Apr 19, 2015

the gett given today justifies the creation of Facebook

This morning we read a troubling report about a woman who was an agunah. Her husband finally agreed to give her the gett, yet the Beis Din refused to take care of it and process what needed to be processed, and write what needed to be written. Their explanation was that they do not perform divorces on Rosh Chodesh.
source: NRG

The custom is generally to run to take care of a gett immediately when the husband finally agrees, in the case of an agunah, because there is always a chance he might change his mind quickly. We want to strike while the iron is hot.

For whatever reason this man finally agreed, delaying the gett gives him an opportunity to "sleep on it" and change his mind by the time Beis Din decides they can do it.

A quick campaign on Facebook and in the media, pushed the Beis Din into a tight corner. Even beis din cares a little bit about appearances and public relations. Haaretz reports that over the course of the day the beis din found a dayyan (Rav Abergil) who was willing to take care of the gett even though it is Rosh Chodesh. He did what he had to do and the gett was given.

Facebook and other social media platforms can be, and are, used for good. If Facebook was created just for this, dayyeinu.





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11 comments:

  1. Is there such a concept, that a beis din doesn't work on Rosh Chodesh??

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  2. i guess they do other things but not gittin

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  3. Gitten are also not written during the month of elul. There are rules. Violating a rule cause of Facebook is questionable procedure.

    Next week, lets allow calling a brave soldier a 'nazi' cause we're afraid of Facebook. (Oh, we already did that.)

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  4. Ordinarily gittin are not done on rosh chodesh not but halachah allows it for extenuating circumstances. A man who has refused a get for 8 years is such a circumstance. It was just a question of a dayan caring enough and getting off his nether regions to do it.

    For that matter, weddings are not done on shabbos but the Ramah did one because otherwise an orphan girl would have been shamed and left unmarried (ketubah was written and signed before shabbos). He did this and defended this even though his own mappah ruled against doing it.

    These rabbonim are not frummer than the Ramah; they just care less.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's easier to be right than to do right.

      Slavishly following Halachah (or Minhag) to the detriment of others is often the coward's way out.

      Delete
  5. Why does YWN say that the story ended very differently?

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    1. the gett was given. they eventually got in touch with Rav Avergil who immediately said he would take care of it, and he did.
      YWN is missing the second half of the story.
      I know someone who was involved in the helping them come to a resolution as far as looking for other dayyanim who might agree. I am told personally, in addition to the Haaretz report, that the gett was written and given. Also, in real-time yesterday, journalists were updating on twitter that the gett was being written when Rav Avergil finally got involved.

      Delete
  6. Naturally, we do not follow NRG to report Jewish issues properly and with the deeper reasons. Halacha says not to write a get on Rosh Chodesh because we might not be sure if the day is for the previous or the following month (to make it simple). I heard the Rema does allow a get in circumstances that seems to us to be the case here but since I don't see any gedolim commenting, I doubt we know all the real reasons if this is really one of them and if the dayanim were wrong.

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    Replies
    1. Tkat argument only applies to the first day of a two day rosh chodesh. Must be something else.

      Delete
  7. the aruch hashulchan also says a gett can be written on rosh chodesh

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  8. The title is interesting since many gittin today are CAUSED by Facebook! So JUSTIFIED, hardly!

    ReplyDelete