Organization for the Resolution of Agunot

The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA) is a New York-based non-profit organization which advocates for the elimination of the infliction of abuse from the Jewish divorce process. The organization advocates on behalf of agunot and promotes the universal adoption of Jewish prenuptial agreements for the prevention of get-refusal (a get is a bill of Jewish divorce).[1] Although 98% of the people ORA helps are women, they also support men whose wives refuse to accept a get.[2] ORA views get-refusal is considered to be a form of domestic abuse.[3] Rabbi Jeremy Stern is the Executive Director of the organization.

History

ORA was founded in 2002 by a group of Yeshiva University students.[4] Since then, the organization has resolved over 220 cases of get-refusal,[5] and at any given time is actively involved in approximately 50 open agunah cases.[6] In 2014, the Slingshot Guide named ORA as one of the most innovative non-profit organizations in North America for its success in "advocating for vulnerable women and changing the conversation about divorce in the Orthodox community".[7]

Advocacy efforts

ORA resolves cases of get-refusal by combining facilitation with advocacy.[8] Their strategies may include "staging protests in front of a husband’s home and office, urging his community and synagogue to keep him out, raising awareness in the media and applying financial and legal pressure."[3]

ORA's advocacy efforts on behalf of agunot have been covered by several major newspapers, including The New York Times,[9][10] New York Post,[11][12] Washington Post,[13] Newsweek,[14][15] The Daily Beast,[16] Fox News,[17] New York Daily News,[18] and The Huffington Post.[19]

Educational initiatives

ORA's Agunah Prevention Initiative raises awareness in the Jewish community about the importance of signing the Jewish prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal.[20] The tagline of their initiative is: "Friends don't let friends get married without the halachic prenup", and in November 2014, ORA released a video to promote that message.[21] While there is no way to know definitively if Jewish prenuptial agreements are becoming more popular in the Orthodox world, Rabbi Shlomo Weissmann, Director of the Beth Din of America, stated that, "Anecdotally, there appears to have been a big increase in awareness and usage in the last few years."[22]

References

  1. ↑ Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, About Us, http://www.getora.org/#!about-us/cxeg
  2. ↑ Can a woman refuse to give her husband a Jewish religious divorce? It just happened in Australia.
  3. 1 2 Jones, Abigail (April 8, 2015). "In Orthodox Jewish Divorce, Men Hold All the Cards". Newsweek.
  4. ↑ Cohen, Debra Nussbaum (March 1, 2012). "Congressman Pressed on Agunah Issue". Forward.
  5. ↑ Janofsky, Adam (September 22, 2014). "Facebook, Unchain Me!". Tablet.
  6. ↑ O'Neil, Lorena (January 24, 2014). "Will the Chained Wives of Judaism Finally be Released?". OZY.
  7. ↑ "ORA: Organization for the Resolution of Agunot". Slingshot Fund. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  8. ↑ Miller, Rochelle Maruch (May 16, 2013). "From Darkness to Light: ORA's Mission of Hope". 5 Towns Jewish Times.
  9. ↑ Medina, Jennifer (2014-03-21). "Unwilling to Allow His Wife a Divorce, He Marries Another". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  10. ↑ Oppenheimer, Mark (2011-01-03). "Protesters Seek Woman's Religious Divorce". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  11. ↑ Doree Lewak, "An Orthodox Woman’s 3-year Divorce Fight, " November 4, 2013. https://nypost.com/2013/11/04/orthodox-jewish-womans-plea-for-a-divorce/
  12. ↑ Lewak, Doree (February 5, 2014). "Orthodox Jewish Woman Finally Gets Her Divorce". New York Post.
  13. ↑ Service, Lilly Fowler | Religion News (2014-01-29). "To get around Jewish law, some rabbis insist on prenups". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
  14. ↑ Abigail Jones, "In Orthodox Jewish Divorce, Men Hold All the Cards," April 8, 2015. http://www.newsweek.com/2015/04/17/fighting-be-free-lengths-orthodox-jewish-women-will-go-get-320536.html
  15. ↑ Jones, Abigail (November 12, 2013). "Divorce in the Orthodox Jewish Community Can Be Brutal, Degrading and Endless". Newsweek.
  16. ↑ Brenhouse, Hillary (November 4, 2013). "For Orthodox Women, Getting the Get Can Take Years". The Daily Beast.
  17. ↑ Berger, Judson (February 29, 2012). "Congressman facing pressure from Jewish groups on adviser's religious divorce dispute". Fox News.
  18. ↑ Furman, Phyllis (May 28, 2012). "Get lost! Women struggle to get Jewish divorce from their Orthodox husbands". New York Daily News.
  19. ↑ Miller, Rabbi Jason (May 5, 2012). "Compelling Jewish Men to Grant a Divorce Through Social Media". The Huffington Post.
  20. ↑ Herz, Libby (Apr 28, 2015). "Will the Halachic Prenup Catch On". COLlive.
  21. ↑ "Friends Don't Let Friends Get Married Without The Prenup!".
  22. ↑ Siegel, Beverly (March 6, 2015). "Sign on the Dotted Line". Tablet.
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