Rabbi Ben Isaacson, Johannesburg
Without this document, the woman is in Jewish law considered still married, or to use the halachic word, “aguna”, meaning “chained”. It is a sad but real fact that some men are so spiteful and vengeful as to take pleasure in being able to torment their former spouses, preventing them from beginning a new life, while a man is free to remarry if he so desires.
This is a regular problem which numerous women unfortunately face, aside from the practice of some former husbands to renege on their legal obligations to pay maintenance, medical aid and other commitments.
Recently, however, Orthodox Judaism here in South Africa and in Israel, has taken major revolutionary steps to resolve this tragic situation. Here, under the guidance of Av Beth Din Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag, a ruling has been passed to the effect that any person who refuses to be human and give a get to his former wife and rejects the pleas of this former wife and the Beth Din to do so, will face the punishment of “cherem”.
This entails a loss of various Jewish privileges, including membership of a shul, being called to the Torah and worse of all, burial rights in a Jewish cemetery.
In Israel, the Knesset has gone so far as to rule such a failure on the husband’s part to be a legal offence, meaning a jail sentence. There is a case in Israel where the offender has served five years in jail – and still refuses to give a get!
Our local women heroes have taken the apt name “Go-Getters”. They fear no one except Hashem. They at first make an effort to reach a peaceful settlement, but when that fails, as it usually does, they unleash a barrage, which I call “an intercontinental Torah missile”.
They contact the errant husband’s place of work and inform his boss and colleagues of his behaviour. By now, they make sure that his closest acquaintances are fully briefed, as are some women whom he associates with. They have gone so far as to demonstrate outside the “gentleman’s” home, placards and all!
Above all, these women have earned the respect and support of the Beth Din. Rabbi Boruch Rapoport, who heads the portfolio of “Gittin”, even tells women who approach him on this matter to immediately consult the Go-Getters.
My caregiver who has been divorced for four years without being able to achieve her right to be free, met, along with myself, with the ladies themselves, at the home of the chairman, Michelle Blumenau.
That meeting took place six weeks ago. Last week my caregiver received her get.
Remember the words of the Talmud, which applies to the Go-Getters and indeed to all Jewish women who fight for Torah and justice in general: “Because of righteous women, we were redeemed from Egypt.”
