The Supreme Court has overturned a rabbinic court ruling by ordering that two young girls continue to attend secular schools against their father’s wishes. The father, who is religious, was married to the girls’ mother for eight years, and the two agreed to raise the children in an observant household. When the parents divorced they agreed in rabbinic court that the mother would have custody of the girls, today ages five and seven, and that the girls would be sent to a religious public school. However, the mother later sent the girls to a secular school despite the rabbinic court decision.
The Supreme Court ruled that moving the girls to a different school would cause them emotional damage, particularly given that they live with their mother, who is not religiously observant. The court rejected the rabbinic court’s argument that the girls would be distanced from their religious father due to their secular lifestyle, saying the father was “a good father, who loves the girls and cares for them” and would be able to maintain a strong relationship with the girls despite their religious differences.