In a dramatic combined operation, using advanced technology, Aguna was released after 13 years, through a get shilihut done via Skype.
The operation was carried out under the direction of Chief Rabbi Hared Lau, with integrated cooperation between the Agunot Division of the Rabbinical Courts, the Enforcement and Collection Authority, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Rabbinical Court in Paris and the Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem.
And this is the story of the incident: A young girl, 18, married a man 15 years her senior, divorced and a father of two. Already in the initial stages, the marriage ran aground, after the couple had two daughters. The husband went to prison for driving without a license and after his release, he filed for divorce, while the wife issued a restraining order against him.
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In 2005, the husband managed to escape the country under a false identity, despite a stay-of-departure order, and the various courts began to handle the wife's divorce suit. At some point, the case was transferred to the Agunot Division of the Rabbinical Courts. The man was located and negotiations were held with him.
The husband announced that he was willing to grant his wife a divorce, but on condition that he return the property, which he said remained in the wife's possession and was transferred to her name. According to him, it was a commercial company with extensive property and two apartments.
The husband agreed to deduct most of the alimony and other debts from these amounts.
The woman firmly refused the arrangement and turned to various courts, through which she obtained legal permits for her control of the property. After this process was completed, she turned again to the rabbinical courts to request a divorce.
Later, contact was made with the husband, who was staying in Paris, and he announced that he was willing to grant a divorce if the property issue was discussed in the rabbinical courts. After years of resistance on the part of the wife, she finally agreed, with the efforts of the Grand Court, headed by the Grand Rabbi Lau, to allow a renewed discussion of the property issue.
In discussions with the Chief Rabbi at the Great Rabbinical Court, the following outline was reached: The husband will immediately grant a divorce in a European court, one of the apartments will be seized for the financial hearing that will take place after the divorce is granted, and after the hearing is concluded, the court will decide what will happen to the property.
Since it was not possible to hold the divorce ceremony in Belgium, where the husband was staying, it became necessary to hold it at the rabbinical court in Paris.
Here the judges encountered another obstacle: the man could not move freely from place to place, due to a restriction imposed on his Israeli passport by order of the court. The restriction was conditionally lifted, and then it turned out that there were additional restrictions on the passport by the Enforcement and Collection Authority.
In cooperation between the Agunot Division with the Ministry of the Interior, the Enforcement and Collection Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, and the Israeli Consul in Paris, the passport issue was settled and the implementation of the outline decided upon by the court was made possible.
At this point, and surprisingly, the husband announced that he had disappeared and was not willing to cooperate. According to him, this was because his wife had issued a deportation order against him from France. The man left Europe and the Agunot Division began activities to locate him, and he was eventually located in Russia.
After two weeks of negotiations, he agreed to return to the original outline.
After the husband drove 4,000 km from Russia to Paris in his private car, a discussion took place via Skype between the Grand Court headed by Rabbi Lau and the head of the French court, Rabbi Yitzhak Guggenheim, in the presence of the husband in the Paris court and the wife in the Jerusalem court.
Ultimately, the woman was freed from her obligation: it was decided to execute the get when it was given in Paris by the husband to receiving emissaries appointed by the Grand Court of Israel, with the entire event being recorded and watched by members of the Grand Court via Skype directly from Paris.
Thus, after 13 years of anchoring and strenuous activity by all parties, the woman embarked on a new path.
