A Chief Rabbinate of Israel-affiliated beis din last week ordered the Egged Bus Company to dismiss a 30-year-old recalcitrant husband from its employ within 30 days as part of sanctions being implemented against him for refusing to give his wife a get, a bill of divorce.
‘S’ and ‘Y’ have been married for over a decade and immigrated to Israel a few years ago together with their child. The wife documented that the violence against her by her husband began before making aliyah, and it continued to worsen over the years, to the point police have been called. She explains the violence is directed against her as well as their son.
‘Y’ opened a file with the Rabbanut seeking divorce some three years ago. The husband is demanding ‘shalom bayis’, promising to refrain from both physical and verbal violence against his family. However, he has not kept his word and the violence continued, leading to ‘Y’ leaving their home. About ten months ago, a psak din was issued by the beis din compelling the husband to give ‘Y’ a get and to release her from the marriage.
‘S’ however has refused, and to date, he has not given the get. He explained to the beis din that if the wife signs over all of their belongings, then he would give the get. As a result, the beis din has implemented a number of sanctions against him, including a demand that he pays his wife support in the amount of NIS 1,500 monthly. This too did nothing to persuade him to give her a bill of divorce.
The wife is represented by attorney Tehila Cohen of the ‘Yad Laisha’ organization, which is connected to the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions. They have experts in dealing with such cases, working to assist agunos. Cohen called on the beis din to prohibit the husband from continuing to work in a company which enjoys state assistance, in this case, Egged. The beis din, headed by Dayan Oriel Lavie, complied with the request and last week, instructed Egged to fire the husband from his position within 30 days.
According to the organization, “Yad Leisha of Ohr Torah Stone is the largest organization in the world working for the release of agunos. Every year, the organization provides 150 women with legal assistance in the batei din, while finding halachic solutions, along with emotional accompaniment through social workers and personal training, until the desired divorce is obtained and their release from the bonds of their agunah status. Over the years, the organization’s rabbinical claimants and lawyers have helped thousands of clients win their freedom, and today they continue to work tirelessly to represent hundreds more clients waiting for the desired get”.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
great effort but it is not expeditious enough
Another forced get, a woman who won’t really be divorced, and possible future mamzeris, heaven forbid.
Rav Elyashiv (and others) have paskened that if a beis din orders a husband to give a Get when halachicly he has no obligation to give a Get, then the resulting Get that he gives is a Get Me’usa and thus invalid. The wife remains married to him despite the purported Get and if she purports to remarry it is adultery and future children are mamzeirim.
The Israeli Zionist rabbanut beit dins are not renowned for their strict adherence to halacha (remember the Goren mamzeirim affair?), and as such their rulings are suspect as such.
TryingToStayCalm and Zalman, can we really say that this is a forced Get? No one is forcing him to do anything, but it just so happens that he’ll have the inconvenient option to be fired. Would it be considered forced to refuse an aliyah or daven shliach sibur for one who refuses a Get? Would it be considered forced to refuse to offer your goods and services to one who refuses to give a Get? (such as dental, routine medical, an eatery establishment, etc). I’d say that the stubborn individual CHOSE his option of a life of poverty, embarrassment, driving an extra 2 hours for a dental cleaning, etc. Certainly that is a choice!
To add to my previous comment, I have been to wedding before where a (non-invited) male-cousin relative refusing to give a Get to his wife was told to be dismissed from the wedding hall. Because he chose not to leave, NYPD escorted him out in cuffs for trespassing a private affair. If he chose to give a Get that very night because of embarrassment, hunger, missing his grandmother at the wedding, etc then that is a choice. I don’t believe the father of the chusson (who called 911) was forcing this individual to eat crackers at home all alone. That was a choice, and although a wedding smorg with the simcha of family is better than eating crackers alone in a basement studio apartment, it was HIS choice and HIS option. He wouldn’t die eating measly crackers.
zalman, trytostaycalm BH you are not dayanim. your knowledge of what creates a get meuseh is spoken like a true misogynist. your wives have every reason to be nervous.
We don ‘t mix business and social life, hence Egged has no right to get involved in this family feud and dismiss/suspend this driver.
a) There is a serious shortage of competent drivers as evinced by this tragic accident 2 days ago.
b) There are more Agunim than Agunos right now, in Israel.
147, i’m trying to understand your comment.
@Zalman –
1) There are opinions other than R’ Elyashiv. Also, R’ Elyashiv’s opinion could be considered far too broad in its definition of Get Me’useh.
2) You clearly don’t know anything about how the Rabbanut works. These measures are a last resort when all else fails. I would imagine that in this case, all other means to get the husband to divorce his wife have failed.
And anyway, since you seem to be of the ilk who stick to Batei Dinim rather than Archa’ot, wouldn’t you want a court that has the real means to impose its rulings upon litigants? The Batei Dinim outside the Rabbanut have no teeth – usually they forward litigants to Archa’ot for enforcement, those inside the Rabbanut framework have teeth and no need to go through Archa’ot.
You can’t have it both ways.
3) If you want to attack Rav Goren and the Rabbanut, do so without the ad hominem attack. It just makes your position weak.
@147
1) A court can impose such measures, so why not a Beit din, especially if you hold that a Beit Din is the proper forum for all litigation? Makes sense to me.
2) Yes, there are more Agunim than Agunot.