LONDON — A visit to Britain by a U.S. rabbi involved in the plight of Orthodox women whose husbands refuse to grant them religious divorces has provoked a bitter controversy.
The agunot, sometimes referred to as “chained women,” may be divorced according to civil law, but they lack a get, which is a religious bill of divorce.
During his visit last month, Moshe Morgenstern raised the hackles of the Orthodox establishment when he secretly married one British agunah — a 32-year-old woman who received a civil divorce in 1992 — while raising expectations among other agunot that a religious solution would be found to “free” them all.
Not only do almost all Orthodox rabbis refuse to marry agunot, but most Orthodox Jews regard the children of any subsequent union by such women as mamzerim — or bastards — who according to Orthodox application of Jewish law, are permitted to marry only other mamzerim.
This stigma does not apply to the subsequent children of the former husbands.
Morgenstern told an audience of 200 in London that his New York-based beit din — or religious court — has already annulled 280 marriages of agunot, of whom 100 have remarried in ceremonies at which he had officiated. Such an arrangement, he insisted, is “a million percent halachically correct.”
But British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks does not agree. He described Morgenstern’s actions as “illegal” and a “breach” of religious law.
Two initiatives aimed at helping agunot have run into problems.
The first, proposed by Sacks, would have involved couples signing a prenuptial agreement that would commit both partners to mediation and, if necessary, arbitration by a religious court in the event of a marriage breakdown.
This was dealt a fatal blow recently when a judge decided that such a formula was unenforceable.
Another attempt by Emeritus Chief Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits was thwarted last month when the government decided to delay the implementation of planned divorce law reforms.
The legislation would have prevented the remarriage — according to civil or religious rites — of husbands who refuse to grant their estranged wives a get.