The Ashkelon Rabbinical Court has approved the release of the name, age, location and image of Aryeh Leib Kishon, 39, after he has repeatedly refused to issue his wife Golda a get as been previously demanded by the Court.
Married in 2005, the couple had three children and enjoyed a stable marriage until 2018 when things deteriorated greatly and Golda requested a divorce in the rabbinical court. Believing him to be a man of integrity, she went into the proceedings confident that her husband would agree to issue her a get but that has yet to occur. Since then, the tribunal has imposed more and more economic, community and halakhic restrictions and sanctions on Kishon, at the request of rabbinical court advocate and attorney Dina Reichik, who represents Golda on behalf of the Ohr Torah Stone network's Yad La'isha Legal Aid Center for Agunot.
As a result of Yad La’isha’s efforts Kishon has been denied exit from Israel as well as the right to hold a driver’s license or legally manage a business or bank account. The sanctions include social alienation and a ban on his being called up to the Torah or saying Kaddish along with other measures.
Despite these efforts, Kishon, who lives in Kiryat Gat, has refused to issue the get which led to the irregular decision by the Court, led by Dayan Yishai Buchris, to publicly release many of the details regarding the case including the husband's name and image as well as the scope of the sanctions being used against him.
"This is a case that we’ve been involved with for the past three years. What started as a case where the wife was optimistic that it would be resolved easily, has since become extremely challenging,” Adv. Raitchik explains. “It is deeply unfortunate that despite all these efforts, the husband continues to cause his family to suffer. We very much hope that he will relent in the near future and give his wife the freedom she deserves. We are very grateful to the Rabbinical Court that has used the tools at its disposal to work to achieve that goal.”
“It’s honestly heartbreaking every time we are forced to resort to these tools of shaming,” says Pnina Omer, Director of Ohr Torah Stone’s Yad La’isha. “I firmly believe that we need to find halachic solutions that will help avoid bringing shame onto these families and all the pain that comes with it, knowing that this is also the father of three innocent children. Our sincere hope is that this measure will force the husband to issue the get very soon so that the family can quickly return to lives of normalcy and Golda can again be a free woman.”