Times of Israel Gital Dodelson is quite likely America’s most famous agunah.
In recent weeks, the 25-year-old Orthodox law student has jumped to the
headlines of major media outlets because of her struggle to force her
ex-husband, Avrohom Meir Weiss, to give her a Jewish divorce, or get.
On Tuesday, Dodelson’s enthusiastic and increasingly well-mobilized
supporters noted a key victory as ArtScroll Publishing confirmed that Weiss’s father and uncle had taken unpaid leaves
of absence from the prestigious publishing house. On the heels of their
successful public pressure campaign, Dodelson’s supporters are now
turning their sights toward the prestigious Yeshiva of Staten Island,
publicly shunning the yeshiva’s leadership for allowing Weiss to
continue to study there.[...]
Dodelson’s backers have taken extreme measures
as well. In recent months, over 2,000 people signed on to an Internet
petition calling on ArtScroll to fire Weiss’s father and uncle who both
serve as editors at the publishing house. On Tuesday, an organization
established to advocate for Dodelson’s right to receive a get
published an email confirmation that Weiss’s father and uncle had taken
leave of absence from the ArtScroll Publishing House under intense
public pressure. [...]
“We have confirmation from a trusted party
that the ArtScroll board heard us loud and clear, and they did exactly
what we asked of them,” wrote one of the activists who run the “Free
Gital” Facebook page. “It’s now time to move on from ArtScroll and put
our focus on the Yeshiva of Staten Island, where Avrohom Meir Weiss is
in Kollel, despite the Kol Koreh stating that he should not be allowed.” [...]
Now, Dodelson’s
supporters are calling the Staten Island Yeshiva to ask for Weiss’s
removal — a difficult request for a yeshiva run by his mother’s family.
As an additional step, supporters are being encouraged via Facebook to
work to disinvite the yeshiva’s head from guest appearances at local
synagogues. Supporters have already contacted a Highland Park, New
Jersey, synagogue that is expected to host Feinstein this Saturday
night, asking it to withdraw its invitation to Feinstein. [...]
When contending with an opponent that is much more powerful - financially, legally, politically, and strategically - wouldn't a rational person exploit any possible advantage that may be afforded them as long as it was technically feasible? It's fair game in practically every other realm of contention, but somehow when it's about an Aguna, everyone cries foul. How about we first level the playing field (limit both sides to a moderate legal budget, prohibit cronyism, etc.) before we cherry pick which natural advantages to disallow.
ReplyDeleteWeiss should get a Heter Meah Rabbonim from a beis din he puts together with 100 kollel guys with smicha signing, move on with his life, and let Gital grow old, alone and grey unless she fulfills her obligations to him at which point the beis din will give her the Get he deposited. He, though, can get remarried immediately.
DeleteAnti parazi, in your opinion, which side's advantages need to be whittled down?
DeleteThis is an absolute disgrace!
ReplyDeleteShe basically conspires with secular people / and the femminst community to make an internal war within the frum community with help from Lakewood yeshiva
Did anyone believe that this can happen?
Yes, many of us did.
DeleteWhen the fight consists of a KOTLER family member, every weapon in the arsenal will be used against the assumed enemy. The war is one that Lakewood will be the victor, politically, financially and with publicity they are far superior.
Your headline and article that follows is Yellow Journalism and totally slanted towards the Weiss's.
ReplyDeleteIs her goal to destroy the Yeshiva or to get a Get?
Wasn't there a Kol Korah by 10 Major Gedolim where they wrote (this is a translation) "We turn to the administration of the Yeshiva of Staten Island, where he studies, to protest against him and to remove him from the Kollel."?
They also wrote (translated) "We state that, according to the Torah, it is permissible and it is a mitzvah to protest against him, to gather publicly in front of his house and in other places, and to make the matter known publicly and in the newspapers in order to save an oppressed woman from her oppressor and an Agunah from being
chained."
In addition (again translated) "There is an obligation upon anyone who is able to do so, to influence Avrohom Meir that he should listen to Bais Din and that he should give a Get."
This Kol Koreh was signed by:
Rabbi Yaakov Perlow
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky
Rabbi Aharon Moshe Schechter
Rabbi Aharon Feldman
Rabbi Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld
Rabbi Nota Tzvi Greenblatt
Rabbi Tzvi Schechter
Rabbi Moshe Heineman
Rabbi Elya Dov Wachtfogel
Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer
Using your logic, one can say that these 10 Gedolim are trying to destroy the Yeshiva. Wouldn't that make for a more sensational headline and get you more website hits?
You claim that you are trying to be pragmatic and that it is time for both parties to "stop trying to prove who was wrong - and get on with life" but at the same time you keep picking on her. Why are you still picking on Gital instead of telling the Weiss's to just give a Get already and "get on with life"? It's not Gital that has to take the next step in order to "get on with life".
You must know by now that signatures of gedolim or so called gedilm mean very little.
DeleteWhether it is due to pressure or otherwise, makes no difference
I don't know the Weiss's nor the Dodelsons, nor do I know to what extent R. Weiss, if at all, made mistakes during his marriage that contributed to the divorce. But at this point it doesn't matter in view of the gross humiliation and injustices the Weiss's are being subjected to.
ReplyDeleteGital Dodelson had every right to summon R. Weiss to a kosher Bais Din or Zablah and request a GET, if that's what she desired. But now the Dodelsons and the O-RAH goons they have unleashed are fighting an all-out, vicious war against the Weiss's utterly contrary to HALACHA. The type of feminist jihad Hershel Schachter's YU O-RAH goons have conducted in the past, but on a larger scale.
Abducting R. Weiss's child, unleashing ORA goons, filing a full divorce law suit in NJ courts, posting fake SERUVIM, the outrageous slandering of the Weiss's in front of millions of Jews and non-Jews, engaging feminists to slander the Torah, destroying the Weiss's PARNASSA, etc. are beyond the pale and totally incompatible with any Torah ethics.
It should be very clear by now (except to brainwashed ORA trolls) that the Dodelsons and their YU ORA henchmen have become the aggressors in this case and the Weiss's and Feinsteins the victims.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteActually, both Rav Dovid and Rav Reuven supported Rav Malkiel in his hetter meah in that case. Against their own family. I don't understand why they can't all get (no pun intended) together and deal with this case. I can't imagine Rav Malkiel is backing this campaign...but maybe, like RD and RR he feels that he does not have the right to stop it. Maybe RDE can call him and ask.
DeleteI believe the Weiss/Feinstien's have to take a more agressive approach for their own כבוד, and the כבוד of my Rosh Yeshiva R' RF is in their right not to allow these people to bully them.
ReplyDeleteThey should put online their detailed financial claims, and for each incident they should add a certain amount of money, or time where no get will be given, or perhaps both.
NYP article --x amount time and money
Campaign to fire YAW and YW--x amount
Harrasment of Rosh Yeshiva R' RF -- x amount.
בזיון of תלמידי חכמים cannot be done without a cost. כל תלמיד חכם שאינו נוקם ונוטר כנחש אינו תלמיד חכם.
We should also set up a fund to help the Weiss families with פרנסה, now that they have no פרנסה from their jobs at Artscroll.
I actually never understood the line kol talmid chochom sheino etc. R Dovid and R Reuven never in their lives were noteir or nokeim like a mouse, never mind like a snake. There must be another pshat. The Torah also says not to do it. And I have the feeling that here, too, though they are being attacked by association, fair or unfair, they will simply take it sitting down. I don't think they even know HOW to fight. If it were them, they probably would just give in right or wrong. Obviously their relative is not a giving in kind of guy, and the fact that they think he has a right to fight is stopping them from telling him to give in. But they would.
DeleteBecause in this case it is not up to them to give in, and they feel that they can't make their relative give in, I predict they will simply, as is their way, watch their name be destroyed until there is nothing left.
Even if they are wrong, if I want a beracha for anything, I know where I am going.
Here's the question.
ReplyDeleteIf the Dodelson family feels that the Siruv is valid (& there is no question that they, as well as the Signatories on their Kol Koreh) is it then not true that the Yeshiva & all who support it are doing a grave misdeed by flaunting the Siruv, in their eyes? Perhaps R Reuven feels that the Siruv is unjust, fine. That's why he keeps him in the Kolel. But if the Siruv is just, he should be thrown out, & pressure should be applied to people to comply with a valid Siruv.
You have no point. All the garbage strewn is your lies and half truths disseminating misinformation. As beknownst in tfutzot veyisrael, a half a picture is worth a million lies. They are not obligated to fight PR's battle in public. You are keEfes ukeayin, no Torah or yirat shamayim. Yisocher pi kol dovrei shoker.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLet's try to figure out whose wrong first
ReplyDeleteEmesLeYaacov @ November 14, 2013 at 1:48 PM wrote
ReplyDelete“Gital Dodelson had every right to summon R. Weiss to a kosher Bais Din or Zablah and request a GET, if that's what she desired.”
Ah, but she did! And Wiess ignored it, went to court and LOST!! Unless you don’t believe that Machon L’ Hora actualy issured the Siruv. But you can verify it by calling them!
She did not necessarily had the right to do so.
DeleteIt is clear that no beis-din in Lakewood can go against the will of the Kotlers so this was clearly not even an option
The Kotlers and Dodelson behave like lawless people. Just ask yourself why to they have so much power?
How could a defendant withdraw a claim? Doesn't the plaintiff, which on setgitalfree.com's timeline it actually states there that the siruv was actually placed after Gital was switched to the plaintiff. Also there was no hazmana for a get listed on the timeline, only a hazmana that he should withdraw from court for custody....just curious when she did actually make a hazmana for a get? I don't know for sure but I have heard that Weiss wanted to go to a zablah n not the beis din he had a hazmanah to, can you verify that? And if that is true, what is the big deal? Just go to a different beis din....
DeleteI think that is precisely the question here. Why don't we have the בית דין of מכון להוראה make a public statement about the Siruv. Did AMW send them that he agrees to Zabla with R SHV, or not ? If he did, like he ascertains, then there is no Siruv, and the קול קורא may have been under false pretenses.
ReplyDeleteI heard a lot of Dodelsohn supported knocking the Weisses for misleading R' DF, about the nature of RG, when he obviously was trying to broker an agreement. (Whether accepted by both sides or not). When the shoe is on the other foot, let's see if they will question the קול קורא.
It is morally imperative for מכון להוראה to give a timeline and an explanation to the Siruv, and if they can't, be מבטל the Siruv, or close their בית דין.
Stop the madness and stop fighting with each other ALL of you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Second Bais HaMikdosh was destroyed because of Sinas Chinam ("causeless hatred), and the third Bais HaMikdosh will only be rebuilt by Ahavas Chinom ("selfless love")! You are ALL making yourselves into a laughingstock in full view of the world !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To the Weisses and Dodelsons STOP IT and tell your warring kids who are fighting each other to grow up and stop acting like BABIES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteBen Torah said:
ReplyDelete"Weiss should get a Heter Meah Rabbonim from a beis din he puts together with 100 kollel guys with smicha signing, move on with his life"
That is a great idea! And since you are a "Ben Torah", then you obviously know that part of a Heter 100 Rabbonim is to deposit a "No Strings Attached" get in Beis Din that the wife can pick up whenever she chooses to do so. No Heter 100 Rabonim that I know of is ever given without the get.
No, A Poupko. He'll deposit the Get with the beis din he composed to receive his Heter Meah, but it will NOT be a "No Strings Attached" Get. It WILL have strings, just as he is entitled to do under a Heter Meah. The strings will be the items he is halachicly entitled to receive from Dodleson.
DeleteAnd since he can choose the three dayanim for the heter meah beis din, and he can find any 100 guys with smicha to sign off, he can follow his own rules under the heter meah as they understand them.
That Is Very Interesting Moshe Yehuda and Kayla Bursztyn In Lakewood Are Both Mesarev Ledin , Yet He is Still allowed To Continue Teaching In Lakewood, and His Father Yackov Gershon Bursztyn who supports His Son and Came Down To Court To Testify on His Behalf is allowed To Work in BMG office With The Full Backing of Aaaron Kotler
ReplyDeleteII heard through the grapevine that there is a group of rabbonim who are working to put gital and her family in cherem for being mechallel shem shamayim bifarhesya, going to arkaos and being rodfim. Lets see how this plays out
ReplyDeleteRabbi Eidensohn - I beg you again to wake up! Sooner or later, Gital and her allies will force the Feinstein and the Weisses to hand over the get.
ReplyDeleteRead what you wrote with your own hands:
"Weiss Dodelson: Gital threatens to destroy Rav Reuven Feinstein's yeshiva for supporting her husband"
The only question is whether any iota of the Feinstein history and heritage can yet be saved.
You are standing by and watching them drown! Save them! You are their friends, as I am.
Speak to Reb Dovid and Reb Reuven at once and come up with some face-saving excuse for them to give the get.
"So not to have the Torah besmirched in what has become a personal dispute gone viral, the Weiss family is surrendering the rights it has under Torah law, and under protest, is giving Gital a get. We hope she will now work together with the
Weiss family in the best interests of the child".
If you are a friend of the Weiss/Feistein family, you will grab from their hands the shovel they are using to bury themselves and help them get out of the grave before it is dug too deep.
גיטין דף קלט
ReplyDeleteאמר רב אנשיל בן בנו של אבי מורי זצוקלל״ה גיטל מן התורה מנין ? שנאמר הבנות בנותי והבנים בני והצאן צאני. אברהם מאיר מן התורה מנין ? שנאמר (א״כ) וכל אשר לך לי הוא .
Sorry I don't have English translation as artscroll is understaffed at the moment!!! I hope we can have an English translation as soon as both sides see eye to eye.
Here is a translation bein beEnglish ubein bechol loshon as an Art on a Scroll:
DeleteAyin tachas Ayin Shen tachas Shen, vehakessef yaane es hakol. GITAL min Hanviin minayin? Sheneemar - Shmuel 2: 1:21 Harei ba'GI'-lboa al 'TAL' veal MATAR ( GITAL is no mother ) ki sham nigal magen Giborim (in shmonei esreh, Magen Avraham) and compensation is due to 'nigal' = nimas of Avraham. veneemar: Al tiro Avrom Anochi magen lach Schorcho harbeh meod. Meir min hatorah minayin, sheneemar vehatorah or, v'ein Or ele Torah. As the saying goes, u no pay, u no get.
I went thru the same thing a weiss is going thru now, and I have one word to tell all of you. Don't jump to conclusions unless you know the full story. My x alinated the kids from me and made 3 false restraining orders on me, I had to spend almost $250,000 to defend myself and win back my kids. If gitel would have let him see the kid from day one and not acted like a moron I'm sure she would had her get a long time ago. But no she wanted a weiss to lose his kid and she caused him to fight tooth and nail so he can have accsess to see his kid let alone have him for weekends. I was in court the same time they were there and I saw the whole process from afar. So don't come now and make urself a victim when u tried all along to smother the father in every way possible from custody to financialy paying for legal fees etc. You dug ur own grave gitel. What you should do is go to the ny post and lecture the woman to act like human beings when they get seperated.
ReplyDelete