Annals of Halakha: No Glatt Kosher For Jailed Recalcitrant Husband

Jailed because he refused to give his wife a Jewish divorce, husband was denied glatt kosher meals by Israel's High Rabbinical Court in an effort to force him to comply. Instead, he goes on hunger strike rather than eat regular kosher food.

No glatt kosher for jailed recalcitrant husband
Man who has been jailed for two years for refusing to grant his wife a divorce goes on hunger strike after rabbinical court orders prison service to stop providing him with strictly kosher meals
Kobi Nahshoni • Ynet

The Great Rabbinical Court has ordered the Israel Prison Service to deny a jailed long-time recalcitrant husband glatt kosher meals, as means to pressure him into granting his wife a divorce.

In response the man declared a hunger strike and is currently being fed intravenously.

The couple got married 10 years ago, and two years later, after they already had two children together, the two separated and have been living apart ever since.

When they filed for a divorce with the rabbinic court it seemed that both sides were interested in a quick procedure, and the husband even stated at the time that he did not want to see his wife ever again.

But since then, and for the last eight years, the man has come up with various arguments and demands that have prevented the divorce from being finalized.

As the situation got more and more complicated, the woman agreed to give up alimonies, and visitation rights have been agreed upon. But the husband continued in his attempts to blackmail the wife.

Sanctions fail
The case was finally handed over to the Great Rabbinical Court, where the judges soon ruled that the man was in fact a recalcitrant husband, who is not genuinely interested in a divorce. "This situation must be put a stop to," they said in their verdict.

The court then sentenced the man to five years in prison, of which he has already served two. However, even after he was incarcerated, the man continued to present demands and conditions to his wife in return for a divorce.

Having used up most of the sanctions available to them, the judges then came up with a new idea. They ordered the IPS to take the man out of the religious wing in which he was being held, put him in solitary confinement for two weeks, and stop providing him with strictly kosher meals.
 
But it seems that the stubborn man is willing to do anything but grant his wife her freedom. In recent days he has been on a hunger strike in protest of the change in his food's kashrut kevel, and the wardens were forced to forcefully put him on IV.

Most notable to me is the length of time the man spent out of jail, refusing to give his wife a get – 6 years. Six years is a long time in a woman's life, and no one can give her those years back

Comments

[shmuel]

The hatred, the stubbornness, the stupidity... Truly one evil bastard. And yes, noone can give her back those lost years. He has much to answer for.

[Ben]

The get procedure must be updated. No girl should ever agree to wed without a prenap agreement.

[kathiego]

There should be a provision in the Ketubah for the woman and man to be granted a divorce if the marriage is essentially dissolved such as the case in this instance where they lived together for a short time and then separated themselves. The man should not use his not giving the woman a get as a club to further abuse her or get things out of her.

[MisterApikoros]

The answer, of course, is to have civil marriage and divorce proceedings in Israel. This would render the "get" no more meaningful than it is here in the USA.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Since when do we die for a chumra?

[Chicago Samson]

If he wants to srarve himself to death, I say, "Let him ..." That's one way for the woman to become free.

[MisterApikoros]

Let him eat lobster. Maybe God will strike him dead.

[yidandahalf]

Unlike Bobby Sands and his compatriots, this fool truly has an ideal he is willing to die for. I can only admire him. He is an example of great altruism, I hope he fades fast and we need hear no more of him.

[Dr. Dave]

Instead of prison lets send him to Vegas to hang with Penn Jilette (and Teller).
He'll be eating bacon in no time!

Seriously - feed him fruits and vegetables. legumes for proteins.

[ah-pee-chorus]

in every area of life where people interact, such as business, politics, board games, sports etc.. when it becomes evident that the rules favor one side over the other or allow a participant to use an oversight in the rules to gain an unfair advantage , the rules are amended to eliminate the loophole.
but not in halacha. the recent rabbis , having not learned the lessons from the talmud in which the halacha was treated as something that must adhere to the overriding principles of "va chai bahem" and "lo bashamayim hee" , as evidenced by the talmud sanctioning proozbool, shtar mechira, or even ignoring shemitta altogether, and prohibiting yibbum, have chosen instead to igtnore even the shoresh of the word halacha.. holech. to walk ,to go,to move.
having decided that halacha must be static forever, many instances appear where it is untenable. the area of "get" is perhaps the most prominent example. the rabbis are permitting a horribly unfair process to continue where a man holds all the cards over a womans life. this is shameful. the rabbis need to either admit that judaism still considers a man's wife to be his property, as implied in the torah, and therefore this is not a big deal, or get off their asses and find a legal loophole or legal fiction which will end this abomination, thereby restoring dignity to all jewish women, and the halacha itself, lest both become a laughingstock and eventually irrelevant.

[Chicago Samson]

It is amazing that the principle of annulment has been used throughout Jewish history since the days of Late Antiquity.

In one Responsa of the Rashbam, he writes:

The correct rationale for all Talmudic statements that “the Rabbis annul this marriage” is that the court has the authority to expropriate the money used to effect the marriage, since the law recognizes the principle of hefker bet din hefker. This being so, the money does not belong to him [the groom]—and thus he did not marry her with his money, and she is not married at all.

If so, we may expand this principle to cover a communal enactment, since the community may expropriate the property of any of its members, and all courts in every generation have the power to expropriate private property because “Jephthah in his generation is equal to Samuel in his generation.” …

Consequently, a community that adopts an enactment to the effect that any marriage not having the consent of the communal leaders is invalid has thereby taken the property away from the man and transferred it to the woman on condition that the man shall have no right to it. Since it did not belong to him, he gave her nothing of his own; what she obtained from him was ownerless property that had been taken away from him. She is [therefore] not married at all.

The community may do this as a protective measure to prevent an unworthy man from coming forward to entice a girl from a distinguished family and marry her in secret. If it is an earlier enactment [before the man moved into the town], then everyone implicitly consented to it, and the matter is even simpler.

(Cited from Jewish law : History, sources, principles = Ha-mishpat ha-Ivri, p. 840.)

Unfortunately, the Orthodox and Haredi communities refuse to utilize such a measure because it involves a biblical issur. However, the loophole exists and this issue needs to be reappraised. Rav Moshe Feinstein utilized numerous Halachic arguments to annul marriages that occurred on a variety of different issues, e.g., the failure to disclose vital personal history, and so on.

The failure not to do so, is sinful. I believe that today's Haredim will ultimately have to answer to God for their stubbornness and stupidity in Olam HaEmet. They are creating halachic anarchy and Hilul HaShem.

[Isa]

"""currently being fed intravenously."""

Do what we do to stubborn prisoners at Gitmo...

Force a rubber tube down their throat and pump whatever you want...
This works wonders and has 'broken' many a Islamo crazy

[A. Nuran]

So don't force I.V. feedings on him. A man doesn't want to eat, he doesn't want to eat.

If he comes to his senses he can have all the glatt food he wants.

If he continues to be a selfish vicious bastard he will starve to death, she will be a widow, and everyone left will be happy.

What's the downside?

[ah-pee-chorus]

let munchausen by proxy woman "feed" him.

[WoolSilkCotton]

++currently being fed intravenously++

If you're being fed intravenously, then you're not starving, and his 'hunger strike' is bullsh!t.

If he really wants to show he's on a hunger strike, he should simply pull out the IV from his arm. Otherwise, it's like the Woody Allen suicide attempt, where he turns on the gas oven but leaves the windows open.

[SJ]

The fact of the matter is that it is morally wrong for orthodox judiasm to not let a woman remarry if she gets a secular divorce. In my opinion this is partly how orthodox judaism rigs their supposedly "low" divorce rate.

Everyone is angry att the recalcitrant husband but few are saying how orthodox society sucks.

[MisterApikoros]

Good one, ABC.

[Hometown Postville]

I didn't know people could be jailed for refusing to divorce. I agree with the other posts regarding his "hunger strike" using IV's- that's not a true hunger strike. He is choosing his own fate. Jail is not supposed to be like a hotel where one can pick and choose their amenities. It is incarceration and should be void of privelages. Unfortunately, the woman has suffered all these years, likely shunned by those supporting him and certainly unable to have another relationship. Who provides support for her and their family during this time?

[WoolSilkCotton]

++ SJ | July 19, 2009 at 02:37 PM++

Excellent posting.

[ah-pee-chorus]

thanks, mistera

[justayid]

persumably civil divorce in Israel will go with civil marriage, and will not be available to those who chose a religious marriage, so Im not sure thats the solution. Anyway, it does nothing for those of us who to follow the halacha.

My preferred halachik solution is this : you marry "kdat moshe v'israel" implies that one accepts the right of a bet din to issue a get. Anyone who refuses a get, was clearly insincere when taking the vow, so the marriage is annuled.

[justayid]

SJ - because a secular divorce does not halachically end a kiddushin. The O are correct on that.

wrt to hunger strikes - if they dont force feed this guy, how will they justify force feeding, say a Pal terrorist? And if they let THEM die, they will have major political problems on their hands. Prisons cannot be complicit in prisoner suicides, sorry.