Tamar Epstein became an agunah — a woman tragically chained to a defunct
marriage — when her husband, Aharon Friedman, unscrupulously and
vindictively refused to grant her a get, a Jewish religious divorce.
The case — similar to a scandalously large number of similar situations
involving “chained” women and recalcitrant husbands — received intense
public scrutiny in part because Mr. Friedman was a staff aide to a
member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rabbinic suasion and public
excoriation nevertheless failed to move this particular recalcitrant to
fulfill his religious obligation and terminate his marriage in
accordance with Jewish law and morality. The couple’s marriage had
already been dissolved in civil court.
Ms. Epstein recently has entered upon a new marriage in a ceremony solemnized by a prominent Orthodox rabbi. Her marriage to Friedman was annulled — or, more accurately, declared to have been invalid ab initio — by (as of the publication of an article on the case in the Forward) an as-yet-to-be-identified Orthodox rabbi in Philadelphia. I wish Ms. Epstein and her bridegroom, Adam Fleischer, much happiness and mazal tov — and I wish to express profound admiration and support for my anonymous Philadelphia colleague. As the Almighty promised His covenant partner, Abraham: “Your reward will be very great” (Genesis 15:1). [...]
Ms. Epstein recently has entered upon a new marriage in a ceremony solemnized by a prominent Orthodox rabbi. Her marriage to Friedman was annulled — or, more accurately, declared to have been invalid ab initio — by (as of the publication of an article on the case in the Forward) an as-yet-to-be-identified Orthodox rabbi in Philadelphia. I wish Ms. Epstein and her bridegroom, Adam Fleischer, much happiness and mazal tov — and I wish to express profound admiration and support for my anonymous Philadelphia colleague. As the Almighty promised His covenant partner, Abraham: “Your reward will be very great” (Genesis 15:1). [...]
In its recent article, the Forward quoted
Rabbi Aharon Feldman of Baltimore’s Ner Israel Yeshiva as calling for
the former agunah (whose original marriage, and therefore whose status
as an agunah, he deems to remain intact) to leave her new husband. Rabbi
Feldman declares any future children born to the Fleischers to be
mamzerim — “bastards”— themselves forever debarred from marriage to
“legitimate” Jews. Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn similarly is quoted as
describing the dissolution of Ms. Epstein’s first marriage as “a sad
joke based on a clear corruption and misuse of halachic principles,” and
declaring Ms. Epstein an “adulteress.” An organized effort (likely to
exceed in volume and vitriol even the considerable campaign to persuade
Mr. Friedman to grant a get in the first place) is underway to reject
the Philadelphia-based annulment, to discourage like-minded rabbis from
similar findings of law, and to deny the legitimacy of any such rabbinic
actions that might be taken in the future. [...]
In addition to the principle of “mekach
ta’ut,” the Talmud also asserts the far more controversial power of the
rabbis to annul marriage (with cause) as an exercise of sheer authority.
This extraordinary power is based on the premise that every Jewish
marriage is contracted on rabbinic authority, and that the rabbis retain
the concomitant prerogative to undo the marital bond unilaterally. The
Forward quotes an anonymous Orthodox source as stating that this
rabbinic power “has never been used in modern times.” This is untrue.
While the exercise of such sweeping rabbinic
authority should be used rarely, only as a last resort, and with the
utmost discretion, the Joint Bet Din of the Conservative movement does
just that. Rabbinic authorities who not only delegitimize this mechanism
of marital dissolution but who reject those who rightfully and
courageously wield this power, on the basis of partisan religious
politics alone, are complicit in creating agunot. They abet recalcitrant
husbands in chaining their wives.
As a Conservative rabbi, it pains me to say
it, but the efforts of the Joint Bet Din to free more agunot are impeded
not only by the partisan attacks of our detractors, but by the
religious laxity of some among our supporters and constituents. There
are traditional, knowledgeable, pious Jewish women — including some
affiliated with Orthodoxy — who would come to Conservative rabbis for
relief from their status as agunot. They are dissuaded from doing so,
however, by the fact that those authorities serve a constituency often
lacking a fundamental commitment to Jewish law and observance. This
leads observant agunot to neglect an invaluable (perhaps exclusive)
resource for legitimate halachic relief. Conservative Jews who champion
egalitarianism and pay lip service to the religious enfranchisement of
Jewish women — yet whose personal halachic disengagement undermines the
stature of their rabbis as religious decisors — thus are complicit in
creating agunot. They abet recalcitrant husbands in chaining their
wives. [...]