"Disappeared from the face of the earth": attacked his wife, refused to grant her a divorce and fled under the auspices of the court | Israel today

Another pursuit of a divorce refuser has come to an end: at the end of a search that lasted months, a husband who had been violent towards his wife for years, refused to set her free and fled - was forced to turn himself in and give her a divorce.

It started 16 years ago.

A, a new immigrant from the USA and a convert, met D, a new immigrant from Canada and also a convert. The two decided to get married, but from the first moment the marriage was fraught with violence, and already in the special room after the canopy, the first incident of violence occurred. Not only that. , A. who conditioned the existence of the marriage on the condition that the husband not use drugs, quickly discovered that his promises were in vain and were not fulfilled.

In the following years, the violence became more and more intense, but in the consultations the couple held with ultra-orthodox rabbis, they were repeatedly advised to try for domestic peace.

Therefore A was convinced not to end the marriage despite the severe violence and the two had six children over the years.

Illustration.

Despite the difficulties in the marriage, the couple brought children into the world, photo: GettyImages

Except that one evening about two and a half years ago, the husband attacked A.

Following the incident, and after consulting a rabbi on the matter, she decided she could no longer take it and turned to the police, who issued a restraining order against the husband.

After that, A. gathered the courage to start divorce proceedings and went to the family court, while the husband, for his part, opened a divorce action in the rabbinical court.

For a year, attempts were made to bridge the gap between the couple, but the husband from time to time withdrew from the agreements reached by the parties, while refusing to grant A. a divorce and set her free.

In desperation, A. turned to the "Yad Laishe" organization from the "Or Torah Stone" network, which represents agonites and divorce refusers.

Attorney Yifa Blunder, manager of the organization's southern branch, turned to the rabbinical court in Be'er Sheva and filed a divorce suit on A's behalf, and at the same time issued a restraining order against the husband leaving the country.

As a result, the rabbinic court obliged the husband to grant a divorce and even imposed sanctions on him.

Despite this, he continued to insist on his refusal to release A.

The husband even stopped coming to the scheduled hearings in the case, while declaring that he no longer recognizes the authority of the courts and tribunals of the State of Israel, and that he insists that all handling of the case be transferred to a private ultra-orthodox court.

The rabbinic court.

The person photographed has no relation to the article, photo: Oren Ben Hakon

At this point, the husband disappeared and his traces were lost, and at the request of the "Yad Laishah" organization, several arrest warrants were issued against him.

Last August, the police managed to arrest him and bring him to court, where he repeated his refusal to grant the divorce.

In light of this, and in order to prevent him from disappearing again, Attorney Blonder asked the court to impose an arrest sanction on the husband, but the court refused and the husband was released without any restrictions. As expected, the husband disappeared again and the case was referred to the custody division of the rabbinic courts , who used all the means at his disposal to locate the husband, including hiring a private investigator, but to no avail.

When it seemed that all hope of locating the divorce refuser and setting A free was lost, he unexpectedly appeared last week at the Rabbinical Court.

After claiming that he could no longer live with the feeling of being persecuted, he agreed to grant A the long-awaited divorce.

"The phenomenon of divorce refusers who disappear off the face of the earth and leave their wives imprisoned in the captivity of their marriage is a difficult phenomenon that the courts must combat with all the means and tools at their disposal," notes the CEO of the Yad Laishe organization, Pnina Omar, "we will continue the fight and help every captive woman in marriage against her will."

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