There is a big debate these days about the pre-nuptial agreement. There are 3 camps: 1] One group are the Rabbonim who say that the pre-nup is halachically valid and therefore must be signed in order to prevent future agunos. 2] Another group are Rabbonim [some very very prominent such as Rav Moshe Shternbuch Shlita and many others] who say that a get given under force of the pre-nup constitutes a coerced and thus unkosher get. 3] The third group are people who don't know the halacha, aren't qualified to rule on this very, very complex issue, but are nevertheless pushing hard for couples to sign the agreement.
The third group is not about halacha, not about Hashem, not about kedusha or Torah but about "women's rights". "Women's rights" is not a Torah conept but one that was born in the 1960's with the advent of modern feminism. The Torah gives women PLENTY of right and in many cases men are "discriminated" against in favor of women. There is an entire book about it which I highly recommend. It is called "Maseches Kesubos". Anybody who hasn't learned through this "book" thoroughly has no right to have an opinion on this matter. So of course the torah cares very much about the needs and feelings of women. But the notion that we should change or modify halacha in order to placate modern woman is anathema to our tradition and a great danger.
That is why I am very troubled by all of these "lobbyists" with have no understanding of halacha who think that they are doing women a favor by enforcing the pre-nup.
The reality is that if people DO sign the pre-nup and then get divorced under the coercion which is mandated by the agreement - according to many poskim the children born from the next marriage will be mamzerim. So what might seem like a big favor to women is might in fact cause a tremendous disadvantage to the next generation.
So let the Rabbonim "fight it out" in the Beis Medrash and get to the truth. I am not taking sides because I am not qualified to do so. But I feel that it is very dangerous when people push for halachic reform when they have no concept of halacha and enter into a zone in which they have zero expertise.
To be clear: I don't want there to be agunos. But I also don't want the halachic process to be compromised or for there to be a proliferation of mamzerim in Klal Yisrael.
This is a thorny problem. The root of it of course is bad people with faulty middos who want to hurt another person [i.e. their spouse] by withholding a get. [BTW - Men don't have a monopoly on being mean, sneaky, conniving or vengeful. Women do it just as well if not better in many cases]. But that cancer is not so easy to uproot. נער הייתי וגם זקנתי and I have seen how people go through decades upon decades without ever changing bad middos. They take their bad middos with them to the grave - and beyond.
So this is a call to fix your middos now so that you can return a pure soul to Hashem, bereft of all of the filth that at one time had attached itself.
And - this is the ikker - bi-simcha.
