Fraidy Reiss: Activist Against Arranged Marriage, Forced Marriage, and Child Marriage

Fraidy Reiss was raised in an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn N.Y. At age 19 she was wed through an arranged marriage; her husband turned out to be extremely abusive. In 2011, Reiss founded the nonprofit organization Unchained At Last to support women and girls who want to leave arranged marriages, forced marriages, and child marriages.
 
Ed. Note: Including this on AmazingJews.org is not meant to disparage all arranged marriages — including those in the Ultra-Orthodox and Hassidic Jewish communities. Many of these arrangements result in happy, stable marriages. Not all, however. (See the link below to the Fraidy Reiss Ted Talk.) The question is, in the case of unhappy — even abusive — arranged marriages, are the women prevented from leaving by Jewish religious law and/or community pressure?
 
Quote: “I was forced into marriage when I was 19 and living in New York City. It was an abusive marriage from the beginning. When I finally managed to escape with my two daughters, my family retaliated by shunning me.” | “We help women and girls across the U.S. who are either trying to say no to an impending marriage… or who are already in one that someone else chose for them and they’re trying to get out.”
 
Sources: Wikipedia, Forbes.com
 
Learn more about Fraidy Reiss on Wikipedia. >>
 
Read “On The Front Lines In The Fight To End Child Marriage In The U.S.” >>
 
Watch “America’s Forced Marriage Problem,” a Ted Talk by Fraidy Reiss [10:45]. >>
 
Photo: YouTube.com