Get Refusal in Israel: Rights and Remedies When a Spouse Refuses a Jewish Divorce

Of all the difficulties foreign nationals encounter in the Israeli legal system, get refusal stands in a category of its own. Other legal disputes can be resolved by a judge who applies a statute. This one cannot — because the validity of a Jewish divorce depends entirely on whether the husband gives the document of his own free will. Courts can pressure, sanction, and even imprison a recalcitrant husband. But if the get is obtained by pure coercion, many rabbinical authorities consider it invalid, and the wife remains stuck. It is an ancient legal problem with no clean modern solution.

Israel is the only country in the world with both a functioning civil legal system and rabbinical courts that hold exclusive jurisdiction over Jewish marriage and divorce. That dual structure creates both the problem — rabbinical courts bound by halachic rules that favour the husband's consent — and tools that civil courts elsewhere do not have. This guide explains those tools, how they interact, and what any wife facing get refusal in Israel should do.

1. What Is Get Refusal, and Who Does It Affect?

A get is the formal document of Jewish divorce. Under halachic law — which Israeli rabbinical courts apply — the get must be handed by the husband to the wife freely and without coercion. The wife cannot issue one herself. A civil divorce decree, whether Israeli or foreign, has no effect on the religious marital bond. The wife of a man who refuses to hand over the get remains, in Jewish law, a married woman.

The term for such a woman is agunah — literally "chained woman." She cannot remarry in any Jewish ceremony. If she has children with another man while halachically married, those children carry the stigma of mamzerut (illegitimacy) under Jewish law, which has historically affected their own right to marry within the Jewish community. The religious consequences extend across generations, which is why rabbinical and civil authorities treat get refusal as more than a private dispute between two people.

Get refusal is not rare. Estimates from the Rabbinical Courts Administration suggest that at any given time, several hundred women in Israel are classified as agunot or mesuravot get (refused a get) in active Rabbinical Court proceedings. The actual number is higher, because many women give up before reaching that formal status.

Couples who married in Israel under a Jewish ceremony are automatically subject to Israeli Rabbinical Court jurisdiction, wherever they now live. Diaspora Jews who married abroad but move to Israel, or whose husband moves to Israel, also frequently find themselves in Rabbinical Court proceedings. Women in international marriages — a Jewish husband from the United States, Canada, or Europe living temporarily in Israel — face particular difficulty, because the husband may leave Israel before a get chiyuv judgment is obtained, making enforcement harder.

2. The Legal Status of the Agunah Under Israeli Law

Israel's civil law framework treats get refusal with increasing seriousness. The Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953 gives rabbinical courts exclusive jurisdiction over marriage and divorce of Jews in Israel. Section 1 states that matters of marriage and divorce shall be determined exclusively according to Torah law (din Torah).

This creates the core tension: civil courts cannot simply override halachic requirements and declare the marriage over. At the same time, successive Knesset amendments have layered significant civil enforcement tools onto the rabbinical court framework, recognising get refusal as a form of domestic abuse and a violation of the wife's dignity and autonomy.

The key legislation is the Rabbinical Courts Law (Enforcement of Divorce Judgments) 5755-1995. This law — often called the "get refusal law" — authorises the Rabbinical Court to order sanctions against a husband who refuses to comply with a judgment that he must give the get. Before 1995, the Rabbinical Court's practical enforcement powers were limited. The 1995 law changed that fundamentally.

3. How the Rabbinical Court Compels a Get

The process begins when the wife files a divorce petition with the Regional Rabbinical Court in her area. The Rabbinical Courts Administration operates seven regional courts — Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Be'er Sheva, Petah Tikva, Netanya, and Ashdod. You can be represented by a to'en rabbani (a licensed rabbinical court pleader) alongside or instead of a civil attorney; in complex agunah cases, having both is advisable.

The court then examines whether sufficient grounds exist to obligate the husband to give the get. Recognised grounds include severe marital breakdown (machloket shalem), domestic violence, sexual deprivation, refusal to provide financial support, and conduct making continued cohabitation intolerable. The scope of recognised grounds has broadened considerably through case law over the past two decades — courts today are less restrictive than they were a generation ago.

If grounds are established, the court issues either a get chiyuv (an obligation — the milder form) or a get kefiyah (outright compulsion, reserved for cases involving serious fault). The distinction matters halachically: a get given in response to a get chiyuv, where sanctions rather than physical force persuade the husband, is widely accepted as valid. Most cases proceed through the get chiyuv route first. If the husband ignores the ruling, the court activates the 1995 Law's enforcement mechanism, escalating through sanctions toward imprisonment.

When the husband ultimately complies, the parties appear before the court. He instructs a scribe to write the get to his specifications, signs it in front of witnesses, and hands it to the wife. The court records the divorce. Only then is the marriage dissolved under Jewish law.

4. Civil Sanctions Under the 1995 Law: What Actually Gets Applied

The 1995 Law's sanctions are more powerful than many women realise, and their sequential escalation is deliberate. The goal is to make continued refusal progressively more painful while avoiding the halachic invalidity that would flow from pure physical force.

Imprisonment is the most significant sanction. Under Section 7A of the 1995 Law, the Rabbinical Court can order imprisonment of up to three years for repeated defiance of a get chiyuv ruling. In cases involving long-term wilful refusal accompanied by financial extortion of the wife, the court can extend that to seven years and up to ten years under aggravated circumstances. Imprisonment orders in severe cases must be confirmed by the Great Rabbinical Court (Beit HaDin HaGadol) before activation.

The travel ban works differently. Once sanctions are activated, the Rabbinical Court transmits an exit restriction order directly to the Population and Immigration Authority (PIBA), preventing the husband from leaving Israel. For men who travel frequently for business or have family abroad, this tends to be the sanction that bites fastest.

The court can also direct the relevant ministry or professional body to suspend the husband's driver's licence, attorney's licence, accounting licence, medical licence, or any other state-issued authorisation. These orders go to the Ministry of Transport, the Israel Bar Association, or the relevant professional registry by name.

Daily fines are a further tool — NIS 500 to NIS 2,000 per day for continued defiance. They are not the primary mechanism, but they accumulate and can be converted into a civil debt enforceable through the Execution Office. A husband juggling fines, a suspended licence, and a travel ban while still paying full spousal support has limited room to hold out.

5. Foreign Nationals and Diaspora Wives: Special Considerations

Get refusal is not only an Israeli problem. It affects diaspora Jewish communities in the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Australia, and elsewhere. But Israel's Rabbinical Court is the only court in the world with both halachic authority and state enforcement powers — which is why, even when the parties live abroad, Israeli Rabbinical Court proceedings are often the most effective route.

The Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law 5713-1953 confers jurisdiction based on the parties' status, not their physical location. The court has authority when both parties are Israeli citizens or permanent residents; when the marriage was solemnised in Israel; when one party is a citizen or resident and the other consents; or when both petition the court jointly.

A diaspora woman whose husband is an Israeli citizen — even one currently living in the United States — can file in the Israeli Rabbinical Court. If a get chiyuv is issued and the husband later travels to Israel for any reason, the travel ban activates immediately upon his arrival. Many attorneys use this deliberately: the filing happens abroad, and the enforcement window opens the moment the husband steps off a plane at Ben Gurion.

Serving an Israeli Rabbinical Court summons on a husband living abroad follows the Hague Service Convention, to which Israel is a signatory alongside the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany. Service through the relevant Central Authority typically takes six to twelve weeks. Where service is genuinely difficult, the court can proceed in certain circumstances regardless.

A husband living in New York, London, or Paris may also be subject to a local beth din. Israeli Rabbinical Court judgments are sometimes recognised and acted upon by diaspora battei din, adding community pressure. The degree of cooperation varies by community and institution, but pursuing it in parallel costs little and occasionally produces results faster than legal proceedings alone.

One thing worth spelling out plainly: a foreign national wife who obtained an Israeli civil divorce through the Family Court is divorced for civil purposes — she can remarry in a civil ceremony anywhere. But she cannot remarry in any halachic ceremony. Some women spend years managing these two parallel realities — legally free, religiously bound — which is exactly the leverage a determined husband exploits.

6. What Civil Courts Can Do: The Family Court's Role

The Israeli Family Court cannot dissolve a Jewish marriage or order the get. What it can do is control the financial consequences of refusal — and when coordinated properly with Rabbinical Court proceedings, that financial pressure is substantial.

While the get refusal continues, the wife may be entitled to full spousal maintenance (mezonot ishah) under Section 2 of the Family Law Amendment (Maintenance) Law 5719-1959. Courts have consistently held that a husband who refuses the get while the wife has a legal right to it cannot simultaneously escape his maintenance obligation. In practice, this means the husband keeps paying support — often NIS 5,000 to NIS 15,000 per month depending on the marital standard of living — with no end date until he hands over the get.

Get refusal is also an actionable tort. Under the Civil Wrongs Ordinance (New Version) 5728-1968, Family Courts have awarded damages to agunot for malicious and intentional harm. Awards in documented cases have ranged from NIS 150,000 to over NIS 500,000, accruing separately from whatever the Rabbinical Court is doing.

Then there is the property division angle. The Rabbinical Court decides whether a divorce happens; the Family Court decides how assets are split. If the husband is entitled to a share of marital property, his attorney knows he receives nothing until the get is delivered. Courts have generally permitted this sequencing once get refusal is established. The combination — ongoing support, accumulating tort damages, frozen property share — is the financial architecture that makes prolonged refusal untenable for most men.

7. Practical Steps When Your Spouse Refuses the Get

Start with the right attorney. This is not a general family law matter, and the wrong practitioner will cost you time you cannot afford. You need someone who handles both Rabbinical Court proceedings and civil Family Court litigation — and knows how to run them simultaneously. Many Israeli attorneys work only on the civil side. If yours does, make sure they partner with a qualified to'en rabbani (licensed Rabbinical Court pleader) for the religious forum.

File in the Rabbinical Court before the husband does. Jurisdiction is partly determined by which forum is petitioned first, and a husband who gets to the Family Court first on asset matters can complicate the Rabbinical Court timeline. File for divorce in the Rabbinical Court; have your civil attorney file for asset division and interim maintenance in the Family Court the same week.

Gather documentation from day one. The case for get chiyuv is built on evidence: messages, bank records, police reports, medical records, and witness statements. Evidence of domestic violence, financial control, sexual deprivation, and the husband's stated refusal to give the get all go before the court. Rabbinical Court proceedings are evidentiary — treat them that way.

File for interim support immediately, separately from the divorce. Under Section 2 of the Family Law Amendment (Maintenance) Law 5719-1959, courts grant mezonot ishah on an interim basis, typically within 30 to 60 days of filing. This is important not just financially but tactically: it removes the husband's ability to use money as leverage against you while the case proceeds.

Apply for a travel ban as soon as a get chiyuv ruling is in sight — or the moment it is issued. If the husband travels internationally for work or has family connections abroad, this one measure often produces faster results than anything else. The application goes through the Rabbinical Court to the Ministry of Interior and PIBA directly.

Do not overlook community and advocacy channels. The Rabbinical Courts Administration has a dedicated agunah unit. ICAR (the International Coalition for Agunah Rights) coordinates across jurisdictions. Local rabbinical community leaders can impose social consequences — synagogue exclusions, refusal of honours, community pressure — that courts cannot replicate. In documented cases, community pressure has produced compliance where legal sanctions alone had not moved things for months.

If the regional Rabbinical Court's decision on grounds is unfavourable or sanctions are moving too slowly, appeal to the Great Rabbinical Court (Beit HaDin HaGadol) in Jerusalem. The Great Rabbinical Court can order the most severe sanctions — including extended imprisonment — that regional courts hesitate to impose on their own authority. It is the highest rabbinical appellate body in Israel and its decisions carry weight that local courts take seriously.

An American woman whose husband had returned to New York following their separation in Israel filed a get chiyuv petition with the Tel Aviv Regional Rabbinical Court, simultaneously requesting a travel ban through the court. The husband visited Israel eighteen months later for a family event; Border Control flagged the travel restriction at Ben Gurion Airport and he was detained at the terminal for four hours while the restriction was confirmed. He agreed to appear before the Rabbinical Court the following morning and the get was delivered that day. The Family Court had simultaneously ordered his Israeli bank account frozen as part of the asset division proceedings, which the attorneys believe created additional pressure during those critical hours at the airport.