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It's Hebrew for "chained" woman. It's when a man refuses to grant his wife a Jewish divorce (Get). These women can't remarry Jewish, but they can report it to the Jewish Authorities. If the man STILL refuses, he can be expelled from the Jewish Community.
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What is a sentence using the word agunah?
She is an agunah because her husband refused to grant her a Jewish divorce.
What is the Jewish Conservative Movement's position on agunah?
The Lieberman Clause
What has the author Chaim Grade written?
Chaim Grade has written: 'The agunah'
If a Jewish marriage doesn't work out how do you protect yourself from becoming an agunah?
You need to call the Jewish Authorities to ask for help.
What is the Lieberman Clause in a Jewish divorce?
It's a clause for the Conservative Jewish GET. It forces the husband to grant his wife a Jewish divorce, protected the wife from becoming an agunah (chained wife).
Why would some Jewish men refuse to give their wives a Get?
For the answer below, note that the word "Agunah" refers to a woman who is bound to her husband because of her inability to get a "Get". A "Get" is a bill of divorce in Jewish law. There is a general problem in some religious Jewish circles concerning Agunahs. Now, the need to get a Get is waived if the husband is known to be dead. However, if the woman only believes that the husband is dead, it is hard for her to have the Get waived because it is still possible that he lives. This was a big issue post-Holocaust when many Agunahs did not know for certain whether or not her husband had been murdered by the Nazis. In terms of men that an Agunah can find and request a Get, there are two main categories of "refusal". One is when the husband is in some way debilitated and unable to provide the Get, i.e. he is in a coma. However, abandoning a husband because of a medical condition is very poor form and many Rabbis will not cerify a waiver of a Get in those cases, creating a de facto refusal from the husband. The other is when the husband is just spiteful. Jews, like all humans, are imperfect and some Jewish men want to burn the women in their lives. In some circumstances, an Agunah can bring a spiteful husband to a Beit Din or Jewish Court for the judge to compel the husband to provide a Get and allow the Agunah to remarry.
If a Jewish man refuses to grant his wife a Jewish divorce can the Jewish authorities get involved?
YES! Very much so. If a woman is not given her "get" she is known as an "agunah" (chained woman) as she is unable to re-marry religiously and the synagogue authority and community does everything in its power to force the man to grant her the Jewish divorce. The man can even be excommunicated and cast out of Judaism. Appeals are often made to the government in the Diasporah, and in Israel a man can face a jail sentence of hefty fines if he refuses to grant the woman her "get".
What are some criticisms of Judaism as a religion that are not purely Anti-Semitic like the blood libels are?
A number of major objections that people have towards Judaism are actually not what Jews believe but are based on Anti-Semitic publications like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion or Blood Libels. Actual issues with Jewish theology are often the same as those for Christianity when they are sourced in the Old Testament, but Judaism has its own issues that operate separate of Christianity and based in what Jews, specifically Orthodox Jews, believe:Judaism is claimed to be sexist, holding that women are responsible for maintaining a job, taking care of the kids, providing a roof, etc. and that men should be primarily studying Jewish Law that women should not study.Friendships for generations can fall to the wayside over what some would claim are minor matters. For example, if a Cohen marries a convert he loses his Cohen status and most of his friends will see that as a betrayal to "being a Cohen". Heresy can lead to Kherem or Excommunication, which results in the person losing all the community they could ever know. (Spinoza was a victim of Kherem, but he also had Christian friends in Amsterdam.)Insistence on traditions being valued for only being tradition. For example, Orthodox Jews will run water over their hands in the morning even though there is no textual reference in the Torah. The source for this is in the Talmud (Shabbat 108b).Avoiding contact with Non-Jews and, in many cases, Liberal Jews. They may avoid having conversations outside of work or build friendships with people outside of the community, except if there is (1) a likelihood that they could join the Orthodox Jewish world or (2) they may be able to confer some benefit to the Orthodox Jews (like political groups or ecumenicism).Poor education is a huge problem in the more Hasidic groups where Torah and Talmud are taught to the exclusion of useful subjects like math or science or secular history, resulting in people poorly equipped to fend for themselves if they were to ever leave the community. (This is not an issue with Modern Orthodox, since they value both a Jewish and Western education.)Divinely-Granted Real Estate in Israel and all that causes in terms of violence and ethnic/religious supremacism.Circumcision, Animal Slaughter Requirements, etc. to the extent that they violate Liberal understandings of human and animal cruelty.The issue of the Agunah, which is the idea that a Jewish husband can refuse to divorce his wife and she will be unable to conclude a divorce without his permission, making her effectively tied to him and unable to marry within the Jewish community.
What happened between Nikki Rouleau and her husband that it wound up in divorce?
9,114 divorces, and the divorce rate (number of divorces per 1,000 existing marriages) was 11.9 or 1.19%. In 2017, there were 8,001 divorces and the divorce rate (number of divorces per 1,000 existing marriages) was 8.4 or 0.84%. Attitudes toward divorce vary substantially across the world. Divorce is considered socially unacceptable by the majority of the population in certain Sub-Saharan African countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, South Asian countries like India and Pakistan and South-East Asian countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia. The majority of the population considers divorce to be acceptable in Eastern Europe, East Asia, Latin America and the United States. In developed regions such as Western Europe and Japan, more than 80% of the population considers divorce to be socially acceptable. Divorce is also widely accepted in certain Muslim majority countries such as Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon, at least when men initiate it. All U.S. states permit same-sex marriage. For same-sex couples in the United States, divorce law is in its infancy. Upon dissolution of a same-sex marriage, legal questions remain as to the rights of spouses to custody of the biological children of their spouses. Unresolved legal questions abound in this area.Child custody policies include several guidelines that determine with whom the child lives following divorce, how time is divided in joint custody situations, and visitation rights. The most frequently applied custody guideline is the best interests of the child standard, which takes into account the parents' preferences, the child's preferences, the interactions between parents and children, children's adjustment, and all family members' mental and physical health. In some countries (commonly in Europe and North America), the government defines and administers marriages and divorces. While ceremonies may be performed by religious officials on behalf of the state, a civil marriage and thus, civil divorce (without the involvement of a religion) is also possible. Due to differing standards and procedures, a couple can be legally unmarried, married, or divorced by the state's definition, but have a different status as defined by a religious order. Other countries use religious law to administer marriages and divorces, eliminating this distinction. In these cases, religious officials are generally responsible for interpretation and implementation. Islam allows, yet generally advises against divorce, and it can be initiated by either the husband or the wife.Dharmic religions allow divorce under some circumstances.Christian views on divorce vary: Catholic teaching allows only annulment, while most other denominations discourage it except in the event of adultery. For example, the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, in its 2014 Discipline, teaches: We believe that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman (Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor. 7:10; Eph. 5:22, 23). We deplore the evils of divorce and remarriage. We regard adultery as the only scripturally justifiable grounds for divorce; and the party guilty of adultery has by his or her act forfeited membership in the church. In the case of divorce for other cause, neither party shall be permitted to marry again during the lifetime of the other; and violation of this law shall be punished by expulsion from the church (Matt. 5:32; Mark 10:11, 12). In the carrying out of these principles, guilt shall be established in accordance with judicial procedures set forth in The Discipline. Jewish views of divorce differ, with Reform Judaism considering civil divorces adequate; Conservative and Orthodox Judaism, on the other hand, require that the husband grant his wife a divorce in the form of a get. The Millet System, where each religious group regulates its own marriages and divorces, is still present in varying degrees in some post−Ottoman countries like Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and Greece. Several countries use sharia (Islamic law) to administrate marriages and divorces for Muslims. Thus, Marriage in Israel is administered separately by each religious community (Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze), and there is no provision for interfaith marriages other than marrying in another country. For Jews, marriage and divorce are administered by Orthodox rabbis. Partners can file for divorce either in rabbinical court or Israeli civil court. According to a study published in the American Law and Economics Review, women have filed slightly more than two-thirds of divorce cases in the United States. This trend is mirrored in the UK where a recent study into web search behavior found that 70% of divorce inquiries were from women. These findings also correlate with the Office for National Statistics publication "Divorces in England and Wales 2012 which reported that divorce petitions from women outnumber those from men by 2 to 1. Regarding divorce settlements, according to the 2004 Grant Thornton survey in the UK, women obtained a better or considerably better settlement than men in 60% of cases. In 30% of cases the assets were split 50–50, and in only 10% of cases did men achieve better settlements (down from 24% the previous year). The report concluded that the percentage of shared residence orders would need to increase in order for more equitable financial divisions to become the norm.Some jurisdictions give unequal rights to men and women when filing for divorce.For couples to Conservative or Orthodox Jewish law (which by Israeli civil law includes all Jews in Israel), the husband must grant his wife a divorce through a document called a get. Granting the 'get' obligates him to pay the woman a significant sum of money(10,000-$20,000) as stated on the religious prenuptial contract, which can be in addition to whatever prior settlement he had reached as far as continuous child support and funds he had to pay by court order in the civil divorce. If the man refuses, (and agreeing on condition he won't have to pay the money is still called refusing), the woman can appeal to a court or the community to pressure the husband. A woman whose husband refuses to grant the get or a woman whose husband is missing without sufficient knowledge that he died, is called an agunah, is still married, and therefore cannot remarry. Under Orthodox law, children of an extramarital affair involving a married Jewish woman are considered mamzerim and cannot marry non-mamzerim. The ancient Athenians liberally allowed divorce, but the person requesting divorce had to submit the request to a magistrate, and the magistrate could determine whether the reasons given were sufficient. Divorce was rare in early Roman culture but as their empire grew in power and authority Roman civil law embraced the maxim, "matrimonia debent esse libera" ("marriages ought to be free"), and either husband or wife could renounce the marriage at will. The Christian emperors Constantine and Theodosius restricted the grounds for divorce to grave cause, but this was relaxed by Justinian in the 6th century. In post-classical Mali Laws on divorced women as well as their status were documented in the Timbuktu manuscripts. After the fall of the Roman Empire, familial life was regulated more by ecclesiastical authority than civil authority. The Catholic and Orthodox Church had, among others, a differing view of divorce. The Orthodox Church recognized that there are rare occasions when it is better that couples do separate. For the Orthodox, to say that marriage is indissoluble means that it should not be broken, the violation of such a union, perceived as holy, being an offense resulting from either adultery or the prolonged absence of one of the partners. Thus, permitting remarriage is an act of compassion of the Church towards sinful man.Under the influence of the Catholic Church, the divorce rate had been greatly reduced by the 9th or 10th century, which considered marriage a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ and indissoluble by mere human action.Although divorce, as known today, was generally prohibited in Catholic lands after the 10th century, separation of husband and wife and the annulment of marriage were well-known. What is today referred to as "separate maintenance" (or "legal separation") was termed "divorce a mensa et thoro" ("divorce from bed-and-board"). The husband and wife physically separated and were forbidden to live or cohabit together, but their marital relationship did not fully terminate. Civil courts had no power over marriage or divorce. The grounds for annulment were determined by a Catholic church authority and applied in ecclesiastical courts. Annulment was for canonical causes of impediment existing at the time of the marriage. "For in cases of total divorce, the marriage is declared null, as having been absolutely unlawful ab initio." The Catholic Church held that the sacrament of marriage produced one person from two, inseparable from each other: "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being of legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage or at least incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection and cover, she performs everything." Since husband and wife became one person upon marriage, recognition of that oneness could be rescinded only on the grounds that the unity never existed to begin with, i.e., that the proclamation of marriage was erroneous and void from the start. After the Reformation, marriage came to be considered a contract in the newly Protestant regions of Europe, and on that basis, civil authorities gradually asserted their power to decree a "divortium a vinculo matrimonii", or "divorce from all the bonds of marriage". Since no precedents existed defining the circumstances under which marriage could be dissolved, civil courts heavily relied on the previous determinations of the ecclesiastic courts and freely adopted the requirements set down by those courts. As the civil courts assumed the power to dissolve marriages, courts still strictly construed the circumstances under which they would grant a divorce, and considered divorce to be contrary to public policy. Because divorce was considered to be against the public interest, civil courts refused to grant a divorce if evidence revealed any hint of complicity between the husband and wife to divorce, or if they attempted to manufacture grounds for a divorce. Divorce was granted only because one party to the marriage had violated a sacred vow to the "innocent spouse". If both husband and wife were guilty
How is woman inheritance viewed in Judaism Christianity Islam?
Answer A: From Muslim perspective:* For purposes of clarity, there is no old testament in Islam. Islam has since its inception preached one word or rather one book which has never been edited.The Old Testament recognized no inheritance rights to widows. Accordingly, widows were among the most vulnerable of the Jewish population. The male relatives who inherited all of a woman's deceased husband's estate were to provide for her from that estate. However, widows had no way to ensure this provision was carried out, and lived on the mercy of others. Therefore, widows were among the lowest classes in ancient Israel and widowhood was considered a symbol of great degradation (Isaiah 54:4).However, the plight of a widow in the Biblical tradition extended even beyond her exclusion from her husband's property. According to Genesis 38, a childless widow must marry her husband's brother, even if he is already married, so that he can produce offspring for his dead brother, thus ensuring his brother's name will not die out. "Then Judah said to Onan, 'Lie with your brother's wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother' " (Genesis 38:8). The widow's consent to this marriage is not required. The widow is treated as part of her deceased husband's property whose main function is to ensure her husband's posterity. A childless widow in Israel is bequeathed to her husband's brother. If the brother is too young to marry, she has to wait until he comes of age. Should the deceased husband's brother refuse to marry her, she is set free and can then marry any man of her choice. It is not an uncommon phenomenon in Israel that widows are subjected to blackmail by their brothers-in-law in order to gain their freedom.The pagan Arabs before Islam had similar practices. A widow was considered a part of her husband's property to be inherited by his male heirs and she was, usually, given in marriage to the deceased man's eldest son from another wife.The Quran scathingly attacked and abolished this degrading custom: {And marry not women whom your fathers married--Except what is past-- it was shameful, odious, and abominable custom indeed} (Quran, chapter 4, verse 22). Widows and divorced women were so looked down upon in the Biblical tradition that the high priest could not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a prostitute: "The woman he (the high priest) marries must be a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, so he will not defile his offspring among his people" (Lev. 21:13-15)In Israel today, a descendant of the Cohen caste (the high priests of the days of the Temple) cannot marry a divorcee, a widow, or a prostitute. In the Jewish legislation, a woman who has been widowed three times with all the three husbands dying of natural causes is considered 'fatal' and forbidden to marry again.The Quran, on the other hand, recognizes neither castes nor fatal persons. Widows and divorcees have the freedom to marry whomever they choose. There is no stigma attached to divorce or widowhood in the Quran, [nor is there any attached to widowhood in the Bible]. {When you divorce women and they fulfil their terms [three menstruation periods] either take them back on equitable terms or set them free on equitable terms; But do not take them back to injure them or to take undue advantage, If anyone does that, he wrongs his own soul. Do not treat Allah's signs as a jest} [Quran, chapter 2, verse 231]. {If any of you die and leave widows behind, they shall wait four months and ten days. When they have fulfilled their term, there is no blame on you if they dispose of themselves in a just manner} [Quran, chapter 2, verse 234]. {Those of you who die and leave widows should bequeath for their widows a year's maintenance and residence. But if they [the widows] leave (the residence) there is no blame on you for what they justly do with themselves} [Quran, chapter 2, verse 240].Answer B: from Jewish perspective:The above comments about women in Judaism are completely wrong.1. In matters of inheritance, even in ancient times women could inherit the property of her husband. The only time that wouldn't happen would have been if she returned to her father's home and her father belonged to a different tribe from her husband. The reason for this is that land ownership was tribal based and land owned by one tribe couldn't be transferred to a different one. Tribe is determined by biological father but if a woman marries a man from a different tribe, she becomes a part of the husband's tribe. Of course, today there is no issue of tribal association with land.2. In regard to brothers marrying a deceased brother's wife where there were no children from that marriage. The brother was required to offer marriage to the widow but it was the widow's choice to accept the marriage proposal. If she refused the proposal, the marriage didn't happen. There is NO practice of blackmailing widows to marry a brother in modern Israel.3. There is no stigma attached to divorce and being a widow and never has been.4. There is no Israeli legislation that bans a woman who's been widowed 3 times from marrying again.Answer C: Comment on Answer BThe views in answer B are fully agreed upon as the current civil rights assured for women; whether Christians, Jewish, or any other religion followers. However, the sayings in answer A reflects the Jewish and Christian woman status; religiously; in time of Quran revelation to prophet Muhammad in the seventh century and how Islam teachings assured woman rights at that time and long before the countries woman right laws and UN human rights laws. We all agree that the current civil laws in Israel and in Euorope and other parts of the world assures human rights for woman as that for man. Answer D: Comment on Answer CAnswer C implies that the information provided in Answer B reflect only modern Judaism which is false. The information provided in Answer B reflects attitudes held in ancient Judaism going back over 3000 years. At no point in history were the claims made in Answer A about Judaism true.
