NEW YORK Court Strives To Inform Critics In two page ad, controversial bet din attempts to explain Jewish law behind its annulments. Enig J. GREENBERG oe sain Fc hn date, Apis e- proper” cde omy Rac Sitar veined Ordon oor alae owseex: Sisco sae Cole, rer owpe- ‘tng halacie premises and precedes re age. cla this document, having demonstrated he halchic A= of acreaive method tdsslve igious “Wihan estimated one ive Jewish manigrsening sors availa fe punt. willspurainc cours oe cragratintt Giese ioaivontine iadvorsanltemonqunygceaseringaessts ainterarpened eare lore: donenaseonee Gara bepety ener aka ee | eines seach ean ican! anny aan Inte ey seen p25 nt Tints wets ew ache pay peat ee pen wih ath Enact ite eer hee Sonya ues ped tenance ‘cies Fr Tee Aes Some ren fread te heuer Sondre tt eae Tule recs te bar sore Cateiceatierahbearios. ae Sas enc econo Stee i eeaieantaedoese Sects tai ckrn aie ia wit ee Mle ents Damme mite etohltonten ee Secs ae ren prion mdtaiowiptane lore treme ee | ‘Cl teweer wet moored exes bee Ieihinee ite ayie sonnel Rae Taperintieaueescered cite keiees THe 200 werd fis "rspanc ecu eos seamel he Oroentabeas wtokeqmeont ae fs rie aber etepee gr earn raf Apa re Shaisivano mele ian teow icesheomeiyatchiotctonanse tomy cout al i te came xis ht ll scene wit ar mee omer he Intra eames poche Sonn eng enon tomer eeoe aries The tara is ba ek of aco sent by teeta manage in which canbe ironed ster hsb lo pend fr decliing de a Speers : Ty EIN: ‘ei een nh Souset rae we eee fate : oh UNC ae) Maceeneen ‘hate mae tn 190 women ke es lest : BE BLOWN AWAY BY THE CR Ta bas Cate td With Hellmann's, sets et lt ere Only Hellmann's Mayonnaise Brings Out The Best in your. ‘eigen ee elas woe ee eau Sra yer Coen tte at Fa ES com using Sop are cone Mears acre Wot i CeO oe nem hte ‘ere A vt 1 S71gs essen sonia ADVERTISEMENT, The procedures batei din, rabbinic courts, may use today to free agunot rely on a well known halachic concept, kiddushei ta'ut. A finding of kiddushei ta’ut Is a determination that a fundamental mistake occurred at the time the couple wed so that the marriage is void ab initio, from the very beginning. Such a determination obviates the need for a get and allows the beit din, rabbinic court, to issue a p'tur, which frees the woman without her recalcitrant husband's cooperation. KIDDUSHE!I TA‘UT I: A SALIENT DEFECT ne category of hidshe tue he wing oft mariage Deans « Mar Sec at ot slse to ane party ou ase the brie. When he alent defect reveal seh the wie asthe right to declare abit Ania hoo thie ec, would never have marie im.””The groom's ielare to clove Jos nat have to be with Faufulent nent on his part. may Fearne imaet was not anare ofthis problem. For eample groom maybe ‘ote and woe of th tthe time ofthe arige, When this conion ‘ecomes ppent the maigeyoidable eventhough the groom dl not wl Fey conceal Ui infvain (Ray Mase Fistln rot Moshe B27) Of ptsein th ase of wilful concealment fortiori, dhe marrige s voile, (Gt See also Or Zar (1180-1250) who records (BI) a ese in whi is ‘Srtenoray Rabbens Simcha of Speyer ruled that wile should e released Sencar ge on the grounds of ides et when an unknown defect inthe room is eves Buin on this concen of Kidde! ut, bit in my ecoize “ther itlerabe defect the husbands grounds or a declaration of Wesel AER Tee eet which ae in tol discord with any resonable concen of caage inca: physi and peysholgial abuse adultery (which more than ‘er eangos the Wie ofthe spouse), sexial molestation abandonment, timid Sty aubstance abuse, and sadism (0b withholding of ast maybe wewed as ‘abening sadistic naturel, A bet, apbing a poyehoaabtc concept of teak mare may ld thatthe sede of soch deviant bar are preset in {he groom a he ception ofthe mariage though hey ray nat yet have cae aedthemscve in vet behav, These personaly defects ae so ator peStcaepabe i morn thatthe le ay ety, Had 1 on that he Fa hae personality defect eee would have marie in” “he method uf eing woman based on ining of ddl tau is uttessel bythe night of ay itecok lebanon Sper who wae centary Mastin when a det nthe bud justifies coerion ofthe get, the Tami Peecimpton of ta nets tan do mimetay area a wan beter of FRared to anyone than Being alone ~ 1s ot applicable, (Bin itzchok VoLL el) Oncr tis presumption fe suspend, a woman can rely testify that Fad ake known of slit defect in her asad she woul hae chosen nat 0 ‘nary, the marvnge was a mistake, she would be tro lone ‘fo argent tha women pre oan slag rather tan ends mis rable marge even are persuasion the ners economic rab Seu tana women hive achive nour mes. fay Moshe esti, nis ‘Sicha teetn pc 79), consdes he rere Ue possbity thal the Fae A itsuporing ght indice woe women o aerate marge > ah undesable ma, He eso os thao mall ino of women i a ig be ancy espera In 1288 tl fever ary, wen wou all ‘mb nategny. Athen eng oansin that women tly wl aher single than be marie to abusive ex. The concept of av meta feted sn onger an ied to declaring Kidshel at MISA lipnel Tikkun Olam (Gittin 4:2) MME HALACHIC PRINCIPLES AND PROC In every cae elo our bit i, the tent defects ofthe husband ge sie to such abusive bear ao render ther unit o be husbands Thea [ik teimany that had she been svar fhe shan tue nature she never ‘Tul ave ted stands The marrage iid ab nto -KIDDUSHE TAT ‘Fh belt din may dispense wih a Get ard elas the woman with apr KIDDUSHE! TA'UT II: LACK OF INFORMED CONSENT WHEN KEFIYAH (PHYSICAL COERCION) IS IMPOSSIBLE he ality keh ysl rion nthe at when eh Ter airmen teh Teagan tom inp marage Ty he nmi een rh Ring apn mds ust tack rbot hee or tee care atin of rage at hy ere reg win 8 Sr se ue vty mprsney an oacuplun tan, 17 ice Re cnees-tddsa When itl he woe Mea an seers hands tae wren an ial a fae nt ss hte of he mariage eto, er STAC tener ths mages conte of my ie rene mae ise mii be Ou erence asm terete nme ey heb ey tm oon te web see iol ar ced ot target hn a is ‘pce ose such epi mariage ne Historic Rol fei rok the best known alachicahorzatin of kf to secure gets found inthe Ramban Wing in the 12th century he lays down the ule that gt shoul be coerced when a woman sys her husband is muons, ep air usber ict hut 128) Eleere, the Ream (bid 25:21, se also {he Mishraot Ketubot Chapter Tzishrats 9 10) call for kefiyoh when the hsb develop certain physi odor resumes cetin malodoraus of epulaive occupations The Or Zara ted above autores wely na case ‘Ghee thc woman involved wanted to exit her mariage not because the hus Tandlver gl of unconaconsble behavior, ut rather because he had tragic Ih become ind. How mach mre keto warranted in cases where aman i fo longer a sand but a torment. “Scary ance 13th entuy the Racba must have discerned that brides would mat we they dl ot trust that abis could re them fom baa Troriger by coercing ae (See Hidfushe HaRasba Gitin 888) tis very ‘Rican here even if parental, to describe ally the rationale ofthe Rash Tah reason for ustijing the exis of physical coercion agaist recale- nt sands deoite the incontestable Tali afrmation tha rabbis have br nel powers decree corporal ponent since the conera of Bical Serica (ordination) came to an end.a thousand years err. Yet the Rashba Spttoved of psa coercion of the husbands of “chained” wornen usin the eT vessoning that prompted the rabbit exert their bin per tO force debtors to pay their creditors what s due ther, because otherwise the or woul ot be able to borrow money. “The dors a ereitors would be ged tothe” Kaa simi ay, the Rashba said that wornen wou nt marty {fine hod no ex rm mariage toa man who has become their tormenta. ‘Geiab is Unyallble Ta: itis prticlrly inthis decade that ithas bere apparent that ph cal coercion fs both unsceetble and lea kn sal, coercion is hinited to Son-stent means end is therfore, ited in its efectvenss. So vindictive some realtrant husbands tht they have elect to remain incarcerated ‘inant pesos ater than fe ei wives. the Uned States, vent eytfeip by atbinieal courte is uniwfuland punishable. Several American ‘bol re uer Investigation by government prosecutors Beesuse of suspected Finks to vslence aginst ealirant husbandsADVERTISEMENT DURES FOR FREEING ACUNOT [mam Ray Moshe Feinstein was concerned with te at that the power to coerce was witless ifthe husband hed fled from the jurisdiction ofthe court or his whereabouts were unknown, He wrote Vat b'zman shehyad Yiraltekiah shehkainohto leat! yesh harbeh pe'smim shea toi bakefva,shebla yomar otzch ani ch seh yoochoo haf sheyirach \wchalomeh vol sheen b'aman hazehsheh ein bad Belt dn Yisrael Mofo. Be efshar leas mimer et be'shurm ofe, ein leaghah veesh letatirah mtaam mekach ti. And even inthe time when Jevs bad power to coerce the husband to release the wife wih a get), many times ‘the coercion would be infective, (he) would not say T am willing (o give the get) oF would be imposible to coerce him, he would flee, or the Tike Al the moreso in thes mer when bate din donot have the power to coete.. 1s impossible to secure a gt fram hn by any means, she should not be left an agunah and shoul be released because oa fundamen tal mistake in the mariage” (Rav Moshe Feinstein, H:79) “These words of Rav Mothe Feinstein resonate in every cae heard by us. Ineach ease, ur abis fund that the hasan’ behavior was mao Intolerable othe wile - and warranted a declralion of ean each ase the husband had veused to sue a ge despite various combinations le ing pressure and efforts by other batel din. Like oy Pinten, ou ais, theretore, concluded: When iis impossible to secure age by ay means ‘om such unfit husbands, the worn should not rin an agua, She shouldbe leased onthe grounds of kddthe aut Ite not only re-exie Ing defects inthe husband hat make tis marriage kiddshel tut Ii the ‘woman's mindset atthe wedding that she was not dlivering herself into a ‘marriage with no exit. The mariage is vod a ito KIDDUSHE! TXUT TL Tha bet din may dapense wit the get and release the woman witha tur KIDDUSHE! TA'UT Ill; LACK OF INFORMED CONSENT TO KINYAN far fan Univesity published an incisive alle Dine! Ire, Te vir University Law Scho, 1988) hat focuses on the Haris implations of ‘the lack of informed consent by women atthe ime of marrage. Fld write that “night of womens effort in ou day to achieve east in all Spheres fife thee ia presumption, even a ategorcal presumption (aden dlmachah), that many women informed would inno way gre tothe [iyanfcqustion nature of kiushinmariage Consequety eldlum ‘res, miny women seeking adore may ot be hlachicaly mare, nat ‘nora and perhaps not even ivabbanae-abinclly, and ‘therefore may not ned gt to eit the mariage” R& Profesor Mel Felblum, formerly of Yeh Univers and now ‘Our actual experienc with gunot exceed that of Profesor Fehler and has ed us to conelide tat no woman evs marriage a transaction in hich her husband acquis” her.” No one ean credibly maintain toy that bres are onsentng to the concept of gufsh Kanu, that marriage ia klayan la which the husband acquires te tothe wife’ bod (See the Babylonian Tam, Bava Batra 4B Tsfot begining Kash bia.) Ths there fo informed con. senthy women to ing atthe time of mariage and the mariage void ab Ino, KIDDUSHEL TAUT I. The bet in may dspense with the get and relat the woman with pur CONTINUITY WITH PAST WHILE ADDRESSING PROBLEMS OF THE PRESENT AND FUTURE ave breadend the range of defects that consi grounds or Widushet ut and rffimed that the absence of nfrma consent onthe tof ihe bride constitutes grounds for kiddush tut. We have acknowledged the Ke taut hasbeen a cental concert in alisha fr centuries. We the halachic authorities but mandated by them. Assingle witness, cicumstantial evidence Pees Our critics say there is no solution. We are proposing one that is not only justified by ‘To berate an Agunah one mus even rely on minority views (Taz Bven Hafezer 17:15, Tax Yoreh Deah 194) To prevent aginut, testimony does not hae to meet standards of Biblical dishah and hakia amas change in womens economic nd sacl satus which renders the ‘Tuhmudic presumption of tay eta rebuttable in every case, if ot completely colt, and which undermines the fundamental concep of Kinja atthe time ol args and hearsay are all admissible. (Rambar,Hilchot Gerushin, 18:28) ‘+ Fear of mamzertis an illusion, (ee the Responsa of the Maharsham 9) ‘+ The pursuit ofa more stringent post-ShulchanAruch view of Jewish law sa reversal ofa wo thousand year commitment to the iberation of al sufering women and a reversal ofthe thrust of Jewish law since the beginning of our history to liberate women from slavery of any kind, including ownership by her husband, ‘These principles and procedures were prepared by AGUNAH Inc. Dr. Susan Aranoff, Honey Rackman, Henni Goldstein and Estelle Frellich In cooperation with Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, ‘The Beit Din Zedek LBafayot Agunot usually adds many more reasons In the process of dissolving the marriages that hhave come before it in the light of the particular details of each case. The above ls a restatement of well known sources applied to the contemporary scene. 3 ae ease eussnr EEN Sone uc