Connecticut Supreme Court, Hartford, Conn. May 2022. The state Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to enforce a premarital agreement signed by a couple as part of their Jewish wedding ceremony, saying that attempts to interpret and enforce disputes over religious doctrine would violate the constitutional prohibition against government interference in matters of religion. The issue before the court was whether the right to free practice of religion prohibits civil courts from enforcing terms of the Jewish wedding contract known as a Ketubah — or, for that matter, other marriage agreements that are part of weddings in other faiths. The Ketubah in question, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, says, among other things, that, in the event of divorce, the couple agrees to comply with “Torah law as in the manner of Jewish people.” Given the ‘‘vastly conflicting’’ interpretations of Torah law on marriage and divorce, the court said in a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Richard Robinson that resolving the marital split would force the justices to become “entangled” in questions about religions practice in a way that crosses the Constitutional divide between church and state. Husband Jon-Jay Tilsen, a retired conservative rabbi, brought the case to the Supreme Court […]
