"Why Didn't You Leave Him?": Epistemic Injustice in Israel's Rabbinical Courts

Abstract: This paper is based on a critical narrative reading of Israeli rabbinical court rulings issued between the years 2015 and 2023 that deal with constructing grounds for divorce based on spousal physical violence. It investigates fundamental gendered assumptions and values that underlie the rulings, and how gender is established in legal-halakhic texts. We focus on a feminist epistemological critique of the methods of knowledge production and interpretation in rabbinical courts. Knowledge is shaped by the backdrop of social power relations and thus tends to overlook the voices and life experiences of marginalized populations who did not take part in its construction, such as women. Our narrative reading demonstrates how rabbinical court rulings do not take into account the real-world dynamics of domestic violence, relying instead on unfounded assumptions. As a result, women survivors of domestic abuse face systemic barriers to achieving justice in rabbinical courts.