A husband, who presented himself to his mother-in-law as a graduate of the Ponivez Yeshiva, was revealed after his wedding to be a criminal who had been in prison and who used hard drugs.
After seven months of marriage, when his wife was in the early stages of her pregnancy, he disappeared and did not appear for hearings at the rabbinical court. He currently refuses to grant his wife a divorce despite the demands of the dayanim, who warn that if he is released from prison before granting a divorce, he will disappear again and could turn his wife into a prostitute.
And this is the reality, as Hanan Greenwood published in Israel Hayom:
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The couple met about two years ago at the instigation of the husband's mother. The two got married, but ten days later it was discovered that the husband was not who he claimed to be.
""He took me to Tel Aviv and took out powders in front of my eyes, hard drugs. I made it clear to him that this would not happen to me," his ex-wife told the court. "Once a month he would disappear and leave me alone. I didn't know he was in prison. If I had known he was in prison, I wouldn't have married him. I only stayed with him because of the pregnancy.".
The woman's lawyer described to the judges that this was a man who pretended to be an ultra-Orthodox. After the marriage went awry, the man disappeared, leaving his wife without a divorce and not appearing for court hearings. After a few months, he was randomly caught. It also turned out that he had been sentenced to an additional term of imprisonment.
In subsequent discussions, he claimed that he did not want a divorce, but later added: "I will not be a refuser, and if I have to, I will grant a divorce.".
However, in practice he does not grant the long-awaited divorce, partly due to a conflict over shared finances.
Today, their son is one year and three months old, and the father rarely sees him, even though there are visitation arrangements between the two spouses.
The judges ruled in a recent ruling that the husband must divorce his wife immediately - "and there is even a case for forcing him to do so.".
If he refuses to do so, the wife can file a case for restraining orders. Additionally, if the husband completes his prison sentence before providing a divorce, he will not be released from prison until he does so because there is a fear that he will attempt to escape.
