Center for Women's Justice
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The Center for Women's Justice (Hebrew: מרכז צדק לנשים, romanized: Merkaz Tzedek LeNashim) is a public interest law firm devoted to advancing and protecting the rights of women to justice, equality and dignity under Jewish law in Israel.[1] CWJ is a member organization of ICAR, the International Coalition for Agunah Rights.[2]
History
First cases and approach to changing the system
The Center for Women's Justice (CWJ) was founded in Jerusalem in 2004, by attorney Susan Weiss. CWJ initiated the practice of suing recalcitrant husbands (men who refuse to divorce their wives under the authority of Jewish law) for financial damages (torts) in Israel's civil courts. CWJ has stated that they intend to file as many claims for get abuse as possible across the country. Their declared goal is to make it an established legal certainty in Israeli courts that get refusal is no longer understood as a religious right, but rather as a civil wrong requiring the awarding of financial damages.[3]
In 2007 CWJ sued the
Involvement in conversion issues
CWJ became involved in
Debate over civil and religious jurisdiction
This section may contain material not related to the topic of the article.(August 2012) ) |
In May 2009, the Israeli High Court of Justice gave the dayanim of the Supreme Rabbinical Court 90 days to justify their decision to revoke the conversions done under the auspices of Rabbi Haim Druckman's conversion court. One of the petitioners was represented by CWJ. Shimon Ya'acobi, attorney for the Rabbinic courts argued that the matter rested solely under the jurisdiction of the religious courts and the secular courts had no authority to rule on the matter.[12] Druckman's special conversion court, while dealing exclusively with religious conversion, operated out of the Prime Minister's office and was not under the jurisdiction of the Rabbinical courts.[13]
Educational projects
CWJ's educational efforts include a series of YouTube videos. These videos feature a fictional character known as Savta Bikorta (lit. Grandmother Criticism) who narrates the stories of some of CWJ's real-life court cases in a highly sarcastic tone.[14] In the summer of 2011, CWJ introduced a blog. Blog posts feature CWJ staff, volunteers and interns grappling with the issues they encounter in their daily work with the organization.[15] CWJ Social Awareness Coordinator Rivkah Lubitch has a regular column on Ynet, a major Israeli news site, in which she discusses issues of religion, state and gender as experienced in her work with CWJ.[16]
References
- ^ Rabbi Angel, Marc. "Rabbis: No More Alibis". Jewish Institute for Ideas and Ideals. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ "ICAR member organizations".
- ^ "Tort of Get Refusal". Center for Women's Justice. Archived from the original on March 24, 2012.
- ^ Izenberg, Dan. "18-year Aguna suing Justice Ministry". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved October 29, 2007.
- ^ Sztokman, Elana. "The Masculinization of All Things Religious". Forward.com Sisterhood Blog. Retrieved August 4, 2010.
- ^ "About". מרכז צדק לנשים. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
- ^ "2016 Grantees". New Israel Fund (NIF). Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
- ^ "Acknowledgements". מרכז צדק לנשים. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
- ^ Gorenberg, Gershom. "Oops, You're Not Jewish". Hadassah Magazine. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
- ISBN 9780826496713.
- ^ Izenberg, Dan. "Court to decide on rejected conversions". June 6, 2008.
- ^ Izenberg, Dan. "High Court: Justify conversion annulments". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on March 26, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
- ^ Barkat, Amiram. "Conversion is a temporary matter". Haaretz. Retrieved October 19, 2004.
- ^ "Savta Bikorta videos". Center for Women's Justice.
- ^ "cwjisrael blog". Retrieved August 18, 2011.
- ^ Lubitch, Rivkah. "Ynet columns". Ynetnews. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
Further reading
- Maltz, Judy (November 29, 2015). "Group challenges ban on women's Torah reading at Western Wall". Haaretz. Retrieved January 29, 2016.