Previous

By Steve Israel

Next

CHAPTER FIVE:Those Who don’t Fit the Model: Family Situations and Status in Judaism and the Jewish World

C: EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

22. Difficult Divorces and Agonising Agunot
(Two to two and a half hours)

• As a trigger, if you can get hold of the film “Hester Street”, watch the divorce (Get) scene near the end of the film:
  • Which the elements appear there?
  • Have the group try and interpret the significance of what they have seen.
• Bring to the group the original Biblical text on which the Jewish concept of divorce is based.

  If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband who divorced her is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord.
  Devarim 24:1-4

• Ask the group what they learn from this about the concept of divorce:
  • Are there any problems that they see, from the Jewish concept of divorce being based on this passage?
  • Explore the changes that Rabbis through the ages made in the Halachah, in order to improve the situation of women in divorce.
    But conclude that there are still many problems.
• Invite a speaker to talk about the question of divorce and agunot - women unable to remarry without a get.
  There are many organisations that deal with this, and one should be approached for a speaker. Otherwise, invite a Conservative Rabbi or a Modern Orthodox Rabbi.
  Ask the speaker beforehand to focus on explaining the situation, and to bring in outline the suggested possibilities of going forward within the framework of Halachah, in order to solve the problem and alleviate their suffering.
• Prepare a campaign proposal focusing on bringing divorced couples in their second marriages into a stronger relationship with the Jewish community.
  Initially, have the group analyse the needs of this group that the Jewish community could conceivably try and meet.
  Finally, a campaign of activities should be planned, possibly together with an advertising campaign aimed at bringing divorced and remarried people into the community.