Jerusalem – In what has been hailed as a groundbreaking ruling, the Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court on Sunday sentenced a wealthy haredi businessman to 30 days in prison for supporting his son’s refusal to grant his wife a “get,” a Jewish writ of divorce.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
According to the Rabbinical Courts Administration, it is the first time a prison term has been issued by a rabbinical court in Israel to someone other than the get refusers themselves.
The case involves an American haredi couple who have been married for 19 years and have two children. Ten years ago, during a family trip to Israel, the wife suffered a stroke that left her permanently disabled.
The husband subsequently abandoned his wife and their children in Israel, returned to the US and has refused to grant her a divorce ever since.
The Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court ruled two years ago that the man was obligated to give her a get, but he ignored the ruling.
The rabbinical court began to investigate the man’s motivation for refusing his wife a get for such a long period of time, and its investigative department discovered that the man’s father – a wellknown and very wealthy haredi businessman – was supporting and backing his son in his refusal to grant a divorce.
When the man’s parents visited Israel recently, the rabbinical court issued an order banning them from leaving the country and summoned them to give testimony to the court.
After hearing the parents’ testimony, the rabbinical court issued its ruling sentencing the father to 30 days in jail.
“It is he who is the central and active figure behind the captive situation of his daughter-in-law, due to his son,” ruled the court. “He can extend her captivity if he wishes, or shorten it and, therefore, appropriate and suitable sanctions must be issued against him.”
The prison sentence was suspended for 10 days to give the man the opportunity to appeal to the Supreme Rabbinical Court.
“This ruling, like other recent decisions, expresses the deep and unambiguous obligation of the rabbinical courts to help captive women and prevent divorce refusal,” said Rabbi Shimon Yaakobi, director of the Rabbinical Courts Administration. “This is an important message to all those who are oppressed: Don’t give up! The rabbinical courts do not finish their work just with the ruling to grant a divorce, and work tirelessly to implement rulings and find real solutions for those who are refused a divorce.”
Attorney Batya Kehana Dror, director of the Mavoi Satum women’s rights organization, described the ruling as an unprecedented step in preventing divorce refusal.
“I expect this ruling to serve as a precedent and an unambiguous message of intolerance of the legal authorities of the phenomenon of divorce refusal,” said Kehana Dror. “I believe that the broad use of tools available to rabbinical judges will end this problem.”
BH. This is truly wonderful. These people are רשעים. Now find the idiotic son and throw him in a cell too.
Why only 30 days?
Quite confusing. He abandoned his permanently disabled wife, lo aleinu, yet insists on remaining legally bound to her? You would think that if he left her he’d be looking to remarry and therefore legally single. Must be more to the story. …
30 DAYS?? What will that do these people are obviously hardened people – 30 day s is way to easy – He should be kept locked up until his son gives her a Get!
Yasher koach to the Rabbinical Court in Israel for imprisoning the wealthy American chareidi ” Baal Tzedaka” tzadik who is advising his son not to give his sick wife a Get for already ten years. The only problem is that the sentence is only for 30 days. The court should rule that he will stay in jail until his son gives his wife a Get. Maybe the father and son don’t want to pay her alimony since they are so rich. They would rather that the wife, a sick woman paralyzed by a stroke and her children (who are this rich man’s own flesh and blood grandchildren!) suffer in terrible poverty and illness while they live in great wealth and honor. Hashem sees everything, and eventually, the disgusting behavior of menuvolim are exposed to the entire world.
Why is the father responsible for a grown sons actions? Guessing the son by now is about 40. The rabbanical court is pushing it by going after his father. They should be going after the husband of this woman not the father.
What’s funny about life is NOBODY really knows what goes on in someone else’s life yet everybody seems to have answers for them.what has become of us
If VosIzNeias really wants top help this lady it would publish the great hero’s name.
This story sounds fishy and very one sided. Its sounds worse than the liberal AP articles. i want to hear the mans side of the story as well. The way its presented here, it sounds like, they were a perfect happy go lucky couple with kids. One day the wife gets disabled and then man just leaves her and then for no apparent reason just refuses to give a get. I am sure the disabled lady is not asking for big bucks or anything. The men are simply physcopaths? Its possible as there are physcopaths in this world but it just sounds highley unlikely. There is something more going on.
It was reported that the wife , who is handicapped doesn’t want and doesn’t need the get, it’s her family that is behind, and have taken custody of the children, and have poisoned them against the father, and are also trying to extort money from his family, so they would allow visitation,
30 days? Give the creep 30 years.
Love how everyone saying he deserves it but no one wondering what the other side of story is. The woman went to Isreal to visit her family and then decided not to come back to her husband . Not the way story told that he left her . She got sick after she left him and had not let the kids speak to there father for years. Her family is behind this all!