After 18 Years Of Refusal, Man Finally Gives Wife A Get

18 years of refusing to grant a Jewish religious divorce known as a “get” to his wife culminating in a two-month stint in prison ended Wednesday when a recalcitrant husband finally did the right thing and granted the get. While the length of this case is unusual – a much more normal length for get refusal is closer to five years – the fact that the haredi-controlled state-employed beit din waited a very long time before imprisoning the recalcitrant husband is not.

 

After 18 Years Of Refusal, Man Finally Gives Wife A Get
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

18 years of refusing to grant a Jewish religious divorce known as a “get” to his wife culminating in a two-month stint in prison ended Wednesday when a recalcitrant husband finally did the right thing and granted the get.

An ad hoc beit din (Orthodox religious court) rushed to the prison Wednesday to oversee the process and the man’s long-suffering wife was finally free to remarry after almost two decades of suffering.

But the man’s change of heart was not due to a sudden unprovoked burst of goodwill.

Instead, according to a report in Yeshiva World, shortly after being sentenced to five years in prison for obstinate get refusal, he found out that he has a serious illness. He was hospitalized while in prison and during that time, the rabbi of Israel’s Prison Authority,  Yehuda Yekutiel Weisner, began speaking to the man.

“It is a complicated situation and we work to mediate between the sides towards releasing women from their imprisonment by persuading husbands to give a get. In this case the man is traditional and I took it upon myself to address this case and to penetrate into his heart. At one point I asked permission to phone the woman and their five children and when he agreed [to grant the get], I acted immediately before he would change his mind,” Weisner reportedly said.

But it was the Fast of Esther, all the beit dins (Orthodox religious courts) were closed, and Weisner was afraid the man would change his mind. So he tracked down Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon, who heads the Chief Rabbinate’s unit dealing with agunahs (women trapped in unwanted marriages by recalcitrant get-refusing husbands), and a representative of the beit din, and both men came to the prison immediately.

The three rabbis met with the man in a visitors room of the prison and the man signed the get.

This is reportedly the sixty-first time rabbis of the Prison Authority have convinced a recalcitrant husband to give a get.

But while the length of this case is unusual – a much more normal length for get refusal is closer to five years – the fact that the haredi-controlled state-employed beit din waited a very long time before imprisoning the recalcitrant husband is not.

In fact, haredi-controlled state-employed beit dins often wait many years before even considering using imprisonment or other punitive measures to encourage a recalcitrant husband to free his unhappy wife. And unlike men, women cannot remarry or cohabit with someone other than their spouse until they have been granted a get – meaning these women often suffer alone for years, or, in this case, almost two decades.

Comments

[m]

there should be a jewish law .
if a couple is separated for more than a year , the get is automatically granted .
if the bastard does not want to sign , then the rabbis sign .

also, if I were this woman , I would have
gone to another country , greece and remarry and started a new life .
who cares about the get , it's a piece of paper . her husband can keep it .

[Jeff]

You can be sentenced to prison in Israel for get refusal (or is this a Purim joke)? And they still have 45,000 agunot?

And yes, frum people, we know: he's a tzaddik, she's a harpie, there are only a handful of agunot worldwide, the system is actually rigged against men and it's all the fault of Women of the Wall, the feminazis and the liberal Jews who hate Hashem and his holy Toyreh and engage in mixed dancing.

[MG]

This story is involving a non-religious couple.

[Jeff]

"This story is involving a non-religious couple."

I doubt you know that, but if you're right, what difference does it make as long as the Chief Rabbinate is in charge of marriage and divorce?

[坏蛋]

"This story is involving a non-religious couple."

Not true! the article states that at least the husband is traditional.

"In this case the man is traditional and I took it upon myself to address this case and to penetrate into his heart"

[坏蛋]

A reasonable solution to all those issues is ti implement civil Marriage in Israel while keeping the ability to marry religiously intact.

When the confronted with competition the rabbinate will become more tuned to the needs and issues of Israeli citizens.

[dapper danny]

What a complete farce of a "religion".

[S M L]

"..What a complete farce of a "religion"..."

Any religion, really. They all have their quirks.

[Allan]

“The three rabbis met with the man in a visitors room of the prison and the man signed the get.”

Husbands don’t sign gets. Only the witnesses do.

Anyway, it’s a terrible system and the wife should have moved on with her life long ago and remarried. Of course she was raised to believe that such a move would guarantee a ticket to gehenom come “judgment day.”

This is the tragedy of religious indoctrination. You actually believe that stuff happens to you after you die. So - 18 years needlessly wasted in which she could have found happiness with a new husband and family.

[Marco Polo]

Interesting. Everybody wants to force these losers into giving a get. Yet everyone wants Epstein the cow prodder in jail.

Its a frustrating situation with little solution.

[Max Stein]

If Shmarya was married, he would be a get refuser.

But thankfully, no one will marry him.

[Alter Kocker]

Change the religious law: If you refuse a get the bride and her family get 100 kicks to your gonads once a month until the get is granted. That should hurry things along.

[Pagan]

"m", you are right - it's just a piece of paper. The rabbis and other meddlers should ignore the husband, because the problem is with the wife. She is the one who believes this religious rubbish, and she is the one who should be told that a "get" has no meaning, is not binding in conscience, and the "chains" exist only in her own mind.

But of course they won't - because to do that would be to admit their supposed "authority" is utterly fraudulent. As with the sacerdotes of all other religions.

[anchell]

... mandate marriage counselling before hand. Minimum 7yrs contract. Personal and group therapy before children are involved. Sex and relationship therapy after 3yrs. Self esteem assessment for women, motivational assessment for men beginning in year two. Dance classes yearly.

[Dov]

"And unlike men, women cannot remarry or cohabit with someone other than their spouse until they have been granted a get – meaning these women often suffer alone for years."

Shmarya - this statement is both inaccurate and misleading and for the sake of transparency you owe your readers an important clarification.

Halachically each of husband and wife are forbidden to either marry or cohabit before a "get" (jewish divorce contract) is given. The only exception is that in very limited circumstances men are able to remarry without a "get" - with a "heter meah Rabanim" (concession by 100 Rabbis) - and such permission is given only after the husband has deposited a kosher "get" in Beis Din for his wife to take at her discretion. In all circumstances either both can remarry or neither can.

Furthermore the plight of the "agun" - "chained man" whose wife refuses to accept a get receives neither attention nor support.

The plight of both husbands and wives held hostage by recalcitrant spouses is real - but sensationalist innacuracies that are more propaganda than fact serve no-one.

Shmarya, do the right thing and improve your reporting.

[Shmarya]

Please.

A man can cohabit with a women he is not married to and the woman and any children she has with him face no halakhic penalty.

Past that, men are allowed to marry a second wife with a heter mea rabbanim.

A woman has no escape at all.

For that sake of "accurate reporting," perhaps you should have mentioned that.

[yoni FFB]

Imbeciles all of you, how childish you are to comment and give opinions about something you don't know about. You don't know how a get works neither do you know anything about all the complicated halochos of gittin. So why are you all giving groysse deyos about something you don't know. Your like the little old ladies sitting and solving all the problems of the middle east.