International Coalition for Agunah Rights (ICAR)
An agunah (plural: agunot) is a woman “chained” to a husband either unwilling or unable to grant her a Jewish divorce. In 1992, a number of organizations dealing with this problem in different countries decided to form an international coalition, hoping to provide a more systemic solution, and representatives from Canada, United States, and Israel formed ICAR. From the first, the coalition had a dual focus of education and activism; while it initiated some of its own activities, it also supported local actions by the member organizations. Since 1997, the international aspect of the coalition has decreased and ICAR itself, although it still includes member organizations from other countries, has become a primarily Israel-focused coalition.
The Problem of the Agunah
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Organizing Internationally to Help
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Decreasing International Activities
Since 1997, the international aspect of the coalition has decreased. The Canadian organizations, grouped as the “Canadian Coalition for Jewish Women for the Get,” continue their own regional-based activities as a coalition. Activism on this issue at the coalition level is dormant at the present time in the United States, although the individual organizations still continue their activities. ICAR itself, although it still includes member organizations from other countries, has become a primarily Israel-focused coalition.
An important addition to the Israeli group came with the establishment in 1999 of a Center for Women in Jewish Law at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, which has published a number of case studies, indicating what solution could have been applied to ease the plight of the women concerned. In 2001, ICAR presented a formal request to the rabbinical court. Composed by attorney Susan Weiss, the request delineated ways in which the court could improve the divorce process and help women needing a get. An important development by one of the ICAR member organizations in Israel is the staffing of the legal aid center and hotline at Yad L’Isha by to’anot (female rabbinical court advocates). The to’anot are available to represent and defend women—and men—in divorce cases; in particular, they can defend agunot.
As of 2019, ICAR continues both education and activism in Israel. It maintains an informative website through which individuals can access resources; in the near future, it hopes to also include a number of prenuptial agreements that would specify conditions in the event of the breakup of the marriage, thus eliminating or reducing the possibility of the husband withholding a divorce. ICAR also continues to campaign for systemic solutions to the agunot problem, by taking part in Knesset committee discussions, contacting relevant government officials, and carrying out media campaigns. One of its successes was the Sanctions Law, passed in 2012, which declared rabbinic courts accountable for conducting hearings and imposing sanctions on recalcitrant husbands.
ICAR’s Prayer 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 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 courage to use their power for good alone. / Blessed are you, creator of heaven and earth, who frees the captives. / Baruch matir asurim.
Alter, Susan D. “The Anchored Woman—A Cry for Help.” Bat Kol (Fall 1987): 30–34.
Biale, Rachel. Women and Jewish Law: An Exploration of Women’s Issues in Halakhic Sources. New York: Schocken Books, 1984.
Breitowitz, Irving. Between Civil and Religious Law: The Plight of the Agunah in American Society. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1993.
The Center for Women in Jewish Law. Jewish Law Watch: The Agunah Dilemma 1-7. Jerusalem: Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, 2000–2003.
Cwik, Marc S. “Bibliography Covering the Agunah Problem, Jewish Marriage, Jewish Divorce, and Related Issues.” Women in Judaism: A Multidisciplinary E-Journal 1, no. 2 (1998)).
Greenberg, Blu. “Jewish Divorce Law: If We Must Part Let’s Part as Equals.” In Carol Diament, ed. Jewish Marital Status. New Jersey: Jason Aronson, Inc, 1994.
Haut, Irwin. Divorce in Jewish Law and Life. New York: Sepher-Hermon Press, 1983.
“Important Development in the Fight Against Get Refusal.” New Israel Fund. March 20, 2014. https://www.nif.org/stories/social-and-economic-justice/important-development-in-the-fight-against-get-refusal/
The International Coalition For Agunah Rights. “About ICAR”. 2011. http://www.icar.org.il/about-icar.html
Weiss, Susan. “The Jailer Must Pay.” Jerusalem Report, January 24, 2005.
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