overstepping its bounds and contradicting specific religious tenants and laws. However, a similar New York divorce bill was passed in the eighties, and it has yet to be challenged on constitutional grounds, according to the story.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 11:07 am and is filed under Divorce Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.