When a Spouse Wants to Move to Israel
by Reb Akiva at Mystical Paths
When the Land of Israel and the Jewish people are together, the mishnah at the end of Ketubot describes what happens if one spouse wishes to move to Israel and the other doesn't...
All (every person) can bring up (compel all the members of his or her household to accompany him) to Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel) but none can take out (cannot coerce members of his or her household to leave Israel),
All (every person) can bring up (compel all the members of his or her household to accompany him) to Jerusalem but none can take out (cannot coerce members of his or her household to leave Jerusalem),
whether they be men or women. (Either spouse can insist, if the wife refuses she loses marital rights [ketubah] and is divorced. If the husband refuses, he is forced to divorce and pay the ketubah.)
The commentary notes the spouse can even be forced to move from a good house (outside of Israel) to a bad house (in Israel), from a complete Jewish community outside of Israel to a town with a majority of non-Jews in Israel.
4 comments:
Kotler&Solovechic-VHAMAVIN YAVIN
Yeah! Yeah! Thank you!
But what if the non-agreeing spouse does NOT WANT to divorce, but wait and hope the calcitrant spouse will follow? Why not?
heter meah Rabbonimhing
First, as always consult your local orthodox rabbi for how Jewish law applies in your situation. Second, after the many generations of exile many hold such halachot do not apply to our time.
This Mishnah does not say the spouse who wants to go MUST go and force the issue. It says if the spouse who wants to go DOES ACTUALLY force the issue, that spouse is held in the right. Therefore the other spouse is forced to divorce and accept unfavorable terms of divorce (man must pay ketubah or woman loses value of ketubah.)
I do not know if halacha is judged this way in our time.
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