OPPOSES: MK Zehava Galon: “The decision will harm women and could be used by men as a bargaining chip against them.”
SUPPORTS: Rabbi Eliyahu Heishrik of the Chief Rabbinate: “We need to also consider the situation in which the man makes less money than the woman.”
By Gideon Allon
In a heated debate during a meeting of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) said, “The man holds the ‘whip’ of providing a ‘get’ [religious divorce document] in his hands, and women are prepared to pay everything they have to buy their freedom.”
MK Zehava Galon (Meretz) said, “The decision will harm women and could be used by men as a bargaining chip against them.”
Professor Pinhas Shifman, who heads the committee examining child support issues, noted that “women already pay child support today.”
But Rabbi Eliyahu Heishrik of the Chief Rabbinate said, “We need to also consider the situation in which the man makes less money than the woman.”
Until now, when a couple divorced, only the man was automatically required to pay child support, regardless of whether his income was lower or higher than his former wife’s. Rabbinical Court manager Rabbi Shimon Yaakobi said the original rule had been made in the days of the British Mandate, and the new ruling was designed to take into account the changing status of women. He also said it would help fight the phenomenon of men refusing to grant “gets.”
View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=30807