Abstract

In recent decades, Israel and the Jewish world have witnessed a growing rebellion against the phenomenon of recalcitrant husbands who withhold a get—a Jewish bill of divorce—from their wives. Discussion has centered on the women who are victims of get refusal. This study has attempted to understand the phenomenon of get refusal from the viewpoint of the recalcitrant husbands.

Because the phenomenon could not be studied by interviewing the target population directly, an alternative methodology, used in ethnographic research, was chosen. The results indicate, among other findings, that most of the recalcitrant husbands, especially the "hard-core" ones, are from the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox sectors, and that 40% of those defined as such belong to a low socio-economic status group. The most frequent personality traits found to be characteristic of recalcitrant husbands were egocentricity and evasion of responsibility, excessive need for domination in a relationship and inability to separate.

Data and professional experience indicate that get refusal develops under certain personality and/or social conditions. Clinical research and development of diagnostic and treatment methods will contribute to a deeper understanding of the phenomenon, which may help recalcitrant husbands to be treated professionally and to change for their own sakes and for the sake of their families and their social environment.

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