Divorce is never pretty, but some divorces are more interesting than others. Take this one, which I found at law.com.
In an unusual twist on a growing religious issue, a Boca Raton, Fla., psychiatrist who refused to grant his ex-wife a Jewish religious divorce has filed suit to stop members of a local synagogue from holding demonstrations in front of his office demanding that he give her the divorce.
On Monday, Dr. David Abisror filed a motion in Palm Beach Circuit Court seeking a temporary injunction to prevent the group from the Boca Raton Synagogue from picketing. He claims the protesters have engaged in libelous and slanderous speech, interfered with his business relationships and created a public safety hazard.
According to the article, the couple was married 12 years ago, then had a civil divorce after two years of marriage. The wife, Naomi Baruch, relocated to Israel where she wants to start over.
But Abisror won't sign a "get," a Jewish divorce document. Without it, Baruch cannot date or remarry, according to Jewish law.
The idea behind this is that men are the head of the household and only they can dissolve the marriage. The practical effects in modern life is that men can still stick it to their wives, even when the state tells them not to.
In Israel, the government can become involved in forcing the hand of a man to sign a get. Husbands who refuse can lose their job and various civil rights and even be sent to jail. In a famous case, a man spent the last 35 years of his life in prison for refusing to sign a get. His ex-wife remarried a month after his death, at age 65.
Divorce is rarely easy, even if you are the person who wants it (or both of you do). But if feminists want to scream about "the patriarchy," religious laws like this one--and the reluctance of civil authorities to interceed--is a good place to start.
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