A woman who had been an aguna for nearly two years was finally freed from her marriage after her Israeli husband granted her a get. His decision came when he realized that without giving her the divorce, he would not be permitted to travel to the kever of Rav Nachman of Breslov in Uman for Rosh Hashanah.
The husband had planned to make his annual pilgrimage to Ukraine, but discovered he was barred from leaving Israel due to a travel ban—one of the penalties imposed on men who withhold a get. When his appeal to have the ban lifted was rejected, he ultimately conceded and granted his wife the divorce. She celebrated Rosh Hashanah as a free woman.
The couple had been married for nearly ten years when, two years ago, the wife requested a divorce. However, her husband refused to comply for a variety of reasons, pushing her to seek intervention from bais din. Initially, the bais din didn’t enforce the get, instead ruling that while the husband had a religious obligation to divorce her, he wasn’t legally compelled to do so. Still, the husband persisted in his refusal.
Desperate for help, the woman reached out to Yad La’isha, a division of the Ohr Torah Stone network that assists women in aguna situations. Attorney and rabbinical advocate Dina Reitchik, representing the woman through Yad La’isha, filed a new appeal to the rabbinical court. This time, the bais din imposed sanctions, including the travel ban, making the get mandatory. Despite these measures, the husband still would not comply.
“We understood that sanctions like taking away his driver’s license or freezing his bank accounts wouldn’t be effective because this was a case of outright defiance,” said Reitchik. For a time, it seemed that nothing could break the stalemate—until the husband, known for his commitment to visiting graves of tzaddikim, requested the travel ban be lifted to allow him to go to Uman. “We saw this as a unique opportunity to apply pressure, so we refused to remove the ban,” Reitchik explained.
Though the husband was furious at first, during a court session last week, he realized that without granting the get, the ban would remain in place. He finally agreed to give the divorce in order to ensure his pilgrimage to Uman could go forward.
“In the end, his dedication to the tzaddik was stronger than the so-called ‘love’ he claimed to have for his wife, which he had used as an excuse to deny the divorce,” Reitchik said. “I’m thrilled that this woman can begin the new year free. We will continue to fight on behalf of all the women we represent who remain trapped in unwanted marriages.”
{Matzav.com Israel}