Aguna

The Tel Aviv rabbinical court ruled nearly five years ago that the man was obligated to grant a divorce, but he ignored the ruling.

In cases where a man refuses to grant a divorce for an extended period of time, voiding the marriage on the basis of an invalid witness is an effective tool in freeing the agunah, or chained woman.

The fact that one of the witnesses was not religious at the wedding provided a perfect opportunity to invalidate the marriage.

Oded Guez was instructed by the Haifa rabbinical court to grant his wife a bill of divorce four years ago, but persistently refused.

Our readers respond

Annulment of Zvia Gordestski’s marriage could and should pave the way for private rabbinical courts for divorce, says Center for Women’s Justice.

So, no more Aguna Day. Instead, let there be a mass divorce, initiated and enacted by agunot themselves and witnessed by all Jewish women – agunot divorcing their husbands and this system.

As a community we must castigate, condemn and pursue anyone who uses the contemptible tool of refusing to grant a divorce.

The halachic prenuptial and newly, postnuptial agreements, are important weapons in the communal fight against ‘get’ refusal

“Women denied a divorce may as well be dead,” MK Revital Swid said. “Their lives are behind bars created by their spouses.”