The Rabbinical Court of Jerusalem has exempted a man from paying child support to his two daughters because ‘he does not want to fund their secular lifestyle’.
The judges accepted the father’s statement that his former wife:
Chose to violate the divorce agreement and raise the daughters in a lifestyle identical to hers.
As a result, he will no longer have to make regular payments to the mother of 1,350 shekels (£223) to support their two daughters, aged 17 and 12.
The parents also had three sons who live with the father. Two of them are minors, and the court has banned the mother from seeing them because she is non-religious.
The father filed his lawsuit seeking the exemption two months ago, asserting that their 2010 divorce agreement stipulated that the children would be educated and live a lifestyle according to Orthodox Jewish law. The court ruled in his favour about a week ago.
The man found religion late in life and and embraced ultra-Orthodox Judaism.
• Picture shows an ultra-Orthodox Jew standing outside the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court. Photo: Miriam Alster/FLASH90)