Agunah &
GET-Refusal Prevention
Project Overview
Helping Agunot & Preventing Get-Refusal
The work of the Agunah and Get-Refusal Prevention Project is continuous throughout the calendar year. Our efforts address a broad spectrum of needs – education, social activism, dissemination of information and providing much needed guidance and support for victims of GET-refusal.
Agreement for Mutual Respect
Available in five languages, the halakhic prenuptial agreement for marrying and married couples.
HISTORY OF AGUNAH
Prenuptial agreements are a critical step in purging our community of the problem of the modern day Aguna.
Helpline, MEDIA RESOURCES & FAQS
Learn more and view additional articles, media and frequently asked questions.
Helpline, MEDIA RESOURCES & FAQS
Learn more and view additional articles, media and frequently asked questions.
Postnuptial Agreements
The Signing of a Postnuptial Agreement For the prevention of GET-Refusal.
Tackling Get-Refusal
Some of the different challenges this project has undertaken
Case Studies
Explore success stories to understand how our expertise have helped agunot.
Meet The Director
Each director brings unique expertise and a commitment to our mission.
The Agreement for Mutual Respect - Prenuptial
הסכם לכבוד הדדי - קדם נישואין
Select Your Language To Download The Agreement
ENGLISH
עברית
Français
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Русский
In order to be legally valid, the Agreement must be signed prior to the wedding before a notary or the marriage registrar in the Religious Council’s office or the Regional Rabbinic Court or the Family Court.
Three copies should be made at the time of signing: The marrying couple should each receive one copy; the authorizing body should receive the third copy.
Please note for your information that the composers of the prenuptial agreement cannot take upon themselves legal or halachic (Jewish legal) responsibility for the phrasing and text of the agreement or for its validity. Rabbinic and Halachic authority and/or legal authority (an attorney), of your choosing, should be consulted in order to obtain appropriate counsel and advice.
**The Council of Young Israel Rabbis in Israel (now YII – Young Israel in Israel), in cooperation with Rabbi Yonah Reiss and Rabbi Prof. Michael Broyde – both of the Beth Din of America –translated the “Agreement for Mutual Respect”, developed for use in Israel, into English.
An additional clause has been included which assigns jurisdiction to the Beth Din of America [as an arbitrator] should either of the parties not reside in the State of Israel, or should the agreement not be deemed enforceable in the jurisdiction that the parties reside.
The agreement, including this clause, has been translated into Hebrew, Russian, French and Spanish. All are presented below, as well as a Hebrew version including the additional clause.
עברית – בינלאומית
Français – International
Español – Internacional
Русский- Международный
In the English version note clause “R” (English version can be accessed by clicking on the American Flag at the top of this page)
In the International Hebrew version note clause 17 (י”ז)
For couples residing in Israel it is recommended to use the Hebrew version.
**This clause is drawn up to assign legal jurisdiction to the Beth Din of America as arbiter if the agreement cannot be put into effect in Israel.It was added in cooperation with the dayanim of the Beth Din of America.**
- Print out 3 copies of the agreement
- Print out three copies of the “Standard Version” of the Beth Din of America’s Binding Arbitration Agreement at https://theprenup.org/the-prenup-forms/
Label each copy on top, in handwriting, “Appendix B of the Agreement for Mutual Respect Signed on the date of ____________”
** Draw a line through the entire Clause “Financial and Custody Issues”, in effect crossing it out.
- Make three sets – each set to include a) the Heskem L’Kavod Hadadi on top and b) the Beth Din of America’s Binding Arbitration Agreement on the bottom.
- Notarize – sign all three sets at any notary. There will be a standard notary fee.
Postnuptial Agreements
Following the highly successful postnuptial events that took place in 2016 (with the Efrat Women’s Beit Midrash) and in 2017 in Jerusalem (with Beit Knesset Nitzanim), IYIM is initiating postnuptial events as standard practice for getting the word out about the game-changing Agreement for Mutual Respect.
“Signing the postnuptial Agreement for Mutual Respect as part of a community-wide event serves as a clear message to our families, friends and community that this is the minhag (Jewish custom) in our family and community. All marrying couples, prior to their marriage, must sign a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal. This is the way we can, all together, obliterate the problem of get-refusal for both women and men.”
-Dr. Rachel Levmore, Director, YII Get-Refusal Prevention Project
Interview with Dr. Rachel Levmore on Postnuptial Agreements with Avi Abelow, September 5, 2017
In Kiddushin 30a it states that one of the mitzvot incumbent upon a parent is to marry off the son to a wife – alongside teaching him a trade, Torah and of course seeing to a Brit Milah. All of these indicate that for centuries Jewish parents were entrusted with establishing strong Jewish family units whose stability would bring forth the next generation in the chain.
However, in the recent past Jewish society in Israel and all over the world, is witnessing a rise in divorce rates, which is accompanied by horrifying cases of get-refusal – a phenomenon destructive to the Jewish family unit as the trauma associated with the agunah problem has a deleterious effect on all involved, thus preventing the establishment of new stable families. The need for preventative measures, such as the signing of prenuptial agreements for the prevention of get-refusal is recognized more and more through educational efforts.
Most spouses in marriages of 15 years or more did not have the opportunity to sign a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal, since the Heskem l’Kavod Hadadi was first made public in the year 2000. As a result, our grown children cannot look to us as a role model for this responsible act. As educated men and women we must realize that with knowledge comes responsibility. We must assure that all Jewish marriages are respectful and dignified – whether in love or in divorce, G-d forbid. We must certainly do all we can to prevent any woman from entering into the existential angst upon becoming an agunah. Those of us who have brought up children can ruefully say that kids don’t necessarily do as we say, but they do tend to do as we do.
Giving the parents of the community the opportunity to sign a postnuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal is the most effective educational tool one can provide for the next generation – to teach them how to establish a responsible, healthy Jewish family unit. Within each family and beyond, the Gush Etzion/Jerusalem communities will demonstrate to all our children “Do as I do! This is the minhag of our family and our community. You must sign a prenuptial agreement when you get married.”
“Good people, good food, good will – all come together to provide a basis for a good life for the younger generation.”
PLEASE NOTE: Due to the fact that this is a communal signing event which is taking place as a group of couples within the community, if individual couples who sign at the event want to guarantee the validation of the document in a (civil) legal fashion, they may have to go afterwards to the Family Court (or there are legal opinions that it may not be necessary). At the community event attempts are being made to grant the document halakhic validity as each individual couple is signing before two kosher witnesses.
משנה אבות א יד : אִם אֵין אֲנִי לִי, מִי לִי? וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי לְעַצְמִי, מָה אֲנִי? וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתַי
If I don’t take care of myself, who will do it for me? If I take care only of myself, what is my worth? And if I don’t fulfill my responsibility now, when will I?
This Mishna accurately describes the need for educational leaders and married couples to take on the responsibility of inspiring marrying couples to sign a prenuptial agreement. If we don’t sign a postnuptial—when will others sign?
In any case, the very act of signing is a strong declaration that get-refusal is unacceptable in our community and that we all have to do what we can to prevent this blight from staining our society. It is an active statement to the younger generation—you must sign a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal. Such an event is a significant addition to the awareness that is already bringing about the signing of prenuptial agreements as an “automatic” procedure prior to marriage.
Giving the parents of the community the opportunity to sign a postnuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal is the most effective educational tool one can provide for the next generation – to teach them how to establish a responsible, healthy Jewish family unit. Within each family and beyond, individuals and communities that get involved will demonstrate to all our children “Do as I do! This is the minhag of our family and our community. You must sign a prenuptial agreement when you get married.”
Postnup Agreement for Mutual Respect Signing Event in Tzfat: R’ Yakov Drori and Dr. Rachel Levmore
Tackling Get-Refusal
All Jews married in Israel cannot remarry without a get (Jewish writ of divorce), regardless of religious affiliation. In the Diaspora, this affects only those married in a halachic ceremony. Get-refusal occurs when one spouse refuses to grant or receive a get, preventing remarriage and, for women, risking their children being considered mamzerim. This is a severe form of domestic abuse with social, economic, and legal consequences.
This project aims to prevent get-refusal by educating couples, especially the younger generation, on signing prenuptial agreements. It also supports agunot and those trapped in get-refusal, encouraging already-married couples to sign postnuptial agreements and hosting signing events across Israel. By raising awareness among the public, rabbis, and legal authorities, the program tackles the root issues affecting Jewish marriages and families. It offers a model for improving women’s status and has successfully resolved numerous difficult cases.
An Agunah is also a “chained woman” with different tragic circumstances.
The Agunah status occurs when a man cannot give a get to his wife in the Rabbinical Court, as a result of running away, disappearing (without our knowledge if he is alive or dead), in a coma, or mental illness, for example. In this case the woman is truly trapped, since her husband is either not present physically or mentally and his active participation in the process is required. The result is a woman agonizingly trapped in an unwanted marriage.
מנעי עיניך מדמעה: הסכמי קדם-נישואין למניעת סירוב גט
“Spare Your Eyes Tears: Prenuptial Agreements for the Prevention of Get-Refusal”, 2009, by Dr. Rachel Levmore
A seminal book of halakha in Hebrew with a thorough review of the halakhic development of prenuptial agreements for the prevention of get-refusal.
The Prisoner Project, a highly successful initiative of this program, works within the Directorate of the Israeli Rabbinal Courts to convince prisoners to free their wives. As of 2010 The Prisoner Project was fully taken over by the courts, but would not exist without the YII Get-Refusal Prevention Project
In Israel the Efrat Religious Council, The Rabbinical Council of America, the Chief Rabbinate of Uruguay, and more – have all presented the signing of a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal for signing before marriage in their district, when their Rabbis perform the Jewish marriage ceremony.
Help effect change in your municipality or local rabbinate.
The success of the program over the past 16 years and its rise to prominence in this field led to Dr. Levmore’s appointment by then-Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, to the national committee for the appointment for Dayanim (Rabbinical Court Judges). Dr. Levmore is the first officially sanctioned woman appointed to the National Committee for the Appointment of Rabbinical Judges – this is the highest level of influence possible within the legal system, and one which allows the program to affect all citizens of Israel After two years of intense work, the Dayanim were finally appointed in 2016. For the first time, a number of the Dayanim are graduates of Religious Zionist yeshivot and IDF service (this is ground-breaking, and a direct result of the work of this program) and this will influence how they settle divorce cases for generations as it leads to a more open minded Rabbinic leadership – in Israel where religion and state are intertwined thus defining how marriage and divorce occurs across all spectrums of society.
HISTORY OF AGUNAH
The increased utilization of pre-nuptial agreements is a critical step in purging our community of the distressful problem of the modern-day Aguna and enabling men and women to remarry without restriction.
The Agreement for Mutual Respect is a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal*. The Agreement anchors modern day’s philosophy of partnership and mutual respect in the context of Jewish law, thus it has been signed and ratified by thousands of couples in Israel.
The signing of prenuptial agreements for the prevention of Get-Refusal has been recommended by the many Rabbinic authorities. It is included in the Resolutions of the Rabbinical Council of America which were adopted in June 1993, entitled “In the Matter of Prenuptial Agreements.”
A year later, in 1994, “The Endorsement of Prenuptial Agreements” was reaffirmed.
Furthermore, the leading Roshei Yeshiva of Yeshiva University issued “A Message to Our Rabbinic Colleagues and Students” in 1999, strongly urging:
“rabbis to counsel and encourage marrying couples to sign such an agreement. The increased utilization of prenuptial agreements is a critical step in purging our community of the distressful problem of the modern-day Aguna and enabling men and women to remarry without restriction.”
In May 2006, the Rabbinical Council of America once again reaffirmed its previous resolutions, declaring “that no rabbi should officiate at a wedding where a proper prenuptial agreement on get has not been executed”.
A decade later in a 2016 resolution, the Rabbinical Council of America required every member rabbi to see to it that in every marriage where he officiates a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal is signed:
“THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that every member of the Rabbinical Council of America must utilize, in any wedding at which he is the officiant (mesader kiddushin), in addition to a ketubah, a rabbinically-sanctioned prenuptial agreement that aids in our community’s efforts to ensure the timely and unconditional issuance of a get.”
* Dr. Levmore’s extensive research on the subject of Prenuptial Agreements for the Prevention of Get-Refusal has been documented in her book in Hebrew Minee Einayikh MeDim’ah: Heskemei Kedam Nissuin L’Miniyat Seiruv Get, 2009.
Dr. Rachel Levmore & Rabbi Simcha Krauss - IYIM (Now YII) International Agunah Day Event, March 8, 2014
Rabbi Chaim Wasserman & Dr. Rachel Levmore on Prenuptial Agreements for the Prevention of Get-Refusal, December 21, 2021
CASE STUDIES
A notable contribution of this project was highlighted in a brief news item in the Jerusalem Post. The Supreme Court had overturned the conviction of a man found guilty of killing four women by arson, originally sentenced to life imprisonment due to religious fervor. The court ruled him mentally incompetent, as he believed he was the Messiah and had acted on divine orders.
Unbeknownst to the reporter, this man had also been refusing to give his wife a Get, claiming his messianic role. This case was successfully resolved by the IYIM Agunah and Get-Refusal Prevention Project. Dr. Rachel Levmore, the project director, worked closely with the wife and involved the husband’s personal Rabbi.
A few days later, under the threat of Rabbinical Court sanctions, the husband agreed to give the Get. This success came months before the Supreme Court declared him legally incompetent, which would have prevented him from giving a Get according to Halakha. The project’s efforts freed the wife, allowing her and her children to live a normal life.
A difficult case of Get-refusal, involving a husband incarcerated by the Rabbinical Court for 14 years due to his refusal to divorce, was finally resolved. Dr. Rachel Levmore, director of the IYIM Agunah and Get-Refusal Project, regarded this as her “flagship” case.
The case inspired the Prisoner Project, which handled it uniquely. The husband was incarcerated for five years and faced various sanctions, including solitary confinement and transfer out of the “Religious Ward.” Dr. Levmore’s efforts over four years led to these sanctions, eventually breaking the husband’s resolve.
A new Rabbinical Court Judge then took a different approach, gaining the husband’s trust and convincing him to grant the Get. The husband was released from jail and started a new life, while the freed wife and children thrived. The gratitude from the ex-wife and her mother was overwhelming.
This is a story of a case which had come to Dr. Rachel Levmore’s hands as a direct result of the initiation of the Agunah and Get-Refusal Prevention Project. The American father of a young abandoned woman, mother of young children, had turned to the Project. The young woman’s husband had abandoned his family in Israel approximately two years earlier and was homeless and drifting in the United States. After meeting with the wife and execution of in-depth research by Dr. Levmore, a private investigator was retained by the Directorate of the Israeli Rabbinical Courts, with whom Dr. Levmore worked until the husband was located.
At that point, contact was initiated through the mother of the recalcitrant husband. Through many overseas telephone calls, faxes, and emails–negotiations and coaxing took place until the get was administered. This was done by proxy, with the cooperation of an American Rabbinical Court together with the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court. Most importantly, this case was resolved leaving good feelings all around, so that the children of the couple traveled to the US to visit their father and grandmother whom they had not seen for several years, immediately after the Get.
An urgent plea of help was received by Dr. Rachel Levmore, director of the Agunah and Get-Refusal Prevention Project, from the mother of a very young woman whose young husband was losing his mental health. The young women had decided to divorce her husband but did not know how to deal with this very delicate situation, which had all the makings of a real agunah case.
If the husband would indeed become mentally ill to the point of irrationality, she would be locked into a sterile marriage for the rest of her life. The family followed Dr. Levmore’s very explicit instructions while she facilitated the workings within the Court. The young woman received her Get within 2 1/2 weeks.
Four days later the young man was institutionalized. This project saved the young woman’s life.
A small town in Israel faced turmoil when a resident refused to give his wife a get, leading the Jerusalem Rabbinic Court to issue a stern ruling and communal sanctions. This divided the community between activists and those uncomfortable with rejecting the individual.
Dr. Rachel Levmore, director of the IYIM Agunah and Get-Refusal Prevention Project, advised those involved and published an article in the Times of Israel titled “A get-refuser in our midst.” The article, widely read and shared, helped calm the community and provided guidance on handling the situation.
Dr. Levmore suggested that the town’s rabbi deliver a sermon in every synagogue, and she was invited to speak at one of the main synagogues. She discussed get-refusal, communal sanctions, and the importance of the Prenuptial Agreement for Mutual Respect. Her sermon clarified many issues for the congregants.
A few weeks later, the get-refuser granted the get to his wife, influenced by the communal pressure stemming from Dr. Levmore’s article and efforts.
MEET THE DIRECTOR
Dr. Rachel Levmore
Dr. Rachel Levmore, To’enet Rabbanit - Rabbinical Court Advocate, is the Director of the Agunah & Get-Refusal Prevention Project, of Young Israel in Israel & the Jewish Agency for over two decades. Dr. Levmore is a co-author of “The Agreement for Mutual Respect" - a prenuptial agreement for the prevention of Get-refusal. She made history as the first female Rabbinical Court Advocate member of the State of Israel Commission for the Appointment of Rabbinical Court Judges. An expert in Jewish divorce law and on the agunah problem, she is the groundbreaking author of "Spare Your Eyes Tears" (Hebrew) on prenuptial agreements. Dr. Levmore is a recipient of the prestigious Bonei Zion Prize. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Jewish Law from Bar Ilan University; is an internationally recognized leader resolving and preventing the agunah problem, lecturing about halakha (Jewish law), women in halakha and Jewish divorce law, in Israel and worldwide.
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