Agunah Revisited: How To Avoid High Conflict Divorce

Agunah Revisited: How To Avoid High Conflict Divorce

From 18Forty Podcast by 18Forty

May 19, 2026 · 1h 21m

About this episode

The episode revisits the topic of agunot and discusses the escalation of amicable divorces to high-conflict situations in the Jewish community.

In this episode of the 18Forty Podcast , we revisit the topic of agunot by talking to Sarah Nissel and Yona Elishis, who run the Jewish Divorce Assistance Center of Los Angeles. We’re also joined by Keshet Starr, CEO of Shalom Task Force. In this episode we discuss: How do potentially amicable divorces escalate to being high-conflict? Why does adversarial divorce seem to be increasingly common in the Jewish community? What do experts in the area of agunot think of the related social-media movements? Tune in to hear a conversation about the integrity of our marriages in the Jewish community. Interview begins at 15:16. Keshet Starr joins at 53:20. Sarah M. Nissel is the founding Executive Director of the Jewish Divorce Assistance Center and a visiting professor of law and religion at Pepperdine Caruso school of law, where she leads the Faith & Family Mediation Clinic. A Yale and NYU Law graduate, she previously worked in white-collar and complex litigation, served at the Innocence Project, and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four children. Yona Elishis is a family law mediator and Adjunct Clinical Professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, where she teaches in…

People in this episode

Guests: Sarah Nissel, Yona Elishis, Keshet Starr

Topics covered

  • divorce
  • agunot
  • high-conflict divorce
  • Jewish community
  • marriage integrity
  • family law

Keywords

  • agunot
  • divorce assistance
  • high-conflict divorce
  • Jewish community
  • family mediation
  • marriage integrity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Jewish Divorce Assistance Center of Los Angeles, Shalom Task Force, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law

Places: Los Angeles, Toronto, New York, Yale, NYU

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