Haifa, Israel – In an unprecedented move, the Haifa Rabbinical Court has ordered a woman to answer questions about her relations with men and alleged drug abuse while connected to a lie detector, Army Radio revealed.
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The woman has reportedly denied accusations by her husband, who told the rabbinical court his wife had been unfaithful and had smoked drugs.
According to the report, if the lie detector verifies her husband’s claims, the woman will not receive custody over her children.
Tests conducted by a polygraph machine are not admissible in non-rabbinical courts but are used by police to help decide on the credibility of a suspect’s account.
“There is halachic justification to make use of a lie detector in order to deter swindlers from hiding the truth,” the judges wrote in the ruling.
“Today, we do not need to torment the swindlers until they confess, but rather, lie detectors may be used to reveal a lying witness.”
The rabbinical judges, headed by the court’s chief judge Rabbi Haim Hertzberg, ordered the woman to answer three questions related to the suspicions against her.
According to the radio station, the court allowed the woman to formulate a set of questions for her husband to answer while connected to a polygraph machine.
Rabbi Eliyahu Ben-Dahan, administrative head of the Rabbinical Courts, told the radio station that the ruling would serve as a precedent allowing the use of modern tools, such as the polygraph, in divorce or child custody cases with insufficient evidence.
You can have false positives on the one hand. Some people can evade the test and look innocent on the other. There are reasons it is not accepted in secular court.
But the old lei detector was still more accurate “the women use to drink only water”
there is a reason why a polygraph machine is not permissible in court, because the accuracy is not that great it can be fooled.
While laudable, the fact remains that the science behind and reliability of polygrpahs has been discredited over the past number of years by experts and courts throughout the world. To solely base custody on this test method alone, one notorious for false positives, is abhorent.
This makes sense only if a man charged by his wife with the same behavior must also take the lie dectector tests. That concept of equal treatment is a basic requirement of halacha. In either case, the results of the test must be treated with some skepticism since the results are still not admissible in the civil courts because they are not always reliable. A husband who refuses to take the same test a wife is subject to should be summarily kicked out of the beis din.
The halacha is clear on this matter: there must be 2 kosher witnesses to infidelity. This Bais Din is abusing the law on this matter. Lie Detector tests are NEVER used in divorce/infidelity cases as most courts require hard proof, such as photos snapped by a private investigator or tapping phone lines or credit card receipts for hotels and flowers. Her responses are inadmissable in a Court of Law and the Bais Din has no authority to undermine her parental rights based on NO PROOF, but just allegations.
Will this help to test a ‘Sotah’ ?
I thought custody was to be determined based on the best interests of the children. Even a spouse who was unfaithful can still be a great parent. It sounds like the court wants to punish this lady. As for “smoking drugs” a hair test or urinalysis would make a lot more sense. Lie detectors are not accepted in most courts around the world because they are not sufficiently reliable.
#4 – you are a lawyer because you put in the word “solely”- these kind of cases have long stories to tell it seems the beis din is using the polygraph as a “snif” not that the whole case is based on this one test
#5- the article if accurate states that the wife formulated a set of q’s for the husband
“hoshiva shofteinu kevarishona”…
when it comes to jewish law aren’t we suppose to have wittness ? are we replacing people for lie detectors ?
Why do so many assume that the rabbonim are idiots and morons.
I doubt they would really consider using the polygraph as their “sole” reason for any decision. However, they can use it to help them weigh the case when they already have good reasons to suspect, etc.,
We don’t like to talk about this, as it is both embarrassing and painful to admit, but we have a much higher, and ever-increasing, level of marital cheating on the part of the women. From Willi to Flatbush, from Yerushalayim to Kfar xxxxxx, more and more women are cheating. Many “experts” say they are cheating more than men, other say they are now “equal.” But either way, there is a clear halacha, whether you agree or not, that once the woman has cheated she is totally ossur to the husband. He may not “forgive” her and stay married. This means a beis din now needs help.
Also to our shame, is the fact that following divorce, frum women alienate children from the father. This is a tragedy. Especially when the woman goes off the derech and takes the kids with her.
I am not saying this is “the” solution. But I do see the increasing need for the facts. BYW, new equip and techniques are more accurate than the old ones
#4 is right — this is abhorrent and why no frum woman in her right mind should ever consent to a Beth Din divorce — evolving secular law, by the people and for the people, provides vastly superior recognition and protections for women and children.
To all those Yidden who praise the secular and put down our own holy laws of Torah!
Where did you learn??!!! What do you think the Torah is???? Come on now, the Torah is GOD’s words to us! Evolving civil laws??!!! Are you out of your mind??? Like in 1930s in Germany! The laws were evolving allright!
Get a brain, learn Torah!
#9 – 14: You, apparently, are not a lawyer or a very thorough reader. My comment was in reference to the fact that custody of the children, sole custody mind you, is based on this examination. “According to the report, if the lie detector verifies her husband’s claims, the woman will not receive custody over her children.”
For child abusers, only two adult witnesses are satisfactory proof, but for wives failing a polygraph is enough.