Fw: Women's rights in Israel

[Nogradi Judit]

Dear All,

Please sign this petition if you can disregard the somewhat degrading description of homosexuality. (I signed it because I know that whatever the reason a woman wants to divorce and the man does not, he can make her life miserable.) The movement which this petition is a part of is an Israeli Women's Human Rights program dedicated to change religious practices detrimental to Jewish women. The only sphere of life in Israel which is regulated by religious law only is marriage and divorce. Jewish law per se would clearly make it possible for women to hold rights equal to men's in divorce proceedings. Practice, however, denies these possibilities. If you send this request on to other people, please, delete as much from my notes above as much you wish.
Judit Wirth (Nogradi)


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Feladó: kutiandrea <kutiandrea at hotmail.com>
Címzett: peto andrea <petoand at hotmail.com>; zsu at jcc.hu; Toronyi Zsuzsi <sosana at freemail.hu>; szombat <szombat at elender.hu>; sharon shenhav <sshenhav at inter.net.il>; Sándor Monika <sandormoni at freemail.hu>; Pécsi Katalin <pecsikata at matavnet.hu>; patriciamargit at hotmail.com; nussbaum111 at hotmail.com; manau at radio.fm; krasztev at hotmail.com; Kéri Rita <kerita at qwertynet.hu>; jnogradi at matavnet.hu; fejer at freemail.hu; borbala.juhasz at freemail.hu; Borbala Juhasz <hphjub01 at phd.ceu.hu>; Biljana Kasic <biljana at mail.zamir.net>
Tárgy: Women's rights in Israel
Dátum: 2001. július 2. 10:29

Following Sharon Shenhav's talk on agunot (chained women) to Esztertaska, I thought that this was a particularly important petition to sign and pass on - Andi
__________________________

Subject: please sign--this is important! 
Just as the stories of the oppression of Afghani women
are being heard, 
the time has come for the truth to emerge about Jewish
women in Israel. 
For 
in Israel, women are being held captive, oppressed and
subjugated by 
the 
Israeli legal system acting supposedly in the name of
religion. 
Thousands upon thousands of women in Israel who wish
to leave their 
marriages to abusive, controlling, and often violent
men are unable to 
do with their own freedom, safety, wellness and youth
in the name of 
preservation of ancient traditions. The Jewish legal
system rewards 
men's
violence against their wives by enabling the men to
keep their wives 
locked
to them forever.
These chained women, known as "agunot" or "mesuravot
get", are unable 
to 
remarry. Any child born to an agunah is considered a
bastard and will 
be 
forced to spend his or her life outside of the Jewish
community. So an 
agunah listens to her biological clock ticking, and
watches her life 
pass her by, as she waits around for a religious judge
to force her 
husband 
to divorce her. And often, this never happens. Or it
happens too late. 
An agunah lives in limbo. Neither married nor
divorced, on her own yet 
still held by her husband's whim. Her life dangles as
she lives in 
sadness
and fear. Complete limbo. Her life is not her own.
Meanwhile, many of these men remarry, either in Israel
or elsewhere. 
They have children who are considered completely
legitimate -- even if 
the 
man and his lover are not married. A man may be
violent and polygomous 
and 
yet neither he nor his children suffer any
consequences. But the agunah 
remains trapped, like an imprisoned slave. Just
because she is a Jewish
woman. 
We, the undersigned, declare that the situation for
Jewish women is 
intolerable. We demand that legal and religious
leaders leaders reform 
the current system. 
We demand of the Courts: 
1. To give final decisions on the matters 
of divorce within one year from the time of filing. 
2. Not to participate in, allow, or condone the
extortion of women by 
their husbands in exchange for providing her a get. 
3. To utilize fully the sanctions granted the
Rabbinical Courts in 
Israel empowering them to jail recalcitrant husbands
who refuse to 
grant a
get despite the Courts' decision that the woman
deserves one.
4. To force a divorce [chiyuv get] in cases where the
woman says 
"Ma'ous 
Alay" -i.e. my husband is "objectionable to me."
Maimonidies says a 
woman may divorce a man for any reason, if she finds
him objectionable. 
This

is hardly ever accepted practice in contemporary
rabbinic rulings 
5. To grant a forced divorce [chiyuv get] after
eighteen months of 
separation between husband and wife. 
6. To declare a marriage void marriages in the case of
"mekach 
ta'ut." -- that is, a deceptive "transaction" of
marriage", that is, 
when
the wife was deceived about her mate at the time of
marriage. This 
could
mean she was unaware he was a drug addict, homosexual,
had a violent 
temper,
frequented prostitutes, or any other situation which
would have 
prevented
her from willingly tying the knot. Presently, hardly
anyone uses this 
valid
legal tool, and those who do are vilified. This means
a drug addict
homosexual wife-beater can presently extort the last
penny from a nice
Jewish girl, or keep her celibate until she's eighty.
The halachically
correct
application of the tool of annulment would put an end
to this kind of
villainy in the name of Torah forever. 
7. To separate decisions concerning divorce from
custody, alimony, 
property division, or monetary issues. 
8. Not to make the granting of a religious divorce
conditional on the 
transfer of custody and financial issues from the
civil courts to the 
Rabbinic Courts. 
9. To improve the functioning of the special courts
for agunot. 
10. To improve the functioning of the Rabbinic Courts
by: typing up and 
recording the protocols [note: you can imagine what
goes on if this has 
to be a demand...!]; justifying court decisions with
written, reasoned 
judgments [ note: right now, all the judges have to do
is say Yes or 
no. 
No reason.]; Holding court hearings consistently
between the hours of 
9:00-2:00; Insisting all hearings take place in the
presence of all 
judges; Showing a polite, respectful, and non-abusive
attitude towards 
each and every member of the public who comes before
it. 
We ask that the Judges of Israel, who are the teachers
and 
interpreters of Jewish law, take responsibility for
the unbearable 
condition in which Jewish women asking for a divorce
now find 
themselves. As
it is written in Proverbs, [21:13] ' He who closes his
ears against the
cries of the downtrodden, shall also cry himself, but
he shall not be
answered.'"
Please sign your name at the bottom, send this to as
many people as you 
can. 
When the list reaches 100, please forward it to 
<mailto:agunot at netvision.net.il
</cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=F000000001&a=cc0217cf0c6fb70715225b2164d71bc9&mail
to=1&to=agunot%40netvision%2enet%2eil&msg=MSG993023076.47&start=1954392&len=
9639&src=&type=x>>agunot at netvision.net.il 
The agunot of the world thank you. 
(1) Elana and Jacob Sztokman, Israel 
(2) Audrey and Simi Chavel, Jerusalem, Israel 
(3) Esther Lewis-Maimon, Israel. 
(4) Hedva Fenserheim, Israel 
(5) Susie & Andy Schreiber, Raanana, Israel 
(6) Susan & Donny Kates, Raanana, Israel 
(7) Cecile Rechtman. Raanana, Israel 
(8) Chani and Gershon Rechtman, Israel<?/fontfamily> 
(9) Ilan and Leonie Serman, Canada 
10. Reeve and Caron Serman, New York 
11. The Levy family, South Africa 
12. The Charne family, South Africa 
13. The Dennill family, South Africa 
14. Natanya Kuper-Cohen, South Africa 
15. Eileen Cohen - South Africa 
16. Pokroy family- South Africa 
17. Sacks Family- South Africa
18. Aviram-Freedman - South Africa
19. Chemdat Aviram, Israel
20. Greg Alexander, Israel
21. Andrea Kuti, Hungary