JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A woman recently came to one of the Batei Din [rabbinical courts] in Israel with a strange request. She wished to obtain a get from her husband, despite not having any dispute with him. The woman explained that her husband had taken heavy loans on the grey market which he could not repay and had disappeared and gone under cover. She was afraid that he would disappear without a trace and she would be left an agunah.
The couple are in their 40’s and have two children. The husband who worked in business had suffered a cash crunch and could not pay his debts to the banks. He therefore turned to the grey market for assistance but the business did not accrue enough profits and he could not return the high-interest debts, leaving him with about 500,000 NIS in debts.
The grey market representatives started to come to the man’s home and threaten him, The woman realized that her husband’s life was in danger and he might disappear unexpectedly and therefore she requested a get. Soon after the husband went under cover to hide from his debtors.
The Beis Din’s agunah department sprung into action, succeeding in locating the husband and contacting him. At first the husband refused to cooperate and cut off contacts but after continued contacts with his other family members and assurances that the rabbis did not intend to harm him or reveal his hiding place, he was persuaded to cooperate. However he refused to notify when or where the get could be given. When the date was finally made, the rabbis went without knowing where the meeting would take place. After changing the meeting place three times, the rabbinical representatives finally met the man, who was wearing a flak jacket and looked very scared for his life. The rabbis signed the man on a document of “Kisvu U’Tnu” since he refused to allow more than two people to meet him. This authorized the sofer to write a get and present it via an emissary to the woman, which was performed after the two representatives returned.
Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, the head of the rabbinical courts, said that “the Batei Din and the agunah department use bold, innovative and creative methods to find solutions and will go to every effort to save a woman from being an agunah, even if it requires professional challenges.”