year's conference of a new Israeli beit
din that would dissolve marriages
through annulment, the methodology
has been assailed by rabbinical leaders
across Orthodoxy for potentially jeopar-
dizing the status of all marriages.
But scholars and rabbis urged
patience, arguing that social change
can only be measured over decades,
and not moments.
"We sit on shpielkes and say, 'Why
hasn't it already changed?' " said
Rabbi Saul Berman, a professor at
New York's Stern College and direc-
tor of Edah, a New York-based,
modern Orthodox advocacy organi-
zation. "We need to understand that
the process is critical. If all we look
at is outcome, then we will be
doomed to failure."
Rabbi Daniel Sperber, chair of tal-
mudic studies at Bar Ilan University
in Ramat Gan, Israel, said that "all
the problems mentioned have solu-
tions. They are not halachic, but
sociological." He analyzed how vari-
ous halachot, including the nullifica-
tion of loans every seven years during
the Sabbatical year, were modified
over the ages so Jews wouldn't stop
lending money to other Jews.
"When necessity rears its head,
Halachah acquiesces," Rabbi Sperber
said.
He stressed however, that
although Halachah "doesn't always
take place at the pace we want it to,"
it is a protective device to insulate
Orthodoxy from negative change.
But Dr. Susan Aranoff, a co-direc-
tor of the New York-based Agunah
Inc., an advocacy group for agunot,
responded that "what seems like
undue haste to rabbis seems like slow
motion for Orthodox feminists."
Referring to agunot, the "Women
of the Wall" group that prays at
Jerusalem's Western Wall, and learn-
ing and leadership positions for
women, Dr. Aranoff declared that
"the pace for change must be acceler-
ated. We will keep the heat on."
These halachic and sociological
distinctions reflect the movement's
progress, said Dr. Rivkah Lambert,
an assistant dean at the University of
Maryland and a - lecturer at Baltimore
Hebrew University who spoke at the
gathering about the role of rabbis'
wives.
"As the movement matures and
the ability to discuss issues becomes
more sophisticated, they can tease
out those distinctions," said Dr.
Lambert.
But the mother of two cautioned
that if the movement continues to
focus only on intellectual aspects, it
will neglect its constituency's spiritu-
al development.
"Part of being an Orthodox femi-
nist," Dr. Lambert said, "is the bal-
ance between sachel [intellect] and
neshamah [soul]." ❑
L
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Annulments
For Agunot?
ast year, the Beit Din for
Problems of Agunot was estab-
lished in Jerusalem by two
Orthodox American rabbis —
Moshe Morganstern and Emanuel
Rackman.
Rather than coerce recalcitrant hus-
bands into granting a get, or Jewish
divorce, the beit din, -or rabbinic
court, annuls marriages. Annulments
are based on a "mistake," said Rabbi
Rackman, who is chancellor of Bar
Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel.
Rabbi Rackman, who spoke at the
Second International Conference on
Feminism and Orthodoxy Feb. 15-16
in New York, said a mistake could
mean either a technical error made at
the wedding ceremony, including
problems with witnesses, or conceal-
ment of fact.
The methodology is based on an
annulment granted nearly 50 years ago
zalt 14 4*,, ;-:
by the late Jewish law scholar Rabbi
Moshe Feinstein to a woman whose
husband was institutionalized for
insanity. The husband hadnot
revealed before the marriage that he
had been previously hospitalized. No
get was given.
"I felt that if Rabbi Feinstein had
gone a bit further and looked at the
fact that the person at the time of
the marriage [could have a problem]
latent within them, then that, too, is
a mistake," said Rabbi Rackman.
Concealment of fact, he noted,
could apply to spousal abuse or adul-
tery because they could have been
predilections latent at the time of
the marriage. Had the wife known of
these conditions before the wedding,
she would not have consented to
marry.
But the beit din has been criti-
cized by the Orthodox rabbinate,
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