Jewish Mom Of 6 Jailed For Contempt In Marathon Divorce
By Josh Nathan-Kazis July 14, 2017
A Jewish mother of was briefly jailed for contempt of court in the latest chapter in a long-running divorce battle over whether her six children will be educated in Hasidic schools.
An Ohio judge briefly jailed Julie Goffstein in July for violating a court order. Attorneys for both Julie and her ex-husband, Peter Goffstein, declined requests for comment, and state court documents are sealed in the case, so it’s not entirely clear why Goffstein was jailed. According to the fundraising website, she had failed to comply with a court order to pay $10,000 in Peter Goffstein’s court fees.
Goffstein first filed for divorce from her husband, Peter Goffstein, in 2010. According to federal court filings by Julie Goffstein, the couple were members of the Chabad-Lubavitch Chasidic group, but Peter Goffstein no longer wants the children educated in the group’s tradition.
A page on the Jewish crowdfunding website The Chesed Fund has raised $17,000 for Julie Goffstein, while asking supporters to call Peter Goffstein’s employer and to demand the disqualification of the judge in the case. A federal court has previously rejected Julie Goffstein’s effort to have the judge removed.
Julie Goffstein was released from jail on July 12.
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at nathankazis@forward.com or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
