Rabbinical Court refuses to accept ruling freeing 20-year Agunah
An independent court ruled to annul the marriage, but the rabbinical court has instead opened proceedings against the imprisoned husband.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 04:50Zvia Gordestski (left) holding the rabbinical court document freeing her from her marriage, alongside Center for Women’s Justice attorney Nitzan Caspi-Shiloni(photo credit: CENTER FOR WOMEN’S JUSTICE)
The Center for Women’s Justice has accused the Rabbinical Courts Administration of acting out of ideological motivations by dragging its feet in response to a request to close the divorce file of Tzviya Gorodetsky who was freed from her marriage by an independent rabbinical court in June after being denied a divorce for over 20 years.Gorodetsky’s case became infamous for the extraordinarily long time her husband refused to grant a divorce. The ruling by the independent court which annulled the marriage on several grounds was a groundbreaking development.There are now several other such long-term agunah cases under consideration by the same court.The state rabbinical courts in no way recognize the independent court’s ruling however, and consider Gorodetsky to still be married.As such, her husband is still in prison, where he has sat for the last 18 years, due to civil sanctions issued by the state rabbinical court because of his refusal to grant Tzviya a divorce.Following the independent court’s ruling however, Tzviya applied to have her file at the rabbinical court closed, something which can be done even if a divorce is not granted, so that she can put the entire saga behind her and move on.Usually, such requests are granted and the case closed without a hearing of the rabbinical courts.The Center for Women’s Justice which has dealt with Gorodestki’s case accused the rabbinical courts of acting on the basis of an ideological motive in not closing the case immediately as requested, due to its opposition to the ruling freeing her from her husband by the independent court.A spokesman for the court said however that since closing the case would involve freeing her husband from prison, the rabbinical court was obligated to hold a hearing.The hearing was scheduled for Thursday, but the presiding rabbinical judge Rabbi Uriel Lavi wrote in a court document on Wednesday that the legal department of the Rabbinical Courts Administration had notified the court that Tzviya’s husband was due to appear in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court because he is being criminally prosecuted for refusing to grant his wife a divorce.However, The Jerusalem Post has learned that the husband’s file with the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court was only opened on Thursday morning.Criminal prosecution of severe cases of divorce refusal was made possible in 2016 by the State Attorney’s Office, but only one case has ever been pursued until now.“The rabbinical court is refusing to close the case, apparently out of motivations stemming from its ideological opposition to the ruling she received from the independent rabbinical court.”The rabbinical courts spokesman said in response that the courts were merely following the required procedures in such cases.
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