Posted on 06/05/18
| News Source: JPOST
Jerusalem - In a groundbreaking development for divorce rights in Israel, a women denied a divorce by her husband for 23 years has been freed from her marriage by a private, ad hoc Orthodox rabbinical court headed by respected Orthodox rabbi and Talmudist Rabbi Daniel Sperber.
The ruling could pave the way for more such women to avail themselves of private rabbinical courts, if they believe that they have no chance of ever escaping their failed marriages, and could lead to the set up of permanent, private rabbinical courts for divorce following the example of private courts for conversion and non-state kashrut supervision authorities, as well as increasing numbers of private Orthodox weddings.
A similar ruling by another ad hoc private Rabbinical Court was issued in 2013.
The Chief Rabbinate is certain to reject the validity of the divorce but Gordestki could likely remarry in a private Orthodox ceremony if she so wished.
Zvia Gordetski, 53, was married to her husband for nine years and had four children with him before eventually requesting a divorce in 1995 due to his violent and abusive behavior towards her, including beating her while she was pregnant so that she miscarried and throwing acid on her.
He steadfastly refused to grant a bill of divorce even after being ordered by the state Rabbinical Court refused to do so, leading the court to jail him, where has sat for 18 years.
The Rabbinical Courts said there was nothing else they could do however for Gordetski since it refuses to annul marriages, arguing that this goes counter to Jewish law.
Gordetski finally decided that she would never be free of the marriage without a new perspective from a different rabbinical court and the Center of Women’s Justice, a women’s right’s advocacy group, convened a private rabbinical court headed by Sperber.
Sperber and the two other Orthodox rabbis, who have declined to be named, argued that there is a concept in Jewish law that their marital life that ensued following their marriage is objectively unlivable and not normative and that no one would agree to such a marriage had they known that this is what it would be like.
The rabbis also argued that the husband has a personality disorder which existed prior to the marriage but was not disclosed to her, rendering the marriage “a mistaken agreement” and never valid in the first place.
Finally, the judges noted that Gordestki apparently paid for the wedding ring with her own money, meaning that the marriage was never even valid according to Jewish law.
“After so many years, Zvia has received control over her life and...read more at JPost