A court in Britain sentenced a Jewish man to 18 months in prison for refusing to give his estranged wife a get to unshackle her from their defunct marriage.
Alan Moher and his wife Caroline separated in 2016 after 20 years of marriage and got a civil divorce in 2019. However, Alan continues to refuse to give his wife a get and has kept her hostage to their marriage despite the two being all but halachically divorced.
“You sought to manipulate and control her all in the knowledge that it would substantially impact her mental health and in some respects also impairs her physical health,” the sentencing judge told Moher.
The case is the first time that a secular court has sentenced a Jewish man to prison for refusing to give a halachic get.
“To those who have emotionally coerced and controlled, physically hurt, and dehumanized their spouses – the law will not allow you to get away with your crimes,” said Caroline following the sentencing.
“To those victims out there, you are not alone, and justice and humanity are on your side,” she continued. “I urge you not to stay silent, but to fight for your freedom.”
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28 Responses
Terrible.
Halacha, Shulchan Aruch and all the Poskim), is very very clear that any Get he gives now is Get Me’usa, a halachicly invalid Get. She remains an Eishes Ish, a married woman to him, even if he’s forced by the non-Jewish courts to give a so-called Get.
This woman shot herself in the foot.
Does Britain know that a Husband has to give it with his free will and not forced. Do they know what means Get M’useh?
in america, they arrest the dayanim for beating him……
finally the govts are following halacha – vhayu melochim omnayich
About time actual GOVERNMENT get involved in this abuse!
No Rabbinic decrees have ANY effect!
Much as I sympathize with the secular court action, I believe this issue should be addressed by Jewish halachic authorities, to avoid secular interference with matters of halachah.
It would be important to clarify if there was a Bais Din on this matter.
To those who have emotionally coerced and controlled, physically hurt, and dehumanized their spouses By withholding children from their Fathers – the law will not allow you to get away with your crimes,
“Historic”? Disastrous is a better headline. Any get this man issues now will be passul, so the court has actually made this woman’s life much harder.
There is NO INDICATION in the story that a legitimate beis din has determined that he has a halachic obligation to give a get. There is not even any indication that grounds exist for such a determination. So we have to assume he is not required to do so.
Even in a case where there IS a valid beis din order, the only form of gentile coercion that is acceptable is for them to order him to obey the beis din. It is NEVER acceptable for a court to directly order him to give a get; only to obey the beis din. Doing so automatically makes the get passul, even though the beis din ordered it! How much more so when there is no beis din order in the first place.
Actually, terrible news. If the court forces the Get, the chances is it will be an ivalid Get. That is unless, Bais Din ruled that the husband can Halachically be forced to give a Get. The problem is, that the court will not differentiate.
this could complicate matters as to גט מעושה!
So, obviously I am not a Dayan or expert.
Makes so much sense. The American refusal to recognize an abuse that is based on religious law, is a very twisted version of freedom of religion.
Maybe halachically she can not get a forced Get and she may remain an Agunah till she gets a proper Kosher Get but just the relief that he will rot in prison he might change his Heart and grant her a Get with his will.
There is NO reason to withhold a Get once he divorced her civically. I am sure that he divorced her based on a settlement with both sides agreeing so NO reason not to give a GET.
and i hope the UK jewish community volunteers who will bringing him Kosher food and all religious books he needs will be able to convince him to have a change in Heart….
What is the real reason he is not giving a get? Anyone bother to hear his sided objectively or only what females say is what cares?
On what grounds was he jailed?
On the flip side, for all those screaming “Get M’Useh”, apparently you did not actually learn a Blatt Gemorah. A Get M’useh al yedei akum IS a Kosher Get.
The amount of people on the internet willing to give a p’sak halacha on someone else’s life is always pretty astonishing.
Most Agunas today don’t want a Get. There is usually a way to negotiate something.
Fearless, even if there is a valid beis din order the get will still be passul because the court ordered him to give it, rather than merely to obey the beis din. That is NEVER allowed.
Obviously, given the status quo, he had no intention of providing a “voluntary” get. Thus, it seems totally equitable that he be made to suffer along with his ex-wife. At some point, he could be released and given another opportunity to “reconsider” his decision. In the interim, lots of strange things happen in prison.
He wasn’t jailed to give the get. Read what is written. He was jailed for the pain of making her an agunah. There is a difference.
רמב”ם הלכות גירושין פרק ב’ הלכה כ
מי שהדין נותן שכופין אותו לגרש את אשתו ולא רצה לגרש. בית דין של ישראל בכל מקום ובכל זמן מכין אותו עד שיאמר רוצה אני ויכתוב הגט והוא גט כשר. וכן אם הכוהו עכו”ם ואמרו לו עשה מה שישראל אומרין לך ולחצו אותו ישראל ביד העכו”ם עד שיגרש הרי זה כשר. ואם העכו”ם מעצמן אנסוהו עד שכתב הואיל והדין נותן שיכתוב הרי זה גט פסול
PSA to all Get refusers on this chat and out there: There is similar legislation moving through the government in Albany. If you don’t want to find yourself behind bars, now is the time to get in your visa applications and tickets to any of the following locations:
1. Afghanistan
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Iran
Added benefit of your move means you won’t have to convince anyone anymore why being a man isn’t an automatic free pass to being a lowlife.
Joseph, and that is only מי שהדין נותן שכופין אותו . Even such a person, if the gentiles forced him to write the get, it is passul — which means it is valid min hatorah, but a second get is required. But where the din is not nosein, then it’s not just passul, it’s completely batel, as if nothing had happened.
לא היה הדין נותן שכופין אותו לגרש … אם הגויים אנסוהו לגרש שלא כדין, אינו גט; אף על פי שאמר בגויים, רוצה אני, ואמר לישראל, וכתבו וחתמו–הואיל ואין הדין מחייבו להוציא והגויים אנסוהו, אינו גט.
JDB, that is a distinction without a difference.
Its unbelievable how people can write comments on this issue when they have no idea of the background. The couple did go to Beis din and the husband is ok to give the get but wife has demanded an outrageous sum of money for the get (millions) claiming that her husband is very wealthy and he says he does not have that type of money, so cannot pay it.
The wife then went to secular court herself to escalate the issue causing herself more trouble, as commentators have pointed out that a forced get is worse as she now cannot receive a get. Sadly the groups campaigning for women rights and agunahs think they have achieved victory when in fact they have made the situation for those wanting a Get – FAR worse.
This article is horrible Loshon Horo. I know Alti (Alan) personally and he is a very kindhearted individual who has been following daas torah throughout it is clear that it would be a get meusar! But this article should not be on a frum website!
The_Silent_Minority: Sweet dreams, but the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States firmly and absolutely prevents any such crackpot law like Great Britain has, described above, to jail anyone for refusing to perform a religious ritual such as a Gett. No State can constitutionally implement such a law.