A divorce refuser named Yigal Sagi, who fled to the United States and kidnapped his children, will be required to pay his wife an unprecedented sum of NIS 3.6 million as her address, the Petah Tikva Regional Rabbinical Court ruled recently. This is an inconceivable sum, which apparently was never collected from a regular person as part of a divorce dispute, and was determined in a ruling that included particularly harsh words against the man.
The affair began in 2009, when Sagi left Israel and moved to the United States. He abruptly informed his wife that he was in financial trouble and therefore decided to go to the United States to work there, leaving her and their two children in Israel. The Yad La'Isha organization of the Or Torah Stone network, which accompanies his wife, D., says that four years after he left, Sagi asked her to send their children together on vacation, and she agreed, believing that they would return with Sagi's mother at the end of the summer vacation. "When Sukkot arrived, Sagi informed her that he was not sending the children back, and that he had not intended to do so in the first place." That was the last time D. saw her children.
The poster issued by the association against Yigal Sagi, photo: Yad La'Isha
"The facts that are not in dispute are that the husband left the country in 2009 and has not returned since, leaving his wife to sigh mercilessly and without financial support, and increased his efforts by kidnapping their joint children in a scam to which his mother was complicit, who carried out the kidnapping of the children. The husband's mother even backed him up for the prolonged divorce refusal," the ruling said.
In New York, the verdict was ignored
Two days after the announcement, D. suffered a stroke, and since she was living alone, two days passed before she was discovered and taken to the hospital, where she was in a coma for seven months. After waking up, she had to undergo a long and difficult rehabilitation process for three years. In 2015, two years after the children were taken from her, D. sought legal aid to file a kidnapping claim against Sagi, according to the Hague Convention, but it was rejected because such a request must be filed within six months, while she was in a coma. Since 2016, she has been represented by Yad La'Isha, an organization that represents agunot and divorce refuseniks.
A divorce petition to the rabbinical court was unsuccessful, as Sagi refuses to grant her a divorce. "There were many hearings and the husband did not appear for any of them. Even strenuous negotiations conducted with the husband through the Agnot Division came to naught, after the husband made extortionate and absurd financial demands in exchange for the get." In 2019, the Great Rabbinical Court, headed by Chief Rabbi David Lau, ruled that sanctions should be imposed on him in the name of "exclusions from Drevno Tam," which include revealing his picture and name, as well as prohibiting him from participating in a minyan or Torah study.
These sanctions, the court said, are not implemented in the community where Sagi lives. Nearly half of the ruling is devoted to non-compliance with the sanctions in the strongest words. "The court expresses surprise at rabbinical officials in the husband's place of residence in New York, who do justice for themselves and do not respect decisions of the rabbinical court to carry out exclusions from Drevno Tam against the husband, on the grounds that they "do not distance a Jew from Jewish institutions," while completely ignoring explicit rulings. They should not adopt a policy of 'sit and don't' when the wife's blood was allowed by the husband who ruined her life through his conduct. This behavior undermines the sanctimonious argument 'our hands did not spill this blood' and it is clear that they will be held accountable on the day of an order. They must not make judgment for themselves. Failure to obey the rulings constitutes blasphemy in public."
New York refused to denounce the refusenik, Photo: AP
Unprecedented amount
The current ruling deals with the woman's address claim in the sum of NIS 3.6 million. "Before a decision is made," the judges wrote, "there is no doubt that the conduct of husband Yigal Sagi deserves all condemnation, and the actions of the husband who abused and still cruelly abuses his youthful wife and the mother of his children, and literally spills her blood. Abuse that included the abduction of children in her stomach in a vile deception, an abduction that led to a very serious medical condition and a real risk to her life, which required years of rehabilitation. There is no doubt that the husband brought disaster to his wife's life and his actions deserve all condemnation and every mouthful. This is cruel and evil behavior, inhuman and un-Jewish!" they wrote.
Finally, in an unprecedented move, they determined that he owed all her address fees, an apparently unprecedented number. It should be noted that it is not at all certain whether the man will pay the ketubah, in light of his history, and therefore the judges clarified that the woman's lawyer must implement the collection of the judgment by all legal means at her disposal.
"This case is another example of the fact that the Gett refuseniks do not act alone, but are surrounded by various collaborators, in this case the objector's mother and members of his community in the United States," said Rebbetzin Deborah Brisk, who represents D. "They not only fail to help the wife gain her freedom, but they also support the husband's insubordination and cruelty."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us
