New law to deny ‘get’ refusers religious privileges in jail

Orthodox men jailed for refusing to grant their wives a religious bill of divorce may now find themselves stripped of religious privileges in prison, according to a new law advanced by the Knesset today.

According to the law, proposed by Jewish Home MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, rabbinical courts may now sanction prisoners, forcing them to wear prison uniforms instead of their own clothes and barring them from the special Torah study program in Israeli jails.

The rabbinical courts may also deny them special kosher food with a “mehadrin” certification.

For inmates in solitary confinement, the rabbinical courts are granted the authority to deny them any writing or reading materials, apart from a prayer book, and see to it they may not access any forms of communication.

The sanctions are designed to pressure the men to grant their wives a divorce, or get, without which their wives may not remarry according to Jewish law.

— Marissa Newman