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Amid War, Jewish Divorce Rates Jumped 6.5% Last Year
The rabbinical court system said Tuesday, February 4, it saw a 6.5% increase in divorces among Jewish Israelis in 2024, compared to 2023, recording 11,542 divorces compared to 10,838 the year before.
The rise in numbers came amid the stresses of the more than year-long war that started with the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre and saw divorce rates climb to heights not seen since 2021 in the wake of COVID lockdowns — when 11,567 couples separated, according to the same data set.
Family law in Israel is administered by religious authorities. The figures only include Jewish Israelis under the authority of the rabbinate and not Muslim and Christian citizens.
Areas that saw particularly high increases year-over-year included Beit Shemesh, which saw a 45% increase; Kiryat Gat, where divorces jumped 45%; Beitar Illit, where they jumped 44%; and Ashkelon, where they jumped 31%. In Tel Aviv-Jaffa, divorces rose 15%.
Locales that saw a dip in divorces this past year included Jerusalem, where the number of divorces went down 4%, Ra’anana, where they went down 18%, and Kiryat Ata, in the Haifa District, where they went down 11%. (TOI/VFI News)