This poor woman was abused by her husband and by both courts. That this situation could exist outside of a banana republic is inconcievable. I hope she wins, finally.

The courts behavior was disgusting.

save the honour of the man I suspect. May G-d protect us from such morally deficient courts.

what the Rabbinical Courts have to say.

Sorry to be a skeptic, but in a country where, sadly, hundreds of people are receiving divorces every year, often where they could have may be resolved their problems with correct help instead of being issued a divorce automatically, there has to be more to this than we are being told. 21 years seems like a heck of a long court battle.

What the rabbinical courts have to say ? they had 18 years to give the divorce , is this not enough ?

I haven't read or heard the Rabbinical Courts' version of the story. Ynet never posted any of their reports. As long as I don't hear their side of the story, I don't have to believe this woman that for 18 years she's waiting for a divorce. I wonder how you and others "buy" whatever Ynet writes without investigating. I learned from exeperience "there are 2 sides to every story".

so unless there is a typo here, saying she has been waiting for a divorce for only 18 years seems like understating the case. The Rabbinical Courts have lot to answer for, not only in this particular case but in many others too. Even if some people file for divorce too quickly, or its granted too quickly, noone in their right mind can say that waiting 18 + years for a divorce is too short, unless they have a lifespan of 1000 years! I've heard of this kind of inter-court rivalry before and I hope the Justice Ministry will not only have to pay up, but also have to put laws in place to ensure that after a certain amount of time, after a file for divorce has been made, say 3 -5 years, the Rabbinical Court will have to force the husband to grant the divorce. This would still allow for a cooling off time, shalom bayit to work etc. In the old days the rabbis forced /persuaded the guy to agree to give the divorce by beating him until he said yes, so there is a precedent. Maybe today they can take away his driving licence, his car, his rights to health care, etc etc. take money away from Betuach Leumi if he gets that, or seize his bank accounts etc.since a lot of these problems are about money, hit him in the pocket.

You are right , maybe Ynet is wrong bu saying that she waits for 18 years , it's maybe "only" 15 years . I don't think that there can be a discussion about the number of years she's waiting .18 or 15 or even 8 years is much too long . It can be done much faster . But you always think that we attack the Rabbis , we do it only when we think that they are wrong , and even some are great scholars in their field , they can't know everything , so they can make errors . Nobody is perfect , Joseph [ exept me of course , LOL ] גמר חטימה טובה

And perhaps it was only 18 days or 18 months and the rest of the time, it wasn't exactly the way she describes it? How can you judge if you don't hear what the other side have to say? We're not discussing who's right and who's wrong. I want to know how you and others like you accept Ynet's one-sided report point blank? A wise person - and I understand that you consider youself as such - should know better than to judge from a one-sided story.

Listen Joseph , i don't accept everything that is written . You can discuss facts , or want to hear the other side , and that's OK . But do you think that if she said that she already in 1976 wanted a divorce , and the rabbinical court send them home for "shalom Bait" , that is not true ? If , as you think that's not complete , that you want to hear the other side , does it mean that she is a liar ? that she will go to court with such a lie that can easily be denied ? If you lie , do it in a way that nobody can contradict you , and with dates , it's very easy , the court has it in his files . They know exactly when she went to court for the first time . I can tell you that my name and place are what i'm writing [ that's true] You can't check it . So there can be something untrue . I will not tell you something untrue that you can check . So telling that she first went to court in 1976 , i accept it completely . This is not one sided . If she tells that she was beaten , there there can be a discussion , and we have to wait for the court and husband to hear the second side . Do you see , if you want to see , that there is a difference ?

a rabbinic scholar who orders a woman home to an abusive husband is per se chilul hashem. How dare we seculars question the wisdom of so-called Torah scholars? That's really what's underlying his "argument." The court documents and her medical records will tell the whole story. The BS from the rabinnic courts needs to stop. Real people are suffering at their supposedly learned hands in matters that are none of their business. Their jursidication should be 100% voluntary. Everybody else should be entiteld to a divorce in a real court.

No attorney will take any legal case, even "pro bono", without doing homework.

"How dare we seculars question the wisdom of so-called Torah scholars?" He's saying nothing of the sort. He's saying 'Lets hear both sides of the story'. Remember a year and a half ago, a young chareidi man was accused of beating his child to death? Remember how EVERYBODY here KNEW he was guilty. What happened in the end? The case was dropped when they realized that the hospital made mistakes, accidentally killed the baby, and they and the police set this man up. I agree with Jospeh: you need to hear both sides of the story before making an informed opinion. Too bad you and Charles are more interested in hatred than being informed.

i too, was agounah to 14 years until july of this year. a shundah is what it is and i hope she wins

But its wrong to enslave people in bad marriages -and that is exactly what the rabbinic monopoly over family law in this country does. Over and over again. Thousands of people in this country suffer because of this. I don't need to hear the specifics of why this particular rabbinic court is enslaving this particular woman. She should have a right to get a divorce in a civil court if she's in a bad marraige already and wants out for 15 years. Joseph P, Charles, you or any rabbi should not get a vote in the matter based on any specifics. Or, if people choose, they can submit to the jurisdiction of religious courts. Where's the hatred? The issue is one of religion by coersive laws. That's what we have in family matters is Israel and I think its wrong.

I have been trying to find out the verdict on that case - do you have a link or followup info on it? Charles - people say a lot of things when they think that they can make a lot of money out of it - look at all the court cases for suing, and judge for yourself how many of them should have been thrown out immediately. I am NOT saying that this woman doesn't have a case - HOWEVER - I have to say that I have serious doubts - perhaps during court appearances it was SHE who kept opting to try again over fear of being alone. This has been known to happen. Perhaps YNet got the dates wrong as we see from above they don't "gell". There are lot's of perhaps' - we really need to get the entire picture here before we can decide whether a huge inustice has been made or not. Johanna - sadly the Rabbinical courts are very limited in their options as the secular courts often dismiss anything they do.

I'm not against the court in that I don't think badly of them. However, I think 18 years is plenty of time for them to have made a ruling. It would be nice to have some background to this story to help understand why it's taken 18 years. Otherwise, the court looks bad. There may be a reasonable explanation for the delays. I can't think of one, but am willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Without background info. the court looks guilty.

The antics of the Rabbinate and these so called Rabbi's make the middle ages seem like a tea party.The Rabbinate should be disbanded and these self serving parasites sent home.

Can you please explain to the readership why you allow every talkback to become a "Hareidi-Bashing' opportunity? If Rabbi X was to say the sky was blue, at least 3 regulars would declare that he is a parasite, and how dare he say what color the sky is! YNet has unfortunately become a major vehicle for "sinat chinam" in our generation.

I someone tells a lie , he/she wants to earn something by doing so . If he/she tells us a lie , he/she can't earn anything , we are not the judges . So why should he/she tell us nice stories ? To spray hatred against the rabbanim ? if you think so , you are suffering from paranoia , and need medical help . גמר חתימה טובה לכולכם

Do you think that that center for Women would risk hughe sums in attorneys if they don't think that this case is correctly presented by this women ? And i'll add also for you , do you think that it's all against the rabbis ? are you also suffering from paranoia ? If you thin so , a good solution :read hamodia , they only attack seculars , not rabbis

Have you read HaModia (in English - their weekly paper) They have a huge amount of ahavat yisrael. They have provided huge amounts of money for terrorist victims as an example, irrespective of religious leanings. But come Charles - can you honestly say that you don't look for an opportunity to vent your secular opinion, the second anything even sniffing of religion is mentioned? I think you are a highly intelligent person, and I can't condemn you for your views, knowing what you have passed in your life, and a person should never judge another until they stand in the others shoes - but please, you realise that all these talkbacks accomplish is to cause hatred amongst Jews.

This is an excellent initiative & I wish you all the best with your case - the time has come to challenge the practices of rabbinical courts which fail to do their utmost within halacha to prevent this sort of abuse of women under the rules of marriage & divorce as they have been interpreted by the rabbinical establishment to the detriment of women. This is an important case & I hope you are well supported in your good work.

Thanks for your compliments . Hatred among Jews , yes that's what we see . But , there are things that are done or said by "religious" persons who are inacceptable for many people . We expect a more dignified behaviour from religious people . I've heard , a true story , a couple where the woman could not have children . When she told her secular father , a friend of me , that they planned to adopt a child , his answer was : i hope i'll love them in the same way as my biological grandchildren . The husbands father , a religious one , said : give her her get . Such things are angering me . In my family , a uncle of my mother Z.L. , a charidi man did'nt talk anymore to his children who left his way of life . Well such events are not making religious people loved more by seculars . Of course there are other samples of religious and charidi people , great ones [ Yad Sara , Ezer metzion and so ] but their weight is not enough to balance the bad ones , we don't talk about them , they are not prime time news . I never told what i passed in my life , so i don't see what you could know about me , and i don't know any person , here in Israel , who's name is Shalom

I only know what you have told us online - don't worry! There are fools and idiots in every sector of society; a jacket and hat don't make a frum jew - we all know that. What I can say is that the majority of religious Jews are "trying" - note - we are all human, to live according to the dictates of our Torah. We stumble yes; at times we act in ways that are not condusive to how a Jew should behave; but we are trying, and if we fall, we have to pick ourselves up and start over again. Shanah Tovah