For those women who do leave, violence and control issues do not necessarily stop. In fact, they often escalate. Jewish divorce or get , as it has been interpreted over the centuries by male rabbis, can provide abusive men with yet another form of control. By refusing to grant a Jewish divorce, the man renders his wife an agunah , who according to Jewish law may not remarry. He, however, can do so.
Jewish divorce is no-fault in that there are no arguments or settlements.
It is our business. But first, Friedman said, the problem of domestic abuse needs to be de-stigmatized, enabling more families to come forward and seek help. The Jewish community has romanticized and idealized the notion of family. The space between the two is a stressful one, correlated with domestic violence. Judith Antonelli is a writer for the Jewish Advocate in Boston.