According to Jewish religious law, both parties in a marriage must agree to divorce — agree to obtain what is called a get — before their marriage can be ended. Unfortunately, this has led to a tragic circumstance for some wives whose husbands, for whatever reason, refuse to agree. Such women — called agunot in Hebrew — are trapped. They cannot remarry (among other problems) and have little recourse. Yael Braun , a divorced, Orthodox woman, has stepped in to help.
Quote: “As Jews, I don’t think we take social injustices lying down: Even though it’s a very small number, we’re making this a public issue because it’s not acceptable to us,” Braun says. “When we see that something’s wrong we want to change it. That’s the Jewish way.”
Sources: Wikipedia (introduction), Kveller.com (quotation)
Learn more about agunot from My Jewish Learning. ►
Read “This Trailblazing Orthodox Mom Helps Women Get a Jewish Divorce” ►
Watch “The Violence a Post-Divorce Orthodox Woman Faces” [7:38]. ►
Watch “Discussing controversy on Jewish divorce law (Agunot) — Dayan [Judge] Binstock” [11:24]. ►
Photo: Kveller
We welcome your comments. Click here.. ;
