Jewish Divorce
Jofa Resources for Agunot
You are not alone.
Providing resources to empower agunot has been an integral part of Jofa’s mission since the organization’s founding. Jofa sees the agunah issue as a social injustice and believes there is a critical need for a systemic, halakhic solution to the plight of agunot.
Halakhic Prenuptial Agreements: Agunah Prevention
We strongly recommend that all couples sign a halakhic prenuptial agreement prior to their weddings.
A well-written and properly executed halakhic prenuptial agreement is a possible means to ensuring fair and lawful proceedings in the event of a divorce. While a prenuptial agreement is not a guarantee, it can prevent other women from becoming agunot in the future.
We work closely with rabbis and organizations in promoting the use of prenuptial agreements. Please ensure that both parties review the agreement prior to signing, and in some states the agreement should also be reviewed by a lawyer.
*JOFA does not recommend using the optional boxes for financial or custody matters on this form.
Tefilla for Agunot
Written by Shelley Frier List
Creator of heaven and earth, may it be Your will to free the captive wives of Israel when love and sanctity have fled the home, but their husbands bind them in the tatters of their ketubot. Remove the bitter burden from these agunot and soften the hearts of their misguided captors. Liberate Your faithful daughters from their anguish. Enable them to establish new homes and raise up children in peace.
Grant wisdom to the judges of Israel; teach them to recognize oppression and rule against it. Infuse our rabbis with the courage to use their power for good alone.
Blessed are you, Creator of heaven and earth, who frees the captives.
Guide to Jewish Divorce and the Beit Din System
JOFA’s Guide to Jewish Divorce and the Beit Din System (2005) helps women make informed decisions as they negotiate the beit din system to obtain a Jewish divorce. The Guide includes frequently asked questions and a section based on the comments and cautions of individuals with personal experience. It also compares the practices of various batei din (rabbinic courts) in the New York metropolitan area and offers a glossary.
Resources
I am My Beloved’s and My Beloved is Mine: On Marriage, Love and Pre-Nuptial Agreements in Jewish Law.
A joint project of Kolech Religious Women’s Forum and the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA)
- List of organizations supporting Agunot
- Women Unchained
- Agunah Journal Addendum
- Completing Your Wedding Checklist: The Halakhic Prenup
- Getready Series: Rabbi Klapper
- The RCA Pre-nup: $10,000 & Counting?
- Jofa 2017 Conference: The Agunah Crisis
- Jofa 2010 Conference: Halakhic Justice for Agunot
- Putting Women Back in the Picture
- You are Hereby Renewed to Me
- Breaking the Chains: Making a Difference in the Agunah Fight Different
- Jofa Journal Agunah Issue
- State of Marriage and the State
- The Value of the Halachic Prenup
- Why Should I care about Marriage Rights in Israel?
- Beit Din Orders Woman to Give Get
- How to Prevent a Modern Day Agunah
- The Jewish Prenup that isn’t about who gets the Bentley
- If You Love Your Spouse Sign Here
- Episode 6: Layah Kranz Lipsker on Chasidic Feminism and Combatting Get Refusal
- New International Beit Din Looks to Break the Chains
- Time to Act on Agunot
- In Orthodox Jewish Divorce, Men Hold all the Cards
- Equal Dignity, Equal Justice
- New Agunah Court Announced
- Plague of the Chained Women: What You Can Do
- Orthodox Feminist Leaders Discusses Recalcitrant Husbands and how to free their Wives
- Fast! Unchain, Celebrate! Marking International Agunah Day
- New hope for ‘Agunot’?
- For Many Potential Agunot Halachic Prenups Indeed Break Their Chains
- Agunah Summit Pushes for Answers
- Reviving the Rackman Agunah Beit Din
- ‘Chained Wives’ Find Halachic Pre-Nuptial Agreement is no Pancea
- Unchained Reaction
- For Many Agunot, Halachic Prenups Won’t Break Their Chains
- Divorce in the Jewish Orthodox Community Can be Brutal, Degrading, and Endless
- Orthodox Women’s Advocate says ‘Desperation’ Spurs Divorce Extort Scheme
- Agunah Prevention: It’s Time for a New Strategy
- New Religious Court to Address Agunot
- The Agunah Crisis: A Vaccine is at Hand
- An American Lawyer Takes on Israel’s Marriage Problem
- Historic Agunah Summit Pushes for Jewish Divorce Court
- Finding Solutions to Free Agunot
- Freedom from the Bonds of Unholy Matrimony
- The Bonds-and Shackles- of Jewish Marriage
- Agunah Summit Revisits Plan to Create Liberal Religious Courts
- As Agunah Summit Nears, A Call to Resolve Crisis of Chained Women
