Maariv - 5 February, 2001

STRANGE VISION IN THE STREETS OF JERUSALEM: WOMAN ADVOCATE CHASED AFTER RECALCITRANT HUSBAND

Two women chased through the streets of Jerusalem after a recalcitrant husband who attempted to escape imprisonment and brought him to arrest.

The unusual incident took place this week, following a longstanding hearing in a woman's suit for divorce and freedom from her aguna status. Six years ago, after four years of court hearings on the matter, a Rabbinical Court ordered her husband to grant her the get, yet he continued in his refusal. Last week, an additional Rabbinical Court hearing took place, during which the decision was handed down that if the husband did not give his wife a get the judges would order his imprisonment for a period of five years, until he said the words "I want [a divorce]". The defendant heard the decree - and escaped the courtroom.

Rabbinical Court Advocate Sarah Markowitz and lawyer Susan Weiss, Director of Yad L'isha, a legal aid and representation organization for mesuravot get [women who are being denied a religious divorce], ran after him in hot pursuit through the center of town. The two represented the woman in the hearing. The man ran for several hundred meters, from the Courthouse on Koresh Street until he reached Jaffa Road. When he attempted to board a bus, the two women prevented him from doing so. He was finally apprehended in Jerualem's Davidka Square with the help of a police patrol.

A few days later, the recalcitrant husband granted his wife a get.

The story sounds like the script from a movie. Two women chase a man through the busy streets of downtown Jerusalem, running from Koresh Street, up Jaffa Road, to Straus and beyond, until reaching Davidka Square. They scream at passersby, "Don't let him get away!" and "Catch him - he's an escaped criminal!". At moments all three are so exhausted that the two women limp along after the man, who is literally walking while gasping for breath, until the chase again picks up steam. Finally, just as the man tries to board a bus, one of the women spots a police car on patrol. She puts her fingers in her mouth and emits a long whistle. The driver of the police car looks up, assesses the situation, and maneuvers his patrol car onto the sidewalk, blocking the man, as the bus driver slams shut his door.

This story is not made up, it really happened to Max Morrison Legal Aid Center Advocate Sarah Markowitz and lawyer Susan Weiss, Director of the Center. The two were representing a client who for ten years had been refused a get by her husband. Finally, the Rabbinical Court handed down a ruling that the man must sit in jail for a period of five years, until he granted his wife a get. Upon hearing the judgement, the man ran from the courtroom. None of the guards from the court ran after him; no one called the police. Sarah and Susan recognized that if they did not physically catch this man, he might go underground and his wife would never, ever be freed.

By nature, Sarah Markowitz is an extremely modest woman who is opposed to publicity. Nonetheless, she agreed to be interviewed by Jerusalem Radio in order to advance the cause of women who are being denied a get by their husbands. She said

"For ten years this woman was chained to a man with whom she did not share a life or a home. For ten years, she could not move on with her life, establish a relationship with another man, remarry, have children. And now because two women ran through the streets of Jerusalem one day in high heels the case suddenly begets merit in the press".

Sarah told the radio that she was " very pleased that this case was settled and that our client can now go on with her life. But I think it is sad that it took a media-worthy debacle in order for it to finally happen, after ten years. Our hope is that the story will call attention to the cases of all of the other women in Israel who are being held hostage by their husbands. For our part, we will continue to work toward their freedom".