Rav Gestetner criticizes ORA

"THE REAL CULPRIT IN THE TAMAR FRIEDMAN EPSTEIN REMARRIAGE"

GUEST POST:

Most of us by now have realized that Tamar Friedman Epstein’s remarriage to Adam Fleischer is a clear violation of the Torah and should she bear any children with him, they will be branded as mamzerim. We have witnessed dozens of great Rabbis decry the Kamenetsky Greenblatt Heter to remarry.  The question is : What caused Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky to allow for such a clear breach of the Torah? The answer in my opinion is that we have allowed for so many years the laws of Gittin to be twisted to conform to the modern feminist  movement’s wishes, which has led us in a path of laxity in the stringencies of Hilchos Gittin.  We have recently seen countless rabbis involved in  practicing “forced Gittin” against halocho, being exposed for their bad deeds. But the list of such rabbis is much bigger. Most rabbis involved in forced gittin aren’t kidnappers or torturers, but their methodologies produce the same mamzerim as Tamar Epstein would. Is it a mere coincidence that so many rabbis involve in this anti- Torah  scheme meet their fate in the same year?  

 One such entity that is responsible for much strife and enmity in Divorce matters is ORA (organization for the resolution of Agunot ) led by R. Jeremy Stern. He runs an organization well-funded by the feminist  movement , to force Gittin on all men. Make no mistake, according to ORA, you have no halachic justification to argue your case on why your wife hasn’t received her Get, but rather they will destroy your reputation, financial means , and distance you from your children all in the name of the GET. This organization has gained momentum in the last 20 years under the false pretense of helping victimized women whose husbands refuse to give them a GET. Although there exist cases of true Agunot, many others are all “self created Agunot” to help ORA bolster the need to raise funds for their “ overinflated number of Agunot”.

 These “fake Agunot” are in reality mentored and guided by ORA to withhold negotiations with their husbands or only negotiate terms that are 100% favorable to them, thereby causing no movement in negotiating an end, and thereby extending the “fake aguna status to 10+ years in many cases. They can then claim to the public that they have an “Aguna Crisis” and raise more money for their cause. Additionally ORA has over the years bullied rabbis who don’t follow along with them in their scheme. Their greatest weapon has been public rallies and other intimidation tactics. 

Let’s take for example the Aharon Friedman and Meir Kin cases. These men have gone to Bais Din from the beginning. They both had followed halachic protocol and showed a willingness to give their wife’s Gittin. In fact Meir Kin had deposited a Get over 8 years ago. However as the following letter from Bais Din Shaar Hamishpot indicates, Lonna Kin stated to Rabbi Gestetner that ORA is unwilling to remove all their hateful propaganda against Meir. The Bais Din has informed her and several others that once the internet/ newspaper bashing is removed, then negotiations for the release of the Get can begin, as otherwise the GET will be not kosher due to coercive tactics employed.  Rabbi Gestetner informed Lonna that indeed ORA is the cause of her not receiving a GET. The question is why after 10 years of separation and  Meir remarrying with a Heter of  100 Rabbonim, that ORA is refusing to help out Lonna in receiving her GET? 

Then  you have Aharon Friedman offering a GET, but just requests that Tamar move back to his vicinity to visit with his daughter, but once again no negotiated end? ORA was once again also involved in the Friedman-Epstein divorce.  How ludicrous is this whole fiasco, where all that had to be done was to negotiate a settlement? But why is Tamar Epstein and Lonna Kin and many others going along with ORA after years with no GET?  Therefore , we all must wake up and realize that ORA is the culprit for many of these unsettled cases. They will continue to obstruct meaningful negotiations if it opposes their feminist agenda or if it diminishes their "Aguna numbers", and until we stop our support of ORA and distance ourselves from them, we will see a continued amount of unsettled divorce cases in which many of these husbands are actually wishing to give their wives a GET, but are waiting for a negotiated fair settlement so they too can live life after the divorce.