New York, NY – Rabbi Announces New Beit Din For 2014 Aimed At Addressing Agunot

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    Rabbi Simcha KraussNew York, NY – At the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance on Sunday it was announced that an independent rabbinical court will be begin addressing the issue of the agunot in 2014.

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    JTA (http://bit.ly/1bzpfQ3) reports that the beit din will be based in New York and headed up by renown scholar, Rabbi Simcha Krauss, who is a leading figure among Modern Orthodox.

    Krauss vowed to leave “no door unopened” when it comes to addressing the agunot issue, and hinted that he is prepared to tap into lesser known aspects of Jewish law to meet his goals.

    “The goal of this project is to humanize the beit din,” Krauss said. “You can’t solve these situations with slight of hand. But hopefully we can use the right methodology, so that even these situations get solved.”

    Kraus said his longterm goal is to open a comparable court in Israel, and has already begun the process of approaching the Israeli Chief Rabbinate for approval.

    Admittedly, Krauss said he expects some resistance, particularly among Haredis in Israel, but hopes that some initial success might change minds.

    “Nobody wants agunot,” said Krauss. “So hopefully if [haredim] see that we are solving these cases, maybe they will come to us. Or maybe they will follow.”


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    35 Comments
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    10 years ago

    MAZEL TOV!!!! No sarcasm here.

    10 years ago

    I wonder if he intended to follow the lead of Emmanual Rackman or Zev Ferber. Whose methods create mamzerim. Or perhaps he will use the methods of R Mendel Epstien.

    10 years ago

    Bravo Rabbi Krauss.
    One can only hope mainstream orthodoxy will follow. We can eliminate the aguna crisis by simply NOT ALLOWING THESE SCUMMY LOUSES that call themselves husbands to get an aliyah in shul. we should shame them and hold their ‘dayanim’ accountable for siding with them, all for the sake of money. (epstein is seeing his end, Chaim Kraus should see his)
    good old fashioned shame will stop these power moguls from withholding any get.. when a marriage is over, so should the control be…that’s what it’s all about. control over assets, alimony, custody and get…just MOVE ON
    hopefully this bais din will finally seek justice to the women who desperately seek it

    Oyvey
    Oyvey
    10 years ago

    Won’t work. The chareidi rabbinate has an entrenched and visceral refusal to accept any change to the way things are done especially in regard to kiddushin and gittin. Any attempt to use a “lesser known” idea will be summarily rejected with the strongest of terms regardless of technical correctness.
    Secondly, the idea that it is being initiated by someone coming from an association from the feminist movement will automatically result in a rejection. The feminist movement, despite including the word “orthodox” in its title, is considered a direct attack on Orthodoxy and therefore anything associated with it is automatically treif.
    For anything of the sort to have a chance of success it must appear to come from within the upper crust of the charedi rabbonim.

    TexasJew
    TexasJew
    10 years ago

    Need to “get” a dozen respected chreidim leaders, Rosh Yeshivos” etc, to agree on a solution and then the ball will start rolling.
    No MO leader will solve this problem without their assistance.
    I wish all of them luck. We need a solution.

    10 years ago

    Why is everyone jumping to conclusions before we heard/know what his method is. Lets hear it first. I hope its not making her an almana.

    cresthill
    cresthill
    10 years ago

    To all those naysayers…the early Chasidim, mussar schools, and Torah im Derech Eretz movements were also met with scorn, cherem, and book burnings by the “elite” of those times. And where woud we be today without those visionaries? Chazak v’ematz!

    10 years ago

    I hope someone starts a bies din for the men being abused too. Abuses include women withholding children, accusing their husband falsely with abuse problems to get even and blackmailing for money. (Lest anyone say how can children be withheld there is a court order for visitation rights. What happens is one week the child has a cold the next week his tutor was only available at that time.) The reason agunot get so much attention is because men are supposed to tough it out. So automatically people feel bad for the lady. Just like in general people feel worse lo alinu for an almanac verse an alman. All in all men can be animals but so can ladies. It’s a 50 50. I have seen both sides. A greater contribution to society would be if someone trained us (perhaps the schools) how NOT to get along like mentchen too.

    10 years ago

    Better yet, our kinder should not marry after just meeting for 2 or 3 times at under an hour each time. Three of my nieces are now divorced because they didn’t know the “real” man they were marrying. Most of my friends’ children are contemplating divorce for the same reason. Shanda after so much gelt goes into a lavish wedding.

    BigMasmid
    BigMasmid
    10 years ago

    whats doing with Mendel Epstein?

    Benny
    Benny
    10 years ago

    The whole thing is a failure since it started by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, since this whole feminist idea is antiTorah.

    yosher
    yosher
    10 years ago

    Don’t mess with Queens; that Bais Din is pulling in big bucks and no interloper will be allowed to divert funds from them.

    bewhiskered
    bewhiskered
    10 years ago

    “And hinted that he is prepared to tap into lesser known aspects of Jewish law to meet his goals.”

    By ‘lesser known’ does Rabbi Krauss infer that only he is aware of certain aspects in legitimate הלכה about which others know nothing? Or, does the term ‘lesser known’ mean that the origins of such aspects do not exist in the world of legitimate ש”ס ופוסקים? Either way, Rabbi Krauss seems not to have gotten off to a good start. It is most interesting to note that the actual word for an anchor in לשון הקודש is an עוגן, which signifies that freeing an עגונה is a ‘heavy lift,’ and ought not to be undertaken with substandard הלכות which might not be part of our מסורה.

    Sociologist
    Sociologist
    10 years ago

    I just love reading the comments here. Reminds me why I left the crazy world of Brooklyn. The “alte heim” was never like this.

    BTW, before the snarky comments my wife and I and our children are shomrei Torah u’mitzvot. My wife (who you can say is a feminist) and I have graduate degrees and daven three times a day and she does daf yomi, I am in Yoreh chavrutah and both work full time.. So it has nothing to do with education but rather maturity and world view. Oh, and we have been married to each other for 25+ years.