Thursday, February 06, 2014
Orthodox Jewish Woman Granted Religious Divorce after 3 Years
Gital Dodelson, a 25-year-old orthodox Jewish woman from New
Jersey, has finally been granted a religious divorce
from her husband, ending 3 years of bitter fighting over the subject. The
couple was legally divorced in 2012, but her husband, Avrohom Meir Weiss, had
refused to grant her the religious divorce.
According to orthodox Jewish law, the religious divorce,
called a “get,” is required to truly set the woman free. Without receiving a
get from Weiss, Dodelson is considered an agunah, or a chained woman. In the
eyes of the orthodox Jewish community, she is still married. Now that she has
received her religious divorce, she
is free to pursue other romantic interests.
According to reports, Weiss had been demanding excessive
sums of money – more than $350,000 – to grant Dodelson a religious divorce.
Rather than give in to what amounts to extortion, Dodelson and her family
brought her story public in an article published by the NY Post.
In the weeks following the NY Post story, she received a
wave of public support. A Facebook group called “Free Gital: Tell Avrohom Meir
Wess to Give His Wife a ‘Get’” gained more than 14,000 supporters across the
world. In addition, Weiss’ father and uncle, both esteemed rabbis, were forced
to resign from their editor positions at Jewish publisher ArtScroll due to
pressure from an outraged Jewish community.
Fortunately, this story has a happy ending, and Dodelson
received what she deserves. However, this story serves as a reminder that in
many ultra-religious communities, divorce can be much more complicated. This makes
it even more important to choose an
experienced divorce lawyer who can help you negotiate the terms of your religious
divorce during your secular divorce.
posted by Andrew @ 11:34 AM
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