A social-media campaign is being waged to pressure Rep. Dave Camp to encourage a top staffer to grant his wife a Jewish divorce, and the lawmaker restricted public posts on his Facebook page after a flood of comments about the issue
Camp, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, employs a staff member, Aharon Friedman, who is the subject of intense anger from some in the Orthodox Jewish community for refusing to provide his wife with a Jewish divorce decree, known as a “get,” despite the finalization of their civil divorce nearly two years ago.
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| Protesting Aharon Friedman |
Friedman, a tax counsel for Camp who has worked for the Michigan Republican since 2007, must consent to the get in order for his ex-wife, Tamar Epstein, to remarry, have additional children or even for her to wear her hair uncovered as unmarried Orthodox Jewish women are permitted to do. Friedman’s detractors charge that his behavior amounts to “domestic abuse.”
The situation is awkward for Camp because it is rare that the personal lives of congressional staffers become political issues for members of Congress. But the influential committee chairman is being dragged into the highly unusual situation now that Friedman’s opponents have decided to thrust it into the public sphere.
Camp’s office turned off a public posting feature on the Facebook page and declined to answer questions about why it did so. Public users can no longer add original posts to Camp’s wall, but can still comment on existing posts.
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, the rabbi for Ohev Sholom, an Orthodox synagogue in Washington, D.C., that serves more than 300 families, told POLITICO that he will go further than the online campaign and intends to write a letter of complaint to the House Ethics Committee.
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, the rabbi for Ohev Sholom, an Orthodox synagogue in Washington, D.C., that serves more than 300 families, told POLITICO that he will go further than the online campaign and intends to write a letter of complaint to the House Ethics Committee.
3 comments:
to remarry, have additional children or even for her to wear her hair uncovered as unmarried Orthodox Jewish women are permitted to do
Incorrect.Divorced women must cover their hair. R Moshe permitted uncovering the hair if covering ones hair will affect future Shidduchim - but if there is no such concern, once a woman has been married _ her hair must be covered.
You asked on your blog why Tamar Epstein doesn't have a get. But that
is the wrong question to be asking.
The question which people should be outraged about in the controversy
between Tamar Epstein and Aharon Friedman is how Tamar abducted their
child to another State. Tamar's abduction of the child and her
continued attempts since then to prevent the child from having a
relationship with Aharon constitute horrific abuse. That is why
Tamar doesn't have a get. Just ask yourself what parent would agree
to give or accept a get given such behavior.
Anyone interested in Tamar receiving a get should explain to her the
importance of letting their daughter have a father involved in her
day-to-day life. And since abducting the child, Tamar has also
continuously done what she can to prevent the child from having a
relationship with Aharon, including violating agreements with Aharon,
abusing Aharon's adherence to halacha, refusing to let the child spend
scheduled time with Aharon, threatening their child's paternal
relatives and organizing demonstrations against them in front of their
child. And Tamar's associates openly boast of trying to prevent their
child from spending scheduled time with Aharon.
Aharon has repeatedly tried to resolve their differences in a
conciliatory fashion, only for Tamar to continuously use this to her
strategic advantage in trying to prevent their child from having a
relationship with Aharon. Several people have recently reached out to
Aharon to mediate, including Rabbi Menachem Rosenfeld. Aharon has
agreed to mediate, but Tamar has refused to do so.
Other important questions raised by this case are Tamar's making a
mockery of the beis din system in order to delay adjudication in civil
court so that her abduction of the child would be treated as a fait
accompli, and the abhorrent tactics used by Ora, including attacking
innocent third parties, and creating an enormous chillul hashem by
turning what could and should have been a private matter to be
resolved quietly into an international news story.
Anyone interested in reading a detailed description of the case can go
to www.stuffandnonsensesaidalice.blogspot.com
Dear anonymous
Please, just stop. All of this is nonsense. All custody and childcare arrangements have been decided by the courts. Beit Din has weighed in as well. There is a reason we appoint impartial judges - it's because otherwise the 2 parties involved in any dispute would never agree to anything. Those judges have all spoken, and all issues are resolved. We're all sorry Aharon is bitter, but it's time for him to grow up and get over it.
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