Sex-crazed husband gives 'get'

Demanded sex 3-4 times a day, every day, including on Yom Kippur.

By MATTHEW WAGNER
sex addict 63 (photo credit: )
sex addict 63
(photo credit: )
An eight-year saga involving a recalcitrant husband, a "chained" wife and an out-of-control libido came to an end in a regional rabbinical court in Rehovot this week. A man who had refused for the last eight years to divorce his wife finally acquiesced to a rabbinic court demand, the Rabbinic Courts Administration announced. The prurient, headstrong husband had been told eight years ago by the rabbinical court of Rehovot that he must divorce his wife due to his abnormal sexual appetite. According to the woman, her husband demanded sex three to four times a day, 365 days a year, including on Yom Kippur and when she was menstruating - times during which intercourse is prohibited according to Jewish law. The husband refused to give his wife a get (writ of divorce), choosing instead to go into hiding and live on the streets. According to Halacha, a woman cannot remarry until her husband agrees to give her a get. Until he does, she is considered an aguna, or "chained" woman. Because of the husband's homeless lifestyle, various sanctions - such as blocking his exit from Israel, revoking his driver's license and freezing his checking account - were ineffective in convincing him to cave in. The court also had trouble tracking him down. A private investigator appointed by the Rabbinical Courts Administration failed to locate him. Eventually the husband was found and was imprisoned. He was forced to remain in prison after his parents refused to post a NIS 80,000 bail and to use their home as collateral to ensure their daughter-in-law received alimony payments. "There is no doubt that incarcerating a man to ensure he will show up at court is a blow to his freedom. But against his right to freedom stands the right of his wife to demand a divorce and not to remain chained," the rabbinical court wrote at the time to justify the imprisonment. "Weighing the two rights, we reach the conclusion that we are obligated to keep the husband in custody to make sure he shows up at court. Of course, if the husband agrees to give a get, he will not need to be imprisoned."