Can the Israeli family be saved?

The divorce rate in Israel is steadily on the rise, with over 10,000 divorces per year! While society has become much more accepting of divorce, most of us still get married in the hopes of it lasting forever. So why do so many marriages fall apart?

One of the most common reasons for divorce is lack of communication. When spouses stop talking to each other or don’t express themselves in a loving way, the marriage begins to erode. It’s easy to get bogged down in the details of daily life (“Did you take out the garbage?” “I need the car tomorrow”) and forget about honest and open communication that brings you together. Couples who did not see loving communication at home may have a harder time identifying and implementing it. They may be lacking the tools they need to speak and listen properly.

And then there’s the arguing. All couples argue, but for some it’s a blip on the radar and for others it’s extremely destructive. When couples are focused on proving they are right and hurting the other person, the effects of the argument last long beyond the actual fight. Lack of resources for conflict resolution cause issues to fester and ruins the atmosphere in the home.

The way to save Israeli families is to provide couples with communication skills early on, before marriage or within the first two years. These tools are easy to learn and they can be implemented right away. Amuta Together in Happiness – B’Yachad B’Osher is dedicated to running marriage education workshops in the I-PREP method (Israel – Prevention Relationship Education Program). These workshops are interactive and engaging, with couples working together to improve their communication and conflict resolution techniques.

In honor of Family Day and Rosh Chodesh Adar, the next workshop for engaged and newly married couples will take place on February 20^th in Efrat.

In addition to workshops, the organization is involved in advocacy for spreading awareness about the importance of marriage education. It co-hosted with MK Yehudah Glick the Knesset conference on the importance of pre-marriage education.