The Wed-Locked Agunot

Book excerpt: The anguish endured by agunot (chained) Orthodox Jewish women trapped in unhappy or defunct marriages by husbands who refuse to give them a gett (divorce) reveals the power of religious law even when it conflicts with modern societies' moral and legal norms. These women may be civilly divorced but must petition rabbinic courts in their quest to obtain a gett. In these courts women are subject to financial demands, pressured to drop charges of domestic violence and pedophilia against their husbands and to concede custody and visitation rights to unfit fathers. This book takes the reader inside the rabbinic courts, into civil divorce courts and legislatures that contend with this problem and into the lives of victimized women and children. Well-versed in Jewish divorce law, the authors have counseled thousands of agunot and challenged the Orthodox rabbinate's inaction in response to the injustices faced by these women.