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Sentenced to
Marriage |
Mon., Dec. 5; 3:30 pm
Palm Beach Premiere
Jerusalem Film Festival Best Documentary, 2004
Israel, 2004; Anat Zuria, director
Hebrew w/ English subtitles; 65 minutes
A shocking documentary about “divorce
Israeli-style,” a process guided strictly by
archaic, fundamentalist Orthodox law. Given
unprecedented access, Anat Zuria brings her cameras
into the halls of rabbinical courts (in Israel
there’s no separation between church and state) in
order to follow women caught in this demoralizing
legal labryrinth. Because of almost Kafkaesque
loopholes, husbands can live with other women and
withhold child support while wives are forbidden
contact with other men and are unable to move on
until divorce is granted. Many women are even forced
to pay huge sums to gain their freedom. As a result,
thousands of Jewish women have lived in limbo
indefinitely, both in and outside Israel.
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