Rabbi Sperber will be discussing a number landmark innovative rulings issued in Israel by private rabbinical courts, that he headed, freeing women (agunot) trapped for many years in non-viable marriages. These private rabbinical courts operate outside the auspices of the state rabbinical courts and have been perceived as a direct challenge to the legal monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate over issues of marriage and divorce in Israel.

More information regarding these cases can be found here:

"In Rare Move, Private Rabbinical Court Sets Chained Woman Free After 23 Years" (Times of Israel, June 2018); YouTube video (in Hebrew) from the Center for Women's Justice, (posted August 2018); and "Private Panel of Rabbis Annuls Marriage of Abused Wife Who Sought Divorce" (Times of Israel, February 2019).

Rabbi Sperber is Darkhei Noam's halachic advisor. He is the Milan Rovan Professor of Talmudic Research at Bar Ilan University, rabbi of Congregation Menachem Zion in the Old City of Jerusalem, and a recipient of the Israel Prize for his seven-volume work Minhagel Yisrael.

Rabbi Sperber's talk will begin after Kiddush, at approximately 12:30p.

Childcare will be available.