A cascade of events frees a Jewish woman in the Bible Belt
Last May, my friend Yisrael (name changed) called. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and the two of us overlapped during our years in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens. After we briefly caught up, Yisrael explained the reason for his call.
He had started studying with a beginner to Torah learning, a total stranger who was interested in exploring his heritage, and his new study partner had shared that he had gotten divorced some ten years earlier. With gentle prodding, Yisrael ascertained that his chavrusa had been married to a Jewish woman in a fully halachic ceremony officiated by an Orthodox Rabbi. When Yisrael asked if they had arranged for a get, his study partner replied in the negative; obtaining a Jewish divorce had just not on been on their radar. However, Yisrael’s chavrusa was open to taking care of it now, a decade later.
“Fascinating,” I said. “But how can I help? I live in Memphis, Tennessee, not New York — and Brooklyn has no shortage of rabbis who can assist you.”
“My chavrusa’s ex-wife now lives somewhere in Tennessee,” Yisrael explained.
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