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ISRAEL Jails Man For REFUSING Divorce
In groundbreaking ruling, rabbinical courts decides Meir Gorodetzki will not leave prison until he grants wife a "get."
The supreme rabbinical court of appeals upheld a life sentence handed down to a man who has refused for ten years to give his wife a bill of divorce.
Meir Gorodetzki was imprisoned by the Jerusalem rabbinical court in 2001 for refusing to allow his wife to divorce him and has spent the last ten years in jail for his ongoing refusal to give his wife a bill of divorce, or get.
Rabbinical courts have sole jurisdiction in matters pertaining to marriage and divorce, and have the ability to mete out punitive measures to convince a husband to give a wife a bill of divorce.
According to Jewish law, a man must grant his wife a get of his own volition before they can be divorced. A woman cannot remarry unless she receives a bill of divorce.
The maximum sentence that the rabbinical courts (beit din) can give for such an offense is ten years of imprisonment.
Gorodetzki’s sentence was coming to an end but his wife requested that he not be released, fearing that he would flee the country and she would never be able to remarry.
The Jerusalem rabbinical court ruled in May 2011 that Gorodetzki would remain in prison for as long as he continues to deny his wife a bill of divorce.
Gorodetzki appealed the case to the rabbinical court of appeals, the Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, claiming that the sentence infringed the country’s Basic Law of human dignity and freedom.
In the hearing in November, details of which have only now been released, the panel of rabbinical judges – headed by rabbinical supreme court president Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger – ruled against Gorodetzki. In a creative interpretation of the law, the judges ruled that it is Gorodetzki himself who is restricting his own freedom, as well as that of his wife, and that he holds the keys to his personal liberty.
“If the appellant is released from prison before he has divorced his wife, she will remain an agunah (a woman bound to her husband) for ever… Anyone who allows this would be considered as if they had shed her blood,” Metzger said during the hearing.
“The keys to your release are in your own hands… through the fulfillment of your obligations as a Jew. Release your wife and then you will receive your freedom,” Metzger told him.
Gorodetzki and his wife Tzviya Esther first married in 1983 in a civil marriage in the US but divorced in 1987. Gorodetzki emigrated to Israel in 1989, became Orthodox and joined the Chabad hassidic group. The couple then remarried in 1991.
Gorodetzki’s wife subsequently accused him of physical violence and verbal abuse, and the Jerusalem rabbinical court ordered him to give his wife a get in December 1999.
He refused to grant his wife the get and was imprisoned by the Jerusalem court in October 2001. Despite his incarceration, Gorodetzki continued to deny his wife a get and the court ordered additional measures be taken against him, including barring him from receiving visitors, letters or telephone calls (apart from with his lawyer); preventing him from receiving mehadrin (stringently kosher) food; two 90-day periods of solitary confinement; and barring him from buying food in the prison canteen. The court also instructed the prison to provide psychiatric treatment and denied a request by Gorodetzki for his children to be allowed to visit him.
“We are very happy with this ruling and it sends a very strong message,” said Batya Kehana.
However, it is a shame that these kinds of sanctions get used in so few cases. Instead, it needs to become the norm. In the majority of cases where husbands are sent to prison, they quickly give a get.
She added that for cases with men that exhibit psychological pathologies who are prepared to sit in jail for extremely long periods rather than divorce their wives, the rabbinical courts should annul the marriage retroactively, based on the principle in Jewish law of “mistaken acquisition.” “If a man denies a woman her freedom, then he should have his own freedom denied,” she added.
According to a recent study conducted by the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University, punitive sanctions are imposed by rabbinical courts in only 1.5% of the cases in which they are applicable.
Such measures include preventing a recalcitrant husband from traveling abroad, confiscating his driver’s license, being struck off from professional associations and imprisonment.
Posted by Editor
on February 11, 2012. Filed under INTERNATIONAL NEWS.
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king
February 11, 2012 at 11:50 am
Good, ulefwaya ukupwa balemu nyengako ulemuchinga
palato
February 11, 2012 at 12:35 pm
This man is right.there is no guarantee in this storry for divorce.so is she trying to say that tabale mutomba bambi?
sir igi
February 11, 2012 at 12:49 pm
ther is mor to this story than what is bein said!
GUN
February 11, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Men make law and its men that can break it,therefore in a case of a confused stuation like this one people should compromise. Its just that ku Israel kwalifula amashilu.
nakferd
February 11, 2012 at 2:34 pm
This story has no content at all.it lacks grounds.there are too many potholes.
Just Wondering
February 11, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Ndipo this is belief in till death do us part! The man has already wasted 10 years in prison, I doubt he has anything to lose if he doesn’t grant her divorce. First married in 1983, ninshi bali how old abakashi? I wonder if there’s already someone waiting to marry her, or if she’s hoping to find someone? Mmmmmm!
Juku1
February 11, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Until death do u apart.trust in de lord.those are just mere tamptation u wil overcome then.what wil profit a man if he gain de whole world and lose his life?or is it not profitable 4 a man 2 lose de whole world and gain his life in de lord?
chiso
February 11, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Lalani bwino mwa monse
Ddickens, Mansa
February 11, 2012 at 11:41 pm
Its sad for the woman to insist to be divorced. she forgot Until death separate us. in good health and sad times. I suspect one of the Judges has a carnal Knowledge of the lady, why are they changing the president. ViVa maman, you will overcome after all you have already suffered in 10 year. We will speak now for your rights, viva.
pilato
February 12, 2012 at 7:23 am
niga just divorce ha and give her a break
Chama Febie
February 13, 2012 at 9:28 am
S.T.U.P.D selfish man grant her divorce so that she can be free.
mark
February 13, 2012 at 10:31 am
God hates divorce. The Jewis law must not encourage things that God hates. The man is right. He has since probably already repented and knows that God hates divorce.
If he married his wife when she was 20 years old in 1983 the wife must be 50 years old now. Who would want to marry a 50 year OLD COW anyway……
Philanderer
February 13, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Religion and God just add complication and confusion to life.
Kanayo o Kanayo
February 15, 2012 at 4:46 pm
So at 50 a woman is a COW!
oxmos
February 15, 2012 at 7:49 pm
can we please respect women!!!!!!!! they are our mothers,just contribute you have and not call them cows,please
lol
February 16, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Mark, ati cow??? ulishilu, ichimutwe..