Divorce proceedings at the rabbinate are the default route for Jewish couples in Israel. They consist mainly of the divorce ceremony and the granting of the get, alongside the matters that accompany a divorce, such as child support, division of joint property, and child custody.

The divorce ceremony and the granting of the get are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the rabbinical court under the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction Law (Marriage and Divorce), 1953, while the matters related to the divorce fall under the parallel jurisdiction of both the rabbinical court and the Family Court (which gave rise to the phenomenon known as the “race to jurisdiction”).

The stages of a divorce at the rabbinate, step by step

A couple deciding to begin divorce proceedings at the rabbinate must first submit a request form for the settlement of a family dispute to the assistance unit of the rabbinical court. This step is designed to try to resolve the dispute between the spouses peacefully, before any litigation begins.  

If the parties manage to reach a divorce agreement through this process, they then submit a request to the rabbinical court to approve the agreement and give it the force of a judgment. 

If they cannot reach a divorce agreement, they may then file a divorce claim and litigate the case until a judgment is handed down. 

Either way, whether the parties signed a divorce agreement that was approved and given the force of a judgment, or litigated a divorce case and received a judgment, they must still hold the divorce ceremony and complete the granting of the get before the rabbinical court.

Divorce at the rabbinate – opening a divorce case at the rabbinical court

To open a divorce case at the rabbinical court, the spouse filing the claim must submit to the court secretariat a divorce claim form, together with copies of the marriage certificate, the ketubah, and an ID card (including the appendix), and pay a fee. 

The divorce claim must state, among other things, the parties’ details, the details of the marriage, the grounds for divorce (such as infidelity, violence, or refusal of marital relations), and whether any claims have also been filed in matters related to the divorce.

Divorce at the rabbinate – attaching the matters related to the divorce 

If the claimant wants the rabbinical court, rather than the Family Court, to decide the matters related to the divorce as well, such as child support, the division of joint property, and child custody, these matters can be attached to the divorce claim filed with the rabbinical court, either with the other spouse’s consent or without it. 

Attachment by consent means that the other spouse, the respondent, has also agreed to give the rabbinical court authority to decide the matters related to the divorce.  Absent such consent, the spouse who filed the divorce claim must attach those matters lawfully. 

Usually, the spouse seeking to attach the related matters to the divorce claim is the husband. To show that the attachment is lawful, he must satisfy three cumulative conditions: the sincerity of the divorce claim, the sincerity of the attachment, and a lawful attachment.  

To meet the condition of sincerity of the divorce claim, the husband must show that he genuinely wants to divorce and end the marriage, and that he is not filing the claim for some other purpose, such as blocking the wife from filing claims on the related matters before the Family Court. The sincerity of the claim is examined, among other things, in light of the reasons and grounds for divorce set out in his statement of claim. 

To meet the condition of sincerity of the attachment, the husband must show that he attached the related matters because he genuinely wants the rabbinical court to hear them too, and in order to concentrate the entire divorce case before a single forum rather than litigating in two separate courts, and not for improper purposes, such as putting unfair pressure on the wife to compromise on a particular issue, for example to give up rights concerning support payments or the division of joint property. 

To meet the condition of a lawful attachment, the husband must state and attach the related matters in the divorce claim explicitly and clearly, not in passing.  

Divorce at the rabbinate – conducting the case before the rabbinical court

After the divorce claim is filed and the case is opened, the rabbinical court secretariat summons both spouses to hearings before the court, and the case is conducted until a judgment is issued.

Hearings before the rabbinical court are held behind closed doors, and their content is not published, to protect the parties’ privacy.  

The divorce ceremony and the arrangement of the get

The divorce ceremony and the arrangement of the get consist of four stages: verifying the names, canceling prior declarations, writing the get, and delivering the get. 

The name verification stage can take place separately, before the other stages, while the remaining three stages are always conducted together and in sequence, one after the other.

Here are the main details of each stage:

Divorce at the rabbinate – verifying the names

The name verification stage is designed to check carefully and thoroughly the exact names of the divorcing couple, their parents, and even their nicknames (if any), before the couple’s names are recorded on the get. 

This check prevents confusion and errors in writing the spouses’ names, since any mistake in the names invalidates the get. The strict check also prevents mixing up the divorcing couple with another couple bearing identical names who are still married to each other.  

For this stage, each spouse must bring a witness who knows them well and personally and can testify to that spouse’s first name and surname.

After the names are verified, the dayan (rabbinical judge) confirms with the couple that the divorce is being carried out of their full and free will, that they understand the meaning of the get and know that once it is given they will be permitted to marry others, and that the wife understands that after the divorce she will not be able to marry a kohen. 

Divorce at the rabbinate – canceling prior declarations 

A “declaration” here means a statement or commitment concerning the granting of the get that the husband made in the past and that could invalidate the get. For example, a statement that he wants the get to take effect only if his wife waives support payments, or that he is granting the get under pressure and not of his own free will. To be clear, this covers only statements that concern the get itself, not agreements the spouses made about the matters related to the divorce, such as the division of property, support payments, and child custody. 

The husband is therefore required to cancel, before witnesses, any such declaration or commitment he made in the past, to ensure that the get he is about to give is fully valid. 

To that end, the dayanim ask the husband whether he has ever done anything that could invalidate the get. Whether he answers yes or no, he is required to cancel any such declarations and to repeat after the dayan a formula along these lines: 

“Hear me!
You are my witnesses that I hereby cancel before you every declaration and statement I have made
and everything I have said that, if upheld, could cause this get to be invalidated,
and I hereby disqualify any witnesses who might testify that I said anything that could invalidate the get.“

Divorce at the rabbinate – writing the get 

Writing the get on the parchment is the longest stage of the process. Present at this stage are the husband, the court scribe who writes the get, and the witnesses to its writing, who will sign at the bottom of the parchment (these are not the witnesses from the name verification stage, but officials of the rabbinical court). 

The scribe writes the get as the husband’s emissary, so the husband must be present in the writing room throughout. The wife’s presence is not required at this stage, and she may wait outside the room where the get is being written. 

Divorce at the rabbinate – delivering the get 

The delivery of the get from the husband to the wife takes place in the presence of the couple, the dayanim, and the witnesses who signed the get. 

Before the get is delivered, the wife is asked to remove any rings from her hands, so that nothing separates or intervenes between her hands and the get she is about to receive from her husband. 

The husband then says to the wife words to this effect: “This is your get; accept this get, for you are hereby divorced from me from this moment, and you are permitted to marry any man.”

The delivery of the get from the husband to the wife formally and ceremonially ends their marriage. 

Would you like advice on divorce proceedings at the rabbinate? Call me free of charge and I will be happy to assist.

Yours,

Adv. Avital Horef

* Updated for 2026