Drama in the Rabbinical Court: Bank Robber Released the Get - After 6 Years. How Did It Happen?

The Great Rabbinical Court, headed by the Rishon LeZion and President of the Court Rabbi David Yosef, yesterday (Monday) issued a divorce decree, bringing an end to a lengthy six-year-long legal battle.

The story: A resident of Sharon married a woman twenty years younger than him. The couple lived in the woman's house and even had a daughter. But after a short period of time, differences of opinion arose, and the legal proceedings between the parties dragged on for years in the regional rabbinical court.

For six years, the man - a convicted bank robber - refused to grant a divorce, repeatedly arriving at the court in handcuffs from his arrest, each time demanding excessive financial demands. At one point, the woman became desperate and decided to remain a virgin, even asking the court to close the case.

The regional rabbinical court did not grant her request, and after all the court's attempts at compromise and division of property were unsuccessful, the case was transferred to the High Court of Appeals in Jerusalem.

The Grand Rabbinical Court, headed by Rabbi David Yosef, Rabbi Maimon Nahari and Rabbi Meir Freeman, transferred the case to the Division for the Prevention of Aginut in the Administration of the Rabbinical Courts, headed by Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon.

In collaboration with the IPS rabbis, he traveled to the prison, sat for a long time with the detained prisoner, and warned him against going to the dungeon until the man relented.

However, when the hearing came, it was the woman who came with a lawyer who backed out of the financial agreement.

The Rishon LeZion and President of the Great Rabbinical Court, Rabbi David Yosef, conducted personal negotiations, and sat for hours with both the woman and the man separately.

The Rishon LeZion used a combined technique of firmness and soft, fatherly language, until an agreement was eventually reached late in the afternoon - at which time the court clerk and the witnesses were summoned, and the get was arranged on the spot.

The woman was released from her confinement. The husband returned to prison - but both thanked the rabbi in tears.