Montreal, Canada – The Supreme Court of Canada upheld a $47,500 award to a Jewish woman whose ex-husband had refused to grant her a religious divorce (Get) while she was still capable of having children.
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The Quebec Court of Appeal had overturned the original ruling.
The case centred on a Jewish couple from Montreal who were married in 1969 and who divorced under Canadian law in 1980. However, Stephanie Bruker sued her ex-husband Jessel Marcovitz after he refused for 15 years to agree to give her a "Get," before rabbinical authorities.
Ms. Bruker argued that without the religious divorce she was prohibited from marrying again in the Jewish faith or having more children.
Mr. Marcovitz finally provided Ms. Bruker a Get in 1995 when she was almost 47 years old.
The first judge who heard the case found that the case was justiciable in civil courts, that Mr. Marcovitz had breached his contractual obligations and awarded Ms. Bruker $47,500. However, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the ruling, saying the obligation to grant Ms. Bruker a get was a religious one and was not a matter for the courts. [Montreal Gazette]
Anon. 8:02 If you want to be argumentative and hair-splitting (not to mention without compassion, etc.) here’s one for you; The Canadian Supreme Court did not FORCE the TZADDIK to issue a GET to his [former] wife. They only determined that by failing to issue a GET in a timely manner, he caused her great damage, for which she is entitled to compensation.
This is not as wonderful as it appears on the surface.
Yes, we need to have compassion for any woman whose ex-husband refuses to give a get to. That is wrong any time.
But, here is the down side. For a get to be valid, it must be given by the husband without and legal or other obligation or any duress.
The creation by the courts of the concept that a man is obligated to give a get following a civil divorce puts a whole shaila on a get.
There are some states, now unfortunately have have Get Laws, where the divorce decree can obligate the man to give a get. The problem is that such a get may be invalid! This would leave the woman as aishes eesh. If a get is given because a man is forced to give it, it is invalid.
This creates a problem as the women can now have a get, and remarry while she may in fact still be an aishes eesh, and her cohabitation with her new husband is now a super strong avaira and making her children with the new husband mamzairim.
I know of a couple of cases where the couple purposely went to an other state to go through the divorce just to avoid this shaila.
I am not saying everyone holds this way, but it is an inyan to keep in mind. Since this an aishes eesh having relations with another man is a “Yaharog V’Al Yaavor” situation, like murder or idol worship, this is a biggie.
Many applauded when certain states passed their get laws, while many rabbonim said, “Oy Gevalt! How do we do a kosher get now?”
It is for this reason, that when a certain lawmaker asked me my opinion on such a law in my state, that I said, NO WAY!
Now this thing in Montreal is not making a law, Thank G-d, but is begins a concept of legal obligation for a man to give his wife a get. I am concerned about the halachic ramifications.
And… all these problems are caused by people not wanting to give the wives gittin when they really should have.
There is also a problem with some wives refusing to go for a get. Though that creates problems for her, it is less of a problem for the man.
But, please guys, if you are getting divorced, PLEASE give your wives a kosher get ASAP. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is to prevent the governments involvement, which could invalidate other peoples’ future gittin.