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Examples
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But despite widespread public outcry, her "agunah" (literally "chained") status remained in force until earlier this week when Mr Elias, 86, died.
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t know what an "agunah" was, nor would a female friend be likely to offer Larry solemn consolation as follows: "It's not always easy, deciphering what God is trying to tell you."
unknown title 2009
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Circulating this agunah pin, and publishing this ad in The Jewish Week, were efforts that attempted to create public awareness.
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From the 1980s to the present day, many agunah activists have tried to remedy this situation.
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While these attempts did much to increase knowledge about agunah agony, this unjust situation is still widespread.
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(It should be noted that women still do not have the right to initiate divorce within Judaism, the source of the problem of the agunah, the chained wife who cannot remarry.)
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It tells of a trader who “married Rahel and went to eastern Spain, where he lived for ten years and took a second wife, leaving his first wife an agunah” (Leiter, 83 – 84).
Halakhic Decisions on Family Matters in Medieval Jewish Society. 2009
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Because religious sanctions are no longer sufficiently powerful in all cases to pressure a recalcitrant husband to give a get, the agunah [chained wife] has sought state intervention to pressure husbands to give divorces.
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In another directive ruling, Justice Procaccia limited the authority of the rabbinical court, which sought to prevent the departure from Israel of a citizen of another country who had come on a visit, because he refused to grant his wife a GET and left her an agunah.
Ayala Procaccia. 2009
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Until this ritual takes place, the widow cannot remarry and she remains an agunah (“anchored” woman).
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If she doesn’t receive it, she is considered an “agunah”, a chained woman, because she remains “chained” to her former marriage.
‘Unchain your wife’: the Orthodox women shining a light on ‘get’ refusal Caren Chesler 2022
lampbane commented on the word agunah
GETTING THE “GET”: AN INVISIBLE PRISON BETWEEN MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE (The Brooklyn Ink, December 11, 2009)
Hannah Nagila’s sons are 3 and 5 years old, and they already know what an agunah is. They have told their mother what their father tells them: “Daddy says you’re going to be an agunah until you pay back every cent.”
Agunah is the term for a Jewish woman chained to a dead marriage. Under Jewish religious law, a husband must issue his wife an official bill of divorce, known as a get, to end an Orthodox marriage. The central provision of the get is simple: “You are hereby permitted to all men.” Without a get, the woman is branded an adulteress as soon as she enters another relationship. She cannot remarry under Jewish law, and any child from another man is labeled a mamzer, or bastard child. A mamzer can only marry another mamzer or a convert.
Historically, agunah cases were the result of a husband’s death, disappearance, or mental insanity. Today, they more often stem from vindictive husbands who exploit the get as a form of control. The get becomes a bargaining chip—leveraged for large sums of money or custody of the children.
December 12, 2009
BWDavid commented on the word agunah
A woman abandoned but not divorced, and unable to remarry (a legal term in Jewish law). Hebrew, literally "chained."
November 21, 2011