The case of the well-known chareidi businessman from the United States who is believed to be persuading his son to make his daughter-in-law an agunah is back in the news. At one point, after the beis din learned the father-in-law was the source of the husband refusing to give a get, ordered him, the father-in-law imprisoned for 30 days.
Av Beis Din Dayan Rav Shlomo Stessman called this case “cruel and among the more difficult agunah cases being addressed.
At present, the Tel Aviv Beis Din has turned to Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit to determine if a criminal investigation should be launched in the face of offenses against the Penal Law for harm to the order of government, contempt of court, disruption of judicial proceedings and attempt to divert justice.
Av Beis Din Stessman and Dayanim Rav Eyal Yosef and Rav Ido Shachar are still working to tackle the case, which they all view as one of the most difficult agunah cases in their careers.
The couple was married for 19 years, living in the United States where they had two children. About a decade ago, they came to Israel for a visit. During the visit, the woman suffered a serious stroke which has left her impaired for life. she was abandoned by her husband, who has left her an agunah since.
The Chief Rabbinate’s Agunah Unit has investigated the case and learned the woman’s father-in-law is a well-respected philanthropist in the US and Eretz Yisrael and it is he who stands behind his son’s refusal to give his wife a bill of divorce.
The beis din has in the past issued a order prohibiting the father-in-law from leaving Israel for 30 days. He appealed this to the beis din and lost, then appealing to the High Court of Justice, which ruled the beis din’s sanctions were legal, throwing the case back into the lap of the beis din.
The beis din maintained the family hired the services of a crisis management company, which it paid tens of thousands of dollars in an effort to blacken and stain the reputation of the beis din in the hope of turning public opinion against the beis din.
The family also contacted the HaGaon Rabbi Yitzchak David Grossman Shlita, who initiated a meeting with the husband in the hope of persuading him to give a get. When this failed, they called him as a witness. At the same time, the family tried to exert pressure through politicians and family members in an unprecedented manner and thereby acted against the Penal Law for harm to the order of government, contempt of court, disruption of judicial proceedings and attempt to divert justice.
Now, the beis din is seeking to involve the attorney general and hopefully, launch a criminal investigation as it continues efforts to compel the husband to release his wife from her agunah status.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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This story illustrates the importance of retaining the use of pre-nuptial agreements providing an enforceable contractual right to a get in the event the marriage is dissolved, there is no hope for reconciliation and the husband and wife are living apart. There was a story here recently about some rabbonim who objected to the use of such agreements while failing to offer any alternative when the husband is a rashah gamur and refuses to willingly provide a get.