divorce orthodox jewish
© Alex Levak"Marriage is not a prison": A religious couple walks by a demonstrator protesting Jewish religious divorce policy in Jerusalem.
  • A woman who was beaten up by her husband was refused a divorce by Rabbis
  • The orthodox Jewish woman's motion was rejected by Rabbinical judges in 2016
  • After the first motion she was attacked by her husband who served 75 days in jail
  • The three judges said they understood why the man acted violently towards her
Rabbinical judges have rejected a motion for divorce from a woman whose husband physically abused her, saying they understood why he resorted to violence.

Last July a regional court rejected her first divorce petition and a few weeks after the verdict, she complained to police that he punched her in the face and bruised her shoulder.

After expressing regret, her husband was sentenced to 75 days in prison for the offence, but upon his release he attacked her on two more occasions.

In a written ruling, from February 1, the three presiding rabbis - Yosef Goldberg, David Birdugo, and Mordechai Ralbag noted: 'Unquestionably, any harm the husband causes the wife is unjustifiable in any circumstances; any violence should be treated gravely and condemned, especially severe violence like that described in the indictment.

'But on the other hand, there is also no doubt that the husband's eruption was due to his difficult (emotional) situation after his wife filed for divorce.'

The woman appealed the regional court's original verdict to the Rabbinical Court of Appeals in Jerusalem after the three separate beatings, Haaretz reported.

However judges in Jerusalem have ruled the attack was not grounds for a gett - a religious divorce - because the husband apologised and expressed remorse for what they described as 'non-recurring' violence.

The court of appeals referred the case back to the regional court who again refused the wife's motion to end the marriage.

Although the judges said they abhorred the husband's behaviour they concluded that as he had admitted to his errors 'we can assume he won't be repeating these deeds in the future.'

In a letter to the attorney general, women's rights activist and lawyer Batya Kahane Dror and lawyer Hadas Grossman vowed to appeal the verdict as they say ruling empowers men to beat their wives if they want a divorce.

In 2015, 755 women in Israel entered domestic violence shelters, an increase of 20 per cent from the year before.

In ultra-orthodox Judaism divorce is considered shameful and women cannot divorce their husbands if they do not agree.