Israeli Rabbinate Caps Ketubah Amounts Amid Concerns Over Women's Rights

On Thursday, the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel decided to limit the monetary amounts recorded in the ketubah, the traditional Jewish marriage contract, to a range between 36,000 and 360,000 shekels. This change will be integrated into the marriage registration procedure. The Rabbinate justified the move by stating that couples often list unrealistic sums that cannot be fulfilled, which undermines the ketubah's halachic significance.

The decision, initiated by Chief Sephardic Rabbi and President of the Rabbinical High Court David Yosef and recommended by a committee of rabbinical judges including Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Kalman Bar, aims to restore the ketubah as a meaningful religious document rather than an empty declaration. Rabbi Bar explained that grooms frequently commit to fictitious amounts they have no intention or ability to pay, damaging the document's religious value.

However, the ruling has sparked concerns about potential harm to women's rights. Attorney Batya Kahana Dror of the Israel Beiteinu party, an expert on rabbinical courts, warned that the cap might reduce women's leverage against husbands who refuse to grant a divorce (get) and limit their ability to claim compensation when no marital property exists. She also cautioned that attempts to make the ketubah a legally binding document could be a strategy by rabbinical courts to circumvent Israel's Family Property Law, which mandates equal division of property acquired during marriage.

Since the enactment of the Family Property Law, the ketubah's financial amount has lost much practical significance, serving mainly in cases where no property was accumulated or as a threat in divorce proceedings. Critics argue that limiting the ketubah amount could undermine protections for women and revive outdated legal approaches to marital property division.