February 8, 2013

(JTA) – A Connecticut court set a precedent when it affirmed a Beth Din prenuptial contract that fines men who refuse to dissolve their marriages.

The Forward reported Friday that Judge Mark Gould of the Connecticut Superior Court determined that enforcing the prenup, created by the Beth Din of America rabbinical court in the 1990s, was no different than enforcing a secular contract. The Beth Din of America is affiliated with the modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America.

The ruling was on a lawsuit filed by Rachel Light, 34, in July against Eban Light, her separated husband. She asked the court to enforce the prenup’s requirement that her husband pay her $100 for each day he refused to grant the divorce.

The Beth Din of America introduced the prenup in an effort to prevent women from becoming agunot, or chained women, whose husbands refuse to give them a get, a Jewish religious divorce decree. Such refusal prevents wives from remarrying in a Jewish ceremony. Any children born to an aguna and a man other than her husband are considered bastards in Jewish law and may not be wed in a Jewish religious ceremony.

The Forward quoted observers as saying that Gould’s was the first such enforcement of the Beth Din prenup in a secular court.

Rachel Light may be eligible to demand more than $100,000 from her husband, from whom she separated three years ago, according to the Forward.

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