The Chief Rabbinate Jerusalem Beis Din this week denied a ‘get’ to a woman whose husband beat her repeatedly. The ruling has resulted in anger, outrage and much criticism.
The dayanim explained that he only hit her on three occasions, and this was only because she told him she was going to leave him. the dayanim ruled the physical attacks were not sufficient to grant the divorce.
The case of the Jerusalem couple began last year and the husband has admitted to punching his wife in her face and sent 75 days in jail. A beis din denied her request for a ‘get’ and she has since filed an appeal, which was turned down this week, to a regional beis din.
While the dayanim agreed “The injury caused to the wife was unjustifiable, under any circumstances…” it would not issue the ‘get’.
The dayanim attribute, at least in part, the husband’s dire emotional state to the fact the wife filed for divorce.
Activist attorneys Batya Kahane Dror and Hadas Grossman condemned the beis din, citing such rulings empowers a man to beat his wife and causes additional deterioration in the public’s trust in the batei din. The attorneys are planning to represent the woman in an appeal to the Chief Rabbinate Supreme Court.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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20 Responses
Something is missing here; Beis Din certainly do not condone this under any circumstances. All they said was that a get cannot be forced on this basis alone. Obviously she had wanted a get beforehand too – that’s in fact what precipitated the violence. And we have not heard what she did to him…
Before anyone states an opinion on this, remember that forcing a get is a delicate and serious decision, and anyone who doesn’t know ALL the facts (as well as the halachos) has no right to get involved (including me). However, I would point out that the halachos of a husband who beats his wife are not that clear cut, see Ramo, Even Hoezer 154, se’if 3. There, although it’s made clear that it is an aveira, but the conditions to force a get are limited.
typical. mishigoyim – the whole lot of them.
Can somebody help me out here? How is it up to the beis din to either grant or deny the get – I thought only the husband himself has the ability to do that.
That being said, if the beis din does have some power to separate these two and she already wanted a divorce anyway and now she’s in physical danger and they aren’t helping protect her than that is just sickening. It would seems like there are a lot more details to this than what’s been reported so far.
All marital disputes take 2 to tangle, so until we know what wife did to husband [which this article doesn’t mention, but no-doubt the Beth Din do know] we can infer nothing wrong on the part of the Beth Din.
Disgusting, maybe the Beit din should wait until she is hospitalized and in a coma. I recommend everyone listen to the song “goodbye Earl” as an option for true justice.
Outrageous!
With rulings like this how can anyone expect the seculars to have any respect for the religious?
The kiruv organizations should be screaming!
You don’t have be a Gadol Hador to know that if a man hits his wife she has a right to demand a get.
Isn’t three times a chazaka? Further, the beis din used the divorce as the excuse for the husband hitting the wife. But seeing as the wife still wants a divorce, then clearly, by the beis din’s own reasoning, the husband would still continue to hit the wife?
Disgusting, I guess the Beit Din should wait till he hospitalizes her THEN do her the Chesed .
I suggest that the song “goodbye earl” as that is true Justice and Tzedek.
Since when can a Beth Din grant a Get? A get needs to be given by the husband and you must not force him to do so.
Perhaps the couple should first seek the services of a marriage counselor.
What chazer says it’s okay to punch your wife in the face because she upset you!! What a disgusting chilul Hashem
Come on guys! What’s the big deal? He only punched her in the face once and hit her three times.
The Shulchan Aruch discusses exactly this type of case of a wife demanding a Get. We all follow Shulchan Aruch, so it is with knowing what the Psak Halacha is.
The S”A paskens that is a wife comes to beis din demanding a Get on the basis of allegedly her husband physically beating her, if he denies it is true beis din cannot accept her word at face value of there are no eidim. Instead beis din can place an agent of beis din in the marital home to witness whether or not he beats her. Unless he witnesses it the halacha is beis din cannot tell him to give her a Get.
If beis din does establish he beats her, then the halacha according to Shulchan Aruch is that beis din must give him a warning to immediately stop hitting her. Beis Din still cannot order him to give a Get unless he continues the violence after being formally warned by B”D. If it is established with proof or admission that he continued being violent after being duly warned not to, then and only then can beis din order him to give a Get.
That’s the psak in Shulchan Aruch.
Can anyone please link to the original psak?
Find her a place to live before the husband kills her.
A: Hitting one’s spouse is a horrible atrocity.
B: Beis Din can force a man to give a get under certain circumstances. (kofin oso ad sheomer rotzeh ani)
C:We don’t know the exact details of this case.
D: Obviously Beis Din recognized that this particular case didn’t warrant “B” (see “B” above).
E: Relax e/o and be good to your spouses
All u people think that you know what ur talking about. Stop with the bluryface. U dont know what ur talking about
It is very obvious that we are missing at least 500 pages to this story.
I read it right and Yes 1 beating is one too many. The matter of fact here is she is by now disgusted by him and that’s reason enough to grant her a get as she wont have relationship with him anymore so whats the point of being together
Rabbeinu Tam had a great solution to the problem of a husband beating his wife – cut his hand off!
I wish he had a similar solution to the problem of a mother not granting the father court-ordered visitation with their children.