Forward to the Prenuptial Agreement by Norman Lamm - President, Yeshiva University
Posted on 6:58AM September 28, 2004 | Email This
The term agunah is one which has historically been associated with those unfortunate women whose husbands had disappeared, or were missing for one or another reason, and who therefore were not free to remarry. Indeed the rabbinic literature, in the codes and responsa, as well as in the Talmud, has always been extraordinarily preoccupied with ameliorating the tragic fate of such women who find themselves indefinitely and literally "anchored" to their absent spouses.But it is only in modern times that a new phenomenon has emerged: some men deliberately inflict the status of iggun on their spouses, for ulterior motives, by refusing to initiate the get process as required by halakhah. This has become an acute communal problem that demands redress. As a result of the loss of authority of the community and its judicial institutions, and a concomitant inability to exert uniform social sanctions upon recalcitrant husbands, the refusal to "give a get" has posed a particularly difficult challenge to the contemporary orthodox community, both lay and rabbinic.
Among the solutions that have been offered in recent years in addressing the complexities of the issue, the prenuptial agreement formulated with great care and precision by Rabbi Mordechai Willig has received wide support and acceptance. The Orthodox Caucus in particular is to be commended for undertaking to sponsor, underwrite, and promote the prenuptial compact, to as broad a segment of the Jewish community as possible. As part of that effort, this booklet is an important contribution to the effort to make that prenuptial contract better understood, more accessible, and easier to implement in the context of the uppah and wedding preparations. It is my fervent hope that in the not too distant future, the use of the prenuptial will become de rigeur at all weddings, as an integral element of every marriage ceremony, reflecting true mutual love and respect, and social responsibility, in a shared commitment to each other and the greater glory of Torah, and to a life of derekh eretz--one of Jewish dignity and moral sensitivity.
