Rivky Stein’s Husband Is No Show at Beth Din Orthodox Divorce Court Date

By JTA August 7, 2014

The husband of Rivky Stein, a New York Jewish woman who launched a social media campaign to attain a religious divorce, did not appear at the religious court as promised.

Yoel Weiss, 31, failed to show up at a beit din, or Jewish religious court, convened on Wednesday to complete the process, the New York Daily News reported.

“This is just another form of abuse,” said Stein, according to the newspaper.

Weiss told the Daily News that he would only give his wife a religious divorce, or get, if the same three rabbis who started the process would be there to complete it. One of the rabbis could not attend Wednesday; he was in Israel for the funeral and shiva of his mother. Other rabbis who could step in were at the proceedings.

Weiss’ stipulation has no precedent in Jewish law, rabbis told the newspaper.

Stein, 24, of Brooklyn, alleges in documents posted on the Facebook page and a website on behalf of her case that she was physically abused and raped by Weiss, and he kept her under surveillance. Weiss denies that he abused Stein, who left her husband two years ago.

In a June interview, Stein told the Daily News that she recently turned to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office in an effort to have Weiss criminally charged.

Weiss told the newspaper then that he will give his estranged wife a get once they work out custody of their two children in family court.

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