In an unprecedented decision, a Tel Aviv Beis Din has imprisoned the father of a recalcitrant husband for 30 days. The man sent to jail is a well-known chareidi businessman from the USA. The wife in this case has been an agunah for ten years.

Once the beis din realized the father of the husband involved in the case is encouraging him and backing his refusal to give his wife a bill of divorce, the beis din decided to imprison the father for ‘contempt of court’. It is reported that this is the first time a beis din in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel system has taken such action.

Av Beis Din Dayan Rav Shlomo Stessman called this case “cruel and among the more difficult agunah cases being addressed.”

The couple in question were married 19 years ago and lived in the United States where their two children were born. Ten years ago the couple visited Israel. During the visit the wife had a major stroke which left her impaired to this day. The husband abandoned his wife and children following the stroke and returned to the United States and has since left here tied to him as an agunah.

The beis din has since ordered him to give his wife a ‘get’ but he prefers to ignore the ruling, which he has not bothered appealing. This led to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s Agunah Unit launching a probe into the life of the husband and this revealed the father-in-law is behind his refusal to give his wife a ‘get’. The report states the father-in-law and his wife are well-known philanthropists in the chareidi community and they are compelling their son to refrain from giving the ‘get’.

The beis din learned the dad was visiting and summoned him to appear. Simultaneously, the beis din issued an order prohibiting from leaving the country until he appears before beis din and the process was begun which resulted in him being sentenced to 30 days in jail for his role in the wife remaining an agunah.

The psak din sending the father-in-law to jail is a 45-page document which explains the halachic and judicial details of the complicated case. Signing the ruling along with Dayan Stessman are Dayan Rav Eyal Yosef and Dayan Rav Ido Shachar.

Rabbi Shimon Yaakobi, Director of the Chief Rabbinate Batei Din explains this decision and several other recent decisions signal the efforts to which the system is going to free women from agunah status. Rav Yaakobi adds the rabbinical courts will continue doing everything possible, using all the halachic and legal means at their disposal to release women from agunah status.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)