Today's Jerusalem Post reports on an odd case that is about to go to Family Court in Israel. In Israel Jewish marriage, divorce and personal status issues are governed by Jewish law (Halacha), sometimes applied by rabbinic courts and sometimes applied by the civil Family Court. (Background.) Under Jewish law (halacha), a child born from an adulterous relationship holds the status of "mamzer" and in Israel is only permitted to marry a convert to Judaism or another mamzer. However there is a strong presumption that a child conceived while a woman is married was in fact fathered by the woman's husband. Surprisingly, a mother-- whose name is not reported-- is seeking to have the Family Court rule that her son (identified only by the pseudonym Moshe) was in fact a mamzer, even though she was eight months pregnant before she was formally divorced from her husband.
Represented by an organization that defends the rights of unconventional families, the mother-- a secular Jew-- wants a DNA test to show that Moshe's father is in fact the man who she married after her divorce from her first husband was final. Rabbi Moshe Rauchverger, a senior member of the Chief Rabbinate's Governing Council and Haifa marriage registrar, says that the mother should protect her son's presumed legitimacy. The mother's attorney, however, emphasized the point that the lawsuit aims to make: "It is absurd that in Israel of the 21st century people like Moshe have to suffer because of Halacha."
