After a lengthy review, a judge panel ruled in the case before them that the husband could have addressed his snoring but failed to do so, ordering him to pay 130,000 shekels ($35,000) in ketubah (Jewish marriage contract) compensation as demanded by his wife.
The couple’s marriage deteriorated amid mutual accusations, leading to divorce with an agreement to settle the ketubah issue later. During the hearing, the wife accused the husband of “excessive snoring.”
While he admitted the issue, he countered, “When I snored, she’d scream, get angry, hit the wall, curse and order me to go to the child’s room, even withholding intimacy.” The wife sought full ketubah payment plus additional compensation, while the husband argued her demands caused the split.
After consulting historical halachic rulings and modern medical insights, the judges wrote, “We face a unique case where both husband and wife agree he snores during sleep, driving her to frustration and anger. His snoring led her to leave the bedroom, halt intimacy and fuel mutual resentment, insults and curses.”
They noted that snoring is treatable through medical consultation, devices, therapies or diet adjustments. “Since the husband recognized his snoring deeply irritated his wife, he should have sought treatment for an admitted issue.
“Per the Jewish sages, if a person can change and doesn’t, he is deemed to have willfully driven his wife away, obligating him to pay the ketubah and its supplement… His snoring was solvable and his failure to act makes him liable for the full ketubah and supplement.”
The three judges diverged on the compensation amount. Rabbi Yair Lerner advocated for the full 260,000 shekels ($70,000), while Rabbis Yehuda Shachor and Yaron Navon argued the wife’s behavior also contributed to the rift, proposing 130,000 shekels. The majority upheld the lower sum in the final ruling.
