updated 6/29/2014 Up until now I have not made a post regarding the Stein Weiss divorce case. Having spent a week trying to get a clarity of what is going on - I have still not gotten a clear picture. There clearly is a major media blitz by Rivky Stein and her advisors (I was told that Shira Dicker of Dodelson's pr battle is a major factor). I have seen the documents and heard the charges - but on a halachic level and as an outsider - I still am not sure what the issues are.
Since neither side has responded to my invitation I will simply post their statements that they have made on the Internet.
update - Below are their statements
Yoel Weiss statement from Redeem Rivky Facebook Page.
Rivky Stein's statement is from the
NY Daily News
Rivky's extensive accusation are also found on the Redeem Rivky website Redeem Rivky website /with documentation and links to article in newspaper and television. These include a statement from her Beis Din of Mill Basin, Mediator's report, court filings and videos.
There are also various videos on youtube
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Rivky Stein's viewpoint: From the
NY Daily News
An Orthodox Jewish woman who has been unsuccessful in her attempts to
secure a religious divorce from her husband has brought her case to
social media, hoping to convince him to finally grant her a “get.”
With the help of family and friends, Rivky Stein, 24, created a
Facebook page detailing her purportedly nightmarish relationship with
hubby Yoel Weiss, 31, whom she married in a religious ceremony shortly
after she turned 18 years old, in 2008.
“I want my
get very badly,” she told the News. “But this is not
just about me. It’s about fixing the problem so it doesn’t happen to
anyone else.”
They had two children together, but Stein left Weiss after a series of
alleged abuses, which she says included raping her and punching her in
the stomach while she was pregnant. She says she never sought to have
him criminally charged, but is now speaking to the Brooklyn District
Attorney’s office.
-----------------------------------------
Yoel Weiss viewpoint
My name is Yoeli Weiss. Unfortunately, I'm involved with a
messy divorce and custody battle widely publicized by my wife Rivky
Stein. On the advice of an adam gadol I stayed silent for the past two
years, not responding to the many false ugly accusations she concocted
against me and my family. Recently however, she caused an outrageous
chillul Hashem. She launched a website exposing herself-- posting
seductive pictures of herself, sharing false stories, with delusional
graphical bedroom scenarios, inciting men and women in our frum
community to be busy debating it. I was told, that her website was
negatively circulating among the hottest topics in the mikva, beis
hemedrish, at home, at work, and of course on the social media network.
The website is nothing but a fabricated story caused by her desperate
need for attention. Not satisfied with the massive feedback and the
amount of money she raised through her website, she moved her chillel
Hashem to the next level, when she shared her false website story
together with some family photographs to the Daily News. I spoke to this
adam gadol again yesterday, he voiced his great concern for klal
yisroel. He is currently engaging other rabonem making them aware of
this new chillul Hashem through social media, a dangerous tactic
invented by Rivky Stein. This is a ''kosher porno website'' camouflaged
under a ''free aguna site''. This adam gadol urged me to respond and
obey the positive commandment of the torah ''V'huyesem Nemeyiem M'shem
V'myisroel Amo''. Accordingly I am writing this letter.
Minus some
minor discords that occur among most newlyweds, after being happily
married for 4 years, out of the blue in the spring of 2012, being under
the spell of some demon[s], she suddenly decided to destroy her family
and did not return home. Without ever mentioning before a single word
about demanding a divorce, she initiated an aggressive and hostile
(secular) court proceedings against me and my entire (extended) family,
which included obtaining an order of protection against me totally under
false pretences. Thereafter, over the next few months she caused me to
be arrested 5 times, again with false accusations, and each time after
spending the night in jail, her allegations were dismissed by the court
as meritless. Eventually, the court realized her viciousness, terminated
all orders of protection. In her litigation, she concocted the most
ludicrous horrifying illogical accusations, all with the hope of a
single goal to secure full custody of our two children, while at the
same time seeking a money judgment reward of nothing less than 480
million dollars. I hired an attorney who is representing me in this
messy litigation process, and the courts are slowly chipping away from
her story and realizing the truth. As well, members of my family have
had to hire an attorney, at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars.
Notwithstanding
her accusations, the pain and shame she brought onto me and my entire
innocent family, neither ,I nor anyone in my family ever retaliated in
any way shape or form against her, not even by saying one bad word
against her. After all, she is the mother of my two children. While I
have enough unpleasant information about her and her family, and
specifically about the two acquaintances, responsible for wrecking my
home, I decline sharing this or any other lashan harahs with the public,
simply because this is not the derech haTorah, and then again she is
the mother of my children and I wish to spare my children this pain.
Sooner or later, my children will be able to understand it all, and it’s
my hope and desire that when they grow up, they'll realize that their
father sacrificed his own pride by not divulging and exposing their
mother, all in order to secure their well being. Rivky, on the other
hand, seems not to care about the children at all. Her stability has
been on a seesaw, and is, unfortunately, on a constant decline. The
judge presiding two years on the marital case finally got the gist of
what's really going on, recently ordered a complete psychiatric
evaluation on her. Her impulsive and outrageous behavior with her
website and the media speaks for itself.
As a father of two
adorable children, I'm sincerely concerned that she can Chas vesholem
end up harming them either physically or emotionally or both. That's why
I am now fighting for full custody before it’s, chas vesholem, too
late. Once the custody issue is resolved, she will receive her get with
pleasure, and she can go l’chaim ve-l’sholem wherever her heart desires.
Rivky does have issues: she is desperately seeking attention. And yes,
she is a great actress, very convincing, believes in her own lines and
her own illusions, therefore she comes across sincere and honest. I
perfectly understand how some of the public is being swipalloeded away
by her website, becoming quickly judgmental without giving me the
slightest benefit of the doubt that perhaps there is something wrong
with her story. Wouldn't you ask yourself, if her story would remotely
hold the truth, why would the judge dismiss her allegations along with
the orders of protection, and award me equal custody rights? I am
certain you all recall the name Susan Smith. She too put up an act that
the public was so convinced, but not the professionals. She too cried in
front of the cameras attempting to convince the world that a black man
killed her children. However, despite all her acting talents, the truth
in the end always prevails, however it was too late -- she already
killed her two children.
Rivky's website and u tube comes across
sincere and honest. I know it’s hard not to believe her. Were I be an
outsider not knowing her, I would probably believe her too. After all,
she has fooled me and my entire family for more than 4 years. The
highlight of her acting talents was played out during the last few weeks
when we lived together. Over that period she secretly made plans and
arrangements for an order of protection and to move in with her foster
parents, while at the same time being an actress, she played and showed a
most peaceful beautiful atmosphere at our home, and a most wonderful
romantic relationship between us. So, I am asking the innocent public
who is clinging to her website, to please give me the benefit of the
doubt. Check carefully with her friends and the court rebuttals. Please
don't get caught up in accepting and believing and repeating this lashan
harah. I am certain many of her 5 thousand followers (as she claims on
her website she has) are voicing their opinions believing its purely
l'shem shumayem. I beg you to be careful and patient till the outcome of
the court proceeding-- the very proceedings she initiated, before you
condemn and slander an innocent person. Ultimately the truth may leave
you feeling guilty for jumping to conclusions prematurely.
======================================================
Regarding her RICO charges see this post -
co-defendants lawyers' responses
==============================
Here is confirmation that Shira Dicker is behind the pr campaign
==============================
Guest post by Recipients and Publicity.
What is the purpose of the PR campaign by Rivky Stein-Weiss?
One possibility may be that Yoel could just throw the towel in and obtain a "heter meah rabbonim" and just leave Rivky to rot on the vine so she is getting in a pre-emptive strike to tie his hands. But there is more, from the RICO complaint it is clear that like the Count of Monte Cristo who was wrongfully exiled to the chateau, she is out for one thing "revenge" at all costs and that is both a high-stakes gamble and a very dangerous thing because it could backfire in unexpected ways. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" they say.
Another possibility may be that Rivky is both short of cash and is hungry for PR. Somehow or other she may have been connected with the Dodelsons or some others with cash to burn on behalf of Agunos and the Dodelsons or ORA-backers who give money for Agunas that are PERHAPS giving her cash and funding this PR campaign.
Every cause needs its martyrs and living examples and right now Rivky is the perfect "poster child" for the cause of "poor little agunos" fighting the "horrible ogre" mean husbands who do not want to give them a get.
So Rivky is perhaps being used by the Dodelsons or some other very rich supporters who help her connect with the Shira Dicker-type publicists and pay for web sites, web hosting and all the PR trimmings by getting her story in the papers and onto online social networking sites and beyond.
What it boils down to is an implied statement by the women fighting for a get, that they have just traded in one set of "fixers" for another.
Now that they do not have recourse to heavy-handed physical tactics they instead are now using PUBLICISTS and the media and the Internet to the same ends, to fight back (as they see it) and "beat up" on the "recalcitrant" husbands.
Now as if to say "you may have stopped us in one way by blocking our access to the rabbis who used to beat you up and force you to sign, now instead we will use the PUBLICISTS and media and the Internet to shmeer you so badly you will wish you weren't born" it's a do or die battle to the death as it were.
After all if some women and their backers could afford to pay $50,000 to have their exes beaten up they can also easily find a willing PR hack who can do the same damage verbally to the reputations, careers, names and families of the get-refusers, because as they say "all's fair in love and war"!
No doubt here may be other reasons but for now this is some food for thought.
How are the battle-lines shaping up at this early stage?
Men: sympathize with the guy (Yoel) she is a liar and manipulative and craves attention. She's from a troubled background what can you expect from a crazy mixed up kid?
Women: what other options did Rivky have? she couldn't threaten to have him beaten up, Yoel's family threatened her, Yoel refused to give a get, he could get a heter meah rabbonim and leave her to rot, and Yoel was abusive to her and the kids and a just a nightmare.
So, people are just basically mindlessly lining up, in a male versus female thing. Women support Rivky while men have a kneejerk response for supporting Yoel.
Take your pick.
Whose is really to blame?
The real parties to blame were the cynical shadchanim who set them up: a guy who left his very chasidish family to be more "modern" (meaning dress and act outwardly "yeshivish" but inwardly he's confused) and matched him up with a beguilingly good looking yet equally troubled teen of 18 (Rivky) looking for a good life who was vulnerable and had been in foster care most of her life.
The problem is that there are currently many off the derech (OTD) or near off the derech kids being married off as a "cures" for their problems which actually only makes it worse because what happens is they then have a kid or two, revert back to their patterns of abusive behavior or manipulation, or passive aggression or what have you and then there is an explosion.
Normal people from normal families don't get it, they project their normal assumptions onto a scenario that is just crazy from the start.
There is no solution really, sad as it may be it's the truth, this is a "war of the sexes" and part of the ongoing "sexual revolution" that has not been tamed and has infiltrated even the best Jewish homes all over, added to the massive breakdown of society it's a high speed downward spiral that will just go on and get much worse until Mashiach comes.
Even in the Talmud there are situations of "teiku" where the great sages have no answers and leave it up to Eliyahu to come up with future solutions, and today there are tragically plenty of "teikus" that only Eliyahu Hanovi could solve for us.
