Staten Island, NY – On the heels a public plea last week from a 24 year-old New Jersey agunah who claims her civilly divorced 27 year-old Orthodox Jewish husband refuses to grant her a get, the father-in-law is speaking out, saying the fallout from the incident has left his family “horrified.”
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SILIVE.com (http://bit.ly/19RN057) reports that plea from the agunah, Gita Dodelson, has sparked a firestorm of negative reaction across social media for Avrohom Meir Wiess and his family, forcing his father, Rabbi Yosaif Asher Weiss of Prince’s Bay, to speak publicly on the matter.
“Our family is horrified by the vitriol, lies and hate that permeate Gital’s article,” said Rabbi Weiss. “It is full of misinformation and outright fabrications, as well as untruths.”
“This is a very, very heart wrenching and ongoing dispute. We’ve been trying desperately to resolve this for a long time. This has destroyed my family health wise and destroyed my family financially,” said Weiss, whose grandfather was the renowned scholar Rabbi Moshe Feinstein.
Weiss said his biggest regret is that the issue is now leaving an easily accessible Internet trail for his grandson.
“We have a grandchild here, the sweetest child you will ever meet, who doesn’t understand any of this, who one day is going to grow up and have to read this,” Weiss said. “We don’t want him to think that we could ever say anything bad against his mother, no matter what she did.”
Weiss said the Internet fallout, mainly Facebook and Twitter, has also called for boycotts of the religious publishing house Artscroll, where he has worked for years.
A Facebook page now running, titled “Free Gital: Tell Avrohom Meir Weiss to Give His Wife a ‘Get,’ has generated thousands of likes and responses, leaving Weiss reeling, and saying only that the process is ongoing, and that he hopes it will be resolved soon.
“We do not wish to respond in kind, nor to jeopardize delicate negotiations by discussing them publicly, but we remain hopeful that the entire matter including the get will be resolved very soon, so that Avrohom and Gital can get on with their lives.” said Weiss.
Both sides in EVERY divorce case always lie and distort the truth, stooping to incomprehensible levels. No one should be siding with either of them. It’s for them and their respective rabbis/therapists/counselors to deal with to resolve this unfortunate matter.
As the famous singer said “whips and chains…..” I guess Gital doesn’t agree with Rhianna. Where are you Chris Brown ?
There is nothing to respond just give the get already it’s been almost 4 years!
Don’t act like the victim, Mr. Weiss. It is your son who is withholding the get. That’s playing dirty, and you should expect to get a fight, a nasty one. Nobody will take that lying down these days, especially with internet available.
how can you respond when a siruv was issued signed by the novominsker rebbe shlita, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky shlita, Rav ahron Schecter shlita and the list goes on. There should be public rallies for kvod shomayim for the kovod of theses gedolim.
Aww, I feel so bad for them.. NOT. They should have thought about it when they raised this control freak. It’s ruined them financially?? Who told you to carry on like this for the past 3 years? Your son should be happy she didnt hire the Epstein gang when she had the chance.
Rabbi Weiss, you are putting a very nice spin on the story and dancing around the issue. There is only ONE thing to know here:
Why the hell is your son withholding the Get?
There is NO excuse to withhold a Get for ANY reason.
You can fight out the custody issues after you give the Get. End of story.
They the weiss family bought this on themselfs what are they complaining about,they think everyone else is stupid and they are the only ones who are right and smart.
Can he at least say what part is incorrect ? The longer it takes for them to issue a get, the more aggravation they will probably have. There is a way to stop this ,and that is to give a get.
Reb Moishe is turning over in his grave because of the Chilul Hashem his son and family are making. A BEIS DIN gave a SIRUV against Mr. Weiss. Both parties can write what they want but the Beis Din has heard both sides (and the Feinstein -Weiss side one would think would wield a lot of power given they are the so called Gedolim (lol) in the Litvishe world). There is NO excuse for holding a woman hostage. NONE! I sense they are holding out for ransom also known as extortion. The Beis Din should set terms and then the Tzibur should exert as much pressure as needed to cause the get to take place. It is people like them that unfortunately gave reason to the Epstein-Wolmark headache.
just give the get like you should have 3 years ago & “get” on with your life. You mamzer.
Divorce settlements where children are involved are tedious. Even with clearly delineated agreements they are only as viable if the two parties are clear headed and are in mind of
1. The true best interest of the child to have a stress free open access to parents and grandparent.
2.
The best way to tell a lie is to believe it.
GIVE THE GIRL HER GET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems to me that money is the issue….if you give him MONEY, he’ll give a get…the innocent child is the pawn here–no matter who’s at fault. It’s always money when there is a disagreement or fight. Whoever went to the press first, didn’t think of the fallout…they only thought of smearing the other party!!!
Divorce settlements where children are involved are tedious. Even with clearly delineated agreements they are only as viable if the two parties are clear headed and are in mind of
1. The true best interest of the child to have a stress free open access to parents and grandparent.
2. Sever the marriage where the two parties can move on with their lives.
Taking to Facebook twitter and public shaming, gives a very temporary felling of empowerment until the public gets bored, better informed and a new public scandal comes along.
4:
He didn’t say anything other then what she is doing is hitting home, he gave no explanations, other then saying it’s all lies – give a get now and move on
Soon? So the siruv bes din and the court order wasn’t enough? Now he’s worried about his grandson’s future? Where has he been the last 2 years? His comment is so none commital there is a greater chance of a cow jumping over the moon. He and his family made a mockery of the “get” process and now Weiss can’t stand the heat of the general public.
it is not always the husband’s fault – it could be a wife a mirshaas and manipulator who is at fault – i’ve seen it
Stop whining and have your son give the get.
I have one idea of how the boy’s family could make the story go a way and that would be to GIVE HER A GET!!
no one is buying it! they had close to four years to settle this and didn’t do anything, now the pressure is on he’s trying to be the victim. shame on him in shame on the Family
Far more class and dignity than his cheesy, tabloid chasing , ex daughter-in-law
Sorry Rabbi Weiss, I just don’t get. If there is a civil divorce already then there is a custody and financial agreement . There is NOTHING to negotiate. Just get her the get. ( Unless you want to use the get to gain something and this extortion)
Let him show us that he’s willing to give a divorce, and hand over the get to his wife. It’s his best way of getting his name clear. It’ll be a win-win solution. Very simple.
Can the Halacha be modified so woman be treated as equals and not as the property of their husbands?
I would greatly appreciate Rabbi Yair Hoffman shedding some light on this important matter.
Ahh. He sounds. So. Sweet and. Nebach. His. Son. Is such. A tzadik . This rabbi should be in Hollywood .
Gital should have gone to the press. A long time ago
Now let’s. see what happens
I am not sure why you are calling her an agunah.
There was an impartial mediator brought in who had been agreed to by both parties. The mediator prepared an solution which the has and has agreed to. The wife has not agreed to solution suggested by the mediator. It would seem that she is implicit herself in the get not being finalized. You can hardly call her an agunah if she is the one unwilling to accept the get.
I know your source is the oh so holy article in the NY Prust which was provided by the wife. We know that lascivious news is what is most favored by this web site.
I have seen the letter written and signed by the mediator.
There is no justification to hold back a get. The husband is mechuyav to pay his wife.
So give her a get. She doesn’t want to be married to his son, they have a civil divorce. She wants to start a new life, let her go and they both can move forward.
Rabbi Weiss it did not have to come to this .very simple grant her a get and get it over
Taka works
i understand Gitals pain but she is not a rachmunas for not getting her get yet. she or her father should first seat down like a mantch to the table. and grant the husband to have normal visitation rights and other normal requests what the family is asking and then i promos you it will be resolved don’t use the public for your garbage tears (note) im not a family member or a friend. i just got the info from a friend who knows gitals family.
So let his son give her the GET already…Give her the GET..Give her the GET..
Rav Weiss feels his son and their entire family are the “victims”…well thats GOOD. They can fix this problem tomorrow by giving Ms. Dodelson a get. Its that simple. She doesn’t want to be married to him and thats all thats important. And clearly, the erhliche Weiss family doesn’t want such a woman to be their daughter-in-law and bear their children and grandchildren. Give her the get and move on with your lives or the suffering is only beginning.
I wonder who’s taking advantage of whom and who’s really the victim and who’s not. It’s unfortunate that most women are in haste to blame the husband however a husband can be the same victim as a wife.
Let’s stop these Loshon Horoh articles about men chaining their wives and molesters on the loose until properly verified. If indeed there is truth then it should be dealt with to the fullest otherwise just talk about Obama.
He didn’t refute anything except to say there are lies he doesn’t say what exactly the lies are! He also doesn’t answer why his son still didn’t give a get!!
Give the get.
And. Get on with yr life
Enough is enough
and what will your grandson say when he finds out that his dear daddy refused to give his mother a get for FOUR YEARS?
I don’t get it. WHAT NEGOTIATIONS? Does that translate as we want money? His no-good son should give his ex a Get, there is no excuse. Where is the Zeidie in all this? Rav Moshe zatzal must be cringing. Such an einekele nobody wants, holding his wife hostage. This Weiss father is a bad as the son.
Amazing. None of you know anything more than you’ve been fed by one side or the other yet you all have very strong opinions about who is right and who is wrong.
Fools, all of you. You don’t know the facts and therefore don’t know the halachah in this case (even if you know halachah in general) yet you’ll get on the internet and take sides.
Rabbi Weiss you should not be doing the arguing. Your son should!! If he is old enough to get married he is old enough to get a civil ivorce, then he is also old enough to give a get!! Enough!! It has been 4 LONG YEARS!! Do not complain for him!! Let him give the get and be done with it!!
Sorry, but extortion is not limited to one side of a get.
The first mishna in Kedushin says a woman can be freed b’get u’vmisas habal.
We should daven that one of these happens.
I hate to say it, but I think I know how to help the situation . It’s quite easy. Instead of reading תלמידי חכמים מרבים שלום בעולם with a question mark, they should read it as a statement. Maybe that will help. Anybody from artscroll can help them read it?
You are all a bunch of immature ignoramuses over here. Almost every single one of you 36 commenters here. Stupid mentality stating there is no excuse to withhold a Get. Sorry people, you know nothing. NEVER JUDGE SOMEONE BASED ON AN ARTICLE IN A TABLOID submitted by one party. All you low lives on FB and blogs just lambasting the Weiss’ don’t know squat about what’s going on. So easy to feel for the woman and say there’s no excuse to withhold a Get. There are times where it’s necessary and legitimate. You can call it extortion or any other name in the book. No man needs to be trampled on and be forced to give up his rights. He has the withholding of the Get option to ascertain that he does not get any raw deal here. Don’t be stupid by saying first give the Get and then we’ll negotiate. He gives the Get and it’s so over. He can forget about getting anything that he rightfully deserves. You get punched in the face, you don’t hold nothin back. You access whatever resource is at your disposal. Bunch of foolish goons in here. Keep you mouths zipped before you know all the facts. And those of you who comment and tell the Weiss that, hey, she doesn’t wanna be married to him anymore…. Duh…. Don’t you think the Weiss’ know it’s over? That’s not why he’s withholding the Get to perhaps try to work things out. What are you people smoking?!?!?!
I have an idea to resolve the issue….GIVE HER THE GET!!!
I wonder what the Chofetz Chaim would say regarding this situation? Is an aggrieved person permitted to throw a private dispute into the public forum, thus engendering debate and the inevitable Lashon Harah?
This case is currently in the news, but this issue isn’t being dealt with. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of agunos, whose husbands are holding them hostage. Maybe shaming and naming the recalcitrant husbands will be effective if their families realize that they also have a lot to lose.
Sad to say, but the oiylam has to do something themselves.
The old truth: those who know don’t speak. Those who blabber don’t know. Wow!
There are situations where the girl makes unrealistic demands in alimony, custody, and child support, that make it impossible for the boy to just hand over the get. There are two sides to every story and don’t think otherwise.