ABSTRACT
Rabbinical and civil courts in Israel have parallel jurisdiction in certain matters concerning Jewish children.1 Section 9 of the Rabbinical Courts Jurisdiction (Marriage and Divorce) Law, 5713-1953, states that in certain matters of personal status of Jews, such as guardianship, ‘a Rabbinical court shall have jurisdiction after all parties concerned have expressed their consent thereto’. Section 3 of the same law sets out an alternative way to grant jurisdiction to a rabbinical court in matters concerning children: ‘where a suit of divorce between Jews has been filed in a Rabbinical court, whether by the wife or by the husband, a Rabbinical court shall have exclusive jurisdiction in any matter connected with such suit, including maintenance for the wife and for the children of the couple’. The Israeli Supreme Court has interpreted this section as follows: custody matters are connected by their character and nature to the divorce litigation,2 and therefore need not be linked explicitly to a suit of divorce.3 Other matters, including certain matters concerning the fate of children, such as their education,4 are not linked by their character and nature to the divorce litigation, and therefore they have to be linked explicitly and the linkage should be sincere.5
