The Great Agunah Hoax
One of the most widely
misunderstood issues in the Jewish community is the so-called agunah
problem. Few issues have been more thoroughly distorted and confused in the
Jewish media, whether Orthodox or non-Orthodox than this issue.
A popular misconception being spread by many Jewish feminist
groups is that an agunah is "a woman whose husband refuses to grant her a Jewish
divorce upon request." In fact there is simply no basis in Jewish tradition for
such a concept, and the feminists never quote an authentic Torah source to
substantiate this claim.
Within authentic Judaism, divorce on demand does not exist.
Just because a wife demands to receive a GET, or her husband demands that she
accept a GET, does not entitle them to enforce their will on their spouse. Only
a kosher Bais Din can rule that a woman is entitled to a GET, not a pulpit rabbi
or a feminist organization. Within halacha, only under specific and limited
conditions is a woman entitled to receive a GET. (See Shulchan Aruch, Evan haEzer, Chapter 154).
Some cases where the wife might be entitled to a GET are if her husband was a "mucas
scheen" (he suffers from severe skin blemishes), or "m'laket tsoas kelavim" (he
is a collector of dog manure), or "aino rotseh hitacher" (he refuses to
support his wife due to intentional unemployment), etc.
Lacking valid halachic
cause as specified
in the Shulchan Aruch and later Torah authorities, the wife is not an "aguna" and the husband is not obligated
to dissolve the marriage and provide a GET if he does not care to do so.
A common example of a halachic "agunah" which is discussed in
various halachic sources is the case of a woman whose husband traveled overseas,
and later she received a report that he had died. This is the type of "agunah"
which the great halachic authorities of the past would attempt to release.
Another example of an authentic "agunah" is a woman who
appeared before a
kosher Beis Din,
requested a GET, and was entitled to receive one according to halacha. Due to
circumstances beyond her control, such as the disappearance of her husband, she
was unable to obtain a GET. By kosher Beis Din, we are referring to a
reputable Bais Din which operates and rules according to traditional halachic
standards, and does not deviate due to pressure from feminist groups.
There is of course, no question that a very small number of
authentic agunos exist. These women certainly deserve community support, as long
as such assistance is supervised by an expert rabbinic authority who strictly
complies with traditional halacha. The fact that a small number of authentic
agunos may exist does not justify the absurd demagogic claims by agunah
organizations of thousands of alleged agunos.
Many of the women
falsely claiming to be agunos today in fact have litigated in family courts in violation of halacha. The feminist rabbis and
organizations never seem to hold these women accountable for their actions. Despite the claims of certain pro-feminist rabbis, the fact that a woman sued
her husband for divorce in secular family court does not in any way grant her any halachic entitlement to a
GET, and does not in any way confer on her the status of aguna
! Quite the contrary, as stated in the Shulchan Aruch and other sources, a GET
should never be performed unless and until all issues between the parties have
been resolved according to Torah law.
Feminist rabbis and
organizations have so abused the term agunah today
that it has become a great hoax. In many cases the husbands of these women are
under no halachic obligation to divorce their wives, and they may also object
strenuously to destroying their families by divorce. In other cases the feminists are promoting the
cause of various women who have violated halacha, usually by suing their
husbands in civil courts in violation of halacha. The feminist groups have thus implemented
the Jewish version of the "politics of victimization". By defining all
women involved in a divorce situation as innocent victims of male injustice, they attempt to
generate undeserved sympathy and support for their plight. Opponents of their
agenda can then be characterized as unfeeling, cruel exploiters of innocent
women. There may in fact be a small number of women who are true "agunos" according to halacha, but their cause has been greatly
weakened by the actions of the feminists.
Feminist political pressures on the various state legislatures
have resulted in the creation of an anti-male, unconstitutional, family court
system. As a result statistics will show that the vast majority of divorce lawsuits in
the non-Jewish world are filed by the wife as a plaintiff. Under this system, many women perceive
they have everything to gain and almost nothing to lose by initiating divorce
procedures in the anti-father family court system. In many cases divorcing women
can quickly
remove their husbands from their homes, take possession of the
home, and take custody of the children. They can attempt to obtain outrageously high alimony and child
support payments from their ex-husband, who may be reduced to poverty while
working overtime at a high paying job. Their wives
are then free to pursue relationships with new boyfriends and lovers while being
generously supported by their ex -husband.
According to the Shulchan Aruch, a person has the right to
have all divorce issues dealt with in Bais Din. Yet certain modern Orthodox and
Yeshiva University "rabbis" claim a woman need only obtain a "preliminary heter"
to go to court instead of Beis Din. Prominent rabbinic authorities have
protested strongly against the fraudulent "heterim" being provided to allow Jews
to utilize non-Jewish courts. A
man who has been sued in family court has a G-d given right to have all his
divorce issues re-judged according to halacha in Beis Din, before he may
be required
to give a GET. At no time during the Beis Din process can the woman
be considered an "aguna".
Rabbinic experts have alleged that certain modern Orthodox Beis Dins and pro-feminist rabbis, especially certain rabbis connected to
Yeshiva University, are caving into pressure from Jewish feminist
groups. As a result Jewish divorce cases are not being resolved according to the Shulchan Aruch. By
ignoring the legitimate rights of Jewish men, and by performing halachic
acrobatics in order to appease women's groups, they have alienated many Jewish
men who now refuse to cooperate with them.
Regrettably, most Jewish media provide very little factual halachic or
legal information regarding Jewish divorce issues. Instead they continually
regurgitate hysterical feminist claims regarding huge numbers of alleged agunahs
and domestic violence victims. Various popular Jewish publications, both
Orthodox and non-Orthodox, supply a continuous torrent of pro-agunah and
anti-male propaganda, and very rarely publish articles dissenting with the
agunah party line. Favorable articles about Jewish feminist organizations are
continually published, along with names and phone numbers to be contacted. Women
are urged to vigilantly defend their rights, and to contact the feminist
organizations upon the slightest violation of their "rights". Women are urged to
use secular courts against their husbands. Certain rabbis connected with Yeshiva
University write articles requesting women to obtain a "preliminary heter from a
rabbi" before going to secular court.
Many well intentioned Orthodox Jews are thus being
indoctrinated that traditional Jewish law is unjust and oppressive to women, and
that huge numbers of oppressed "agunos" exist.
The present trends in the Orthodox community of harassing
Jewish men,
and of tolerating and encouraging Jewish women to utilize family
court, are simply exacerbating women's divorce problems. The blatant denial
ofJewish men's halachic rights are providing strong incentives for the men to withhold gittin until their halachic rights are
obtained. Attempts to incite the Jewish public against divorced men who are only
claiming their G-d given rights will only backfire. The only sure solution to
the divorce problems and alleged agunah problems in the Jewish community is a
return to Torah law and a rejection of feminism and scapegoating of innocent
men. Will the pro-feminist rabbis and agunah sympathizers have the intellectual
honesty and courage to recognize the error of their ways?
