The Canadian Jewish News, TTiursday, December 2,1993-Page 5
By JANICE ARNOLD
MONTREAL - Members of an in-temalional group fighting for a halachi-cally acceptable solution to the agunbt problem brought their campaign to the Council of Jewish Federation General Assembly (GA). asking delegates to make the issue a high priority in their communities.
As well, about 15 women from the Canadian Coalition of Jewish Women for the Get held a peaceful demonstration. They carried signs reading "Put the Plight of the Agunot on Your Community Calendar" and "Agunot — ■
"Victims of Jewish Community Indifference" and handed out fliers and buttons declaring Freedom for Agunot
\Ndw.
Coalition chair Evelyn Brook said the protest was held outside a session on Jewish continuity in the Bonaven-ture Hilton Hotel because the group felt the agunot issue should have been discussed there.
"When a Jewish woman is prevented from remarrying because her husband won't give her a get, there's no Jewish continuity for her or for the community if she is of child-bearing age," she said.
Instead, the agunah issue was dis-^ cussed at a session called The Political. Economic and Social Status of Women. One of the three speakers was Norma Joseph of Montreal, president of the International Coalition for Agu-hah Rights (IGAR).
Brook said this was not the best venue because men were not likely to attend.
ICAR feels the agunot issue should be addressed by the whole community, not just women. •
"If L./4. Law (the television show) can devote one hour to the agunot problem, this conference can give it more than 10 rhinutes," Joseph said during the session.
Agiihot, traditional Jewish women
GpUNCll of Jewish
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GeneraI AssEiYibly AssEivibLEE GeneraLe
Montreal 1993
who live in marital limbo and are often held up to extortion by their ex-husbands, have been "abandoned and rendered invisible" by the organized Jewish community, Joseph said, She also criticized the rabbinate for often counselling.women to remain in abusive relationships for the sake of Shalom bay it (household peace).
ICAR wants the federations to "expose the serious and growing problem of get abuse and find social remedies." This might include withholding awards or leaderiship positions from men and women who refuse to participate in the get process, especially after civil divorce.
Communities should find out how their rabbinical courts operate and seek to reform them if necessary, she said. They should also reach out to agunot in.their cities and "adopt" them, accompany them to thie Beth Din and make their stories public.
The federations should use their in-^ fluence to effect change jn Israel, where divorce is solely in the hands of the Orthodox rabbinate, she continued.
Describing herself as an Orthodox Jewish feminist, Joseph said she believes the plight of agunot contradicts the search for justice and ethics in Judaism.
ICAR claims to represient 1:5 million women in Canada, the U.S. and Israel. In Canada, six national Jewish women's organizations belong, and Women's Federation of Federation CJA in Montreal recently added its name.
The Coalition for Jewish Women for the Get demonstrate at the General Assembly.
ICAR has formed a joint committee: with the chief rabbinate of Israel to explore the issue, following an historic meeting with the two chief rabbis this
•■fall.,
But Joseph stressed that Jewish communities in North America should not take the attitude of "let the rabbis work on-it." ■
While Canada's amended divorce act has since 1990 made it impossible to obtain a civil divorce without the get transaction, in practice many lawyers and some judges are not familiar with the law, Joseph said.
The chances of enacting a similar law in the U.S. are poor because of the deeply-ingrained tradition of separation of church and state, said Marc Stem, co-director of the American Jewish Congress' Commission on Law and Social Action, and anothei: session
speaker. He thinks most of the Jewish conimunity wants it kept that way. '
"The instinctive reaction of legislators is 'this is not our problem.'Generally, the Jewish community would not want to change that tradition because it might harm us elsewhere," he said.
TTie U.S. constitution also guarantees no one can be forced to engage in a religious act and, although some may debate it. Stem thinks a get is "entirely religious." •
In New York State, the law allows courts to indirectly force a get by tying it into the property and alimony settlement.
But, Stem believes most other legislatures still regard this as coercion into a religious act.
He believes the most promising ap- win.'
proach is prenuptial agreements, recog-nizeid by the rabbis and civil authorities. Couples about to marry or those already married could enter them, he said, although he fears these contracts might actually hasten the end of some marriages. They also raise a variety of legal questions.
Stem advised Jewish women not to take a confrontational approach with the rabbis because they will only "dig their heels deeper.
"Among the Orthodox rabbinate, there is an incredible conservatism. They have a sense the world as they know it is coming unglued and may think you are trying to throw out the whole system."
Joseph later countered: "IC'AR is only working toward a halachic solution. This is not a game we aire out to
VANCOUVER — Eleven Vancouyerltes returned from Washington, D.C., recently, after three whirlwind days of lobbying on Capitol Hill with hundreds of other Jonathan Pollard supporters, according to Mona Kaplan, who was with the Vancouver delegation.
Kaplan, senior editor of the Jewish Western Bulletin, reports that about 500 lobbyists converged on Washington from 13 states and Canada. The largest contingent was a busload of 46 from Pennsylvania and |he second largest delegation was from Vancouver.
The Vancouver group included Ireta Fisher and Tzipi. Mann, the organizers, assisted by Yehuda Hadari; Sara Almas, Tanya Gertsoyg, Joe Gold, Simma Holt, Marilyn Hooper, Sam and Mbna Kaplan and Marsha Parson. Writer Lisa Fitterman went along as an observer. Also widi the Canadians were three Christian supporters of Pollard fromToronto: Alan Lazerte, executive director of die International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem; and An-nalee arid Jack Hamilton. ■■. ■ •
The Vancouver delegation represented the local branch ' of Citizens for Justice which initiated the first-ever international Jonathan Pollard Day. -. One of the meetings held by the lobbyists was with Israel's envoy to Washington, Ambassador Itamar Rabinovitch, Who agreed to hear a srnairgroup's concerns about Pollard.
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