A report on the activity of the rabbinical courts in the Corona year reveals surprising data: For the first time, there is a decrease in the number of divorce cases and family disputes in Israel.
With the outbreak of the epidemic and the closures in early 2020, commentators and family counselors appeared in the media, warning that the closure and friction in D. Amot would cause a significant increase in family crises and lead to a jump in the number of divorcees. A cartoon even appeared in the press, showing a long line on the steps of the rabbinical court the day after the closure.
Now, at the end of 2020, the management of the rabbinical courts has published a report on the activities of the courts in the corona year – and it turns out that the mountain did not give birth to even a mouse. The steady increase in the number of divorcees and those seeking to divorce in recent years has not only been halted, but has even been recorded in the corona year.
In 2020, 11,076 couples divorced in the rabbinical courts in Israel, compared to 11,451 who divorced in 2019 – A 3% drop in the divorce rate.
In the year of the Corona and the closures, 3,852 divorce cases were opened in the courts, compared with 4,158 cases opened in 2019. That is, a decrease of 7%.
There is also a decrease in the number of cases opened for approval of a divorce agreement by consent: 5,660 in 2020, compared with 5,701 in 2019 – a decrease of 1%. Even in the number of cases opened in a joint application for divorce, there is a marked decrease.
In the corona year the judicial system of the rabbinical courts continued to operate. Its activities were carried out in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and the “purple mark”, and for part of the period it even operated under the guidelines set forth in the emergency regulations decided by the government.
The director of the rabbinical courts, Rabbi Dayan Malka, thanked the honor of the judges of Israel and all the employees of the rabbinical court system, who took care to provide service in as routine an activity as possible under the Corona conditions while maintaining the “purple mark” rules. All this despite the fact that some dayan and workers fell ill in Corona.
Rabbi Malka noted the fact that contrary to estimates and predictions of the corona’s impact on family disputes, the corona crisis along with the tension and stay in homes did not aggravate the situation and the number of divorcees even decreased – and this is to be welcomed.