ots@ohrtorahstone.org.il

Even as they continue their daily work on behalf of individual agunot in the rabbinical courts, graduates of the Monica Dennis Goldberg School for Women Advocates are also educating the public and pushing for systemic change.

Rachel was a young, intelligent, religious woman living a happy and carefree life. Her marriage to a prominent and influential young rabbi 20 years ago was a seal of distinction for her years of learning and good deeds.

Professional and experienced: Advocate Vardit Rosenblum meets a client

But to her horror, in the privacy of their home, her husband turned out to be a bully and a scoundrel. He treated her with contempt, belittled her and was physically abusive to her and their children. When she begged him to go for counseling, he refused, blamed her for the situation and tried to persuade her that she was mentally unstable. Terrified that he would be unmasked and his veneer of rabbinic authority removed, he warned her that any attempts to reveal the truth would be severely and violently punished.

As the violence became more acute, Rachel had little option but to contact the police. When her husband found out, he was livid. In his rage, he contacted her work supervisor and told him to threaten her with a pay cut if she did not drop her police complaints.

 Light at the End of the Tunnel

Despairing of her situation, Rachel grew timid, submissive and introverted. She had given up all hope of anything other than a life of abuse when her husband’s own sister secretly directed Rachel to the Monica Dennis Goldberg School of Advocates’ Yad L’isha Legal Aid Center and Hotline, where advocate Vardit Rosenblum took on her case. Vardit convinced Rachel that her life was worth saving, that she need not live in fear of her husband, that together they would work through the rabbinical courts and secure her freedom.

It was not a simple process; Rachel’s husband used his political clout to try and pressure the advocates into dropping the case. When they refused to succumb, he turned to his acquaintances in the rabbinical courts, but the wheels were already in motion. “Yad L’isha is a lifesaver for people like me,” declares Rachel. “The Monica Dennis Goldberg advocates are professional and experienced, and nothing seemed to faze them. Vardit knew exactly how to deal with the situation and with all the people involved, and she did everything with consummate professionalism. Long before the case was even settled, I already felt that a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.”

Vardit prepared a formidable case, utilizing police records, witnesses and expert testimony. “In the face of such an enormous body of evidence, Rachel’s husband was simply at a loss,” relates Vardit. “All of his clout and cronyism proved worthless, they crumbled in the face of true justice.” Says Rachel: “Vardit stripped my husband of his manipulative power and influence, so that all that was left to the case were the dry facts. The judges listened to the evidence, asked a few questions and ordered him to let me go. After 20 years of misery, I’m finally free.”

Improving the Status of Women

While graduates of the Monica Dennis Goldberg School for Women Advocates focus enormous energy on supporting individual women like Rachel, they also work proactively to improve the personal status of women in Judaism through the Israeli parliament, the rabbinical and civil courts, scholarship and educational campaigns. Most recently, they took part in the celebratory launch of the new Hebrew edition of Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s book on the subject of Jewish divorce, entitled “Yad L’isha,” in which he asserts the rights of Jewish women within halacha and presents his own vision of Jewish legal solutions to the phenomenon.

The well-attended gathering featured a group of distinguished panelists including Dr. Keren Kirshenbaum, Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Lau, Rabbi Riskin, Legal Aid Center advocate Osnat Sharon and Professor Yedidya Stern, who debated whether or not the Jewish rabbinical establishment should be responsible for contemporary social dilemmas, using agunot as a test case.

In her remarks, Yad L’isha advocate Osnat Sharon argued cogently and powerfully that community rabbis must make it clear, once and for all, that it is unacceptable for a man to refuse to divorce his wife and that they should sanction such recalcitrant husbands where necessary. Relating anecdotes from the Center’s work, Sharon applauded the courage of those principled rabbis who have helped to secure the freedom of abused women. At the same time, she warned, “indifference to the plight of an aguna is the equivalent of sentencing her to a life in chains. We must all band together to protest these wrongs and pursue true Torah justice.”

< Back