A ''shtar siruv'' (also spelled ''seruv'') is a form of

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

order issued by a ''

beth din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

'' (rabbinical court) in an effort to compel action by an individual. The ''siruv'' has been described as a form of '' cherem'' (which combines characteristics of

shunning Shunning can be the act of social rejection, or emotional distance. In a religious context, shunning is a formal decision by a denomination or a congregation to cease interaction with an individual or a group, and follows a particular set of rule ...

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

) for a party who refuses to appear before a beth din. Under the terms of a ''siruv'', the individual is to be shunned by the community until the terms of the order issued by the ''beth din'' are addressed. While most Jewish litigants are adjured from pursuing justice against other Jews in the civil court system, in the case of a ''siruv'', the ''beth din'' may permit use of the secular courts by the plaintiff. In 1993, the

Rabbinical Council of America The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union (OU). It is the main pr ...

(RCA), one of the world's largest organizations of

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

s, issued a resolution regarding spouses who refuse to comply with a ''beth din'' in the issuance of a ''

get Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS, a ...

'' (the formal divorce document presented by a husband to his wife to terminate their marriage under

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws which is derived from the Torah, written and Oral Tora ...

). Synagogues of RCA members were encouraged to formulate procedures under which a spouse under a ''siruv'' regarding their failure to comply with issuance of a ''get'' would be excluded from membership, employment, elective and appointed positions in the synagogue; would be excluded from being called to the ''Torah'' or lead services. Synagogues would announce the non-compliant individual's name monthly after ''

shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; he, שַׁבָּת, Šabbāṯ, , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical storie ...

'' services and would publish the person's name in its bulletin, including a call to others to "limit their social and economic relations to such persons."Pre-Nuptial Agreements and Recalcitrant Spouses 1993

, June 1, 1993. Accessed October 13, 2008.

References

{{Reflist Jewish courts and civil law