InJewish law, ashtar siruv (Hebrew:כתב סירוב; sometimes onlysiruv or spelledseruv) is a form ofcontempt of court order issued by abeth din (rabbinical court) in an effort to compel action by an individual.[1]
Thesiruv has been described as a form ofcherem (which combines characteristics ofshunning orexcommunication) for a party who refuses to appear before abeth din. Under the terms of asiruv, the individual is to be shunned by the community until the terms of the order issued by thebeth din are addressed. While most Jewish litigants are adjured from pursuing justice against other Jews in the civil court system, in the case of asiruv, thebeth din may permit use of the secular courts by the plaintiff.[2]
In 1993, theRabbinical Council of America (RCA), one of the world's largest organizations ofOrthodoxrabbis, issued a resolution regarding spouses who refuse to comply with abeth din in the issuance of aget (the formal divorce document presented by a husband to his wife to terminate their marriage underJewish law). Synagogues of RCA members were encouraged to formulate procedures under which a spouse under asiruv regarding their failure to comply with issuance of aget would be excluded from membership, employment, elective and appointed positions in the synagogue; would be excluded from being called to theTorah or lead services. Synagogues would announce the non-compliant individual's name monthly aftershabbat 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."[3]