Read about Ephraim Bryks here.
Here’s a news article from The Jewish Star:
Susie Rosenfeld has been married to Ariel Hacohen since 2001, but for the last two and half years, she has been fighting to get both a civil divorce and a halachic one from him. After refusing to grant her a get, Hacohen was issued a seiruv in July 2006 by Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag of the Vaad Harabanim of Flatbush. Though a six-person jury recently voted unanimously granted Rosenfeld a civil divorce on grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment, she remains powerless in her struggle to obtain a get, whose absence forbids her to remarry under Jewish law.
"It’s sociopathic and it’s a control issue," Rosenfeld said of her estranged husband’s behavior. "He wants to be in control of everything on his terms and in his own way."
Rosenfeld, who is in her late 30s, lives in Oceanside and works as an ultrasound technician in Nassau County. Hacohen, in his late 40s, is currently unemployed, living with his parents, and collecting worker’s compensation for an injury he sustained several years ago.
"All I want is a get — we have no children, no assets, and we’re not fighting over anything," Rosenfeld told The Jewish Star. "He has nothing better to do than sit every night and think of ways to make me miserable. He’s a malingerer and a liar.
"He’s very vindictive and he’s pathetic…hiding in his parents’ house," she added. "He doesn’t even show up in court because he wants to prolong this so I can no longer have children, which shows how vengeful this is." Together with hundreds of volunteers, Rosenfeld has been mounting a public effort to exert communal pressure on Hacohen and his family to give her a get, through a letter writing campaign, petitions, e-mails and phone calls, notifying people of his refusal. With the assistance of ORA, the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, rallies have been coordinated to champion this cause.
"The rallies are helpful to a extent, but not enough in this case," explained Josh Ross, ORA’s executive director. "Sometimes it takes many tries."
A protest staged by ORA in Sept. 2006 at the Hacohen house was notable for the appearance of counter-home protesters advocating the withholding of the get, men who were shouting obscenities and acting on behalf of Rabbi Shlomo Blumenkrantz, Hacohen’s rabbi.
This year, several rallies have also been held outside Rabbi Blumenkrantz’s Brooklyn home. Rabbi Blumenkrantz, who has been advising Hacohen, endorses the heter meah rabbanim, a rabbinical decree that allows a man to remarry without a get. He maintains that Hacohen has done everything right and Rosenfeld has done everything wrong in this case.
Rabbi Hershel Schachter, rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University, appeared at one of these rallies, on Nov. 4. He is vehemently against Rabbi Blumenkrantz’s actions and fundamentally disagrees with his policies. "To my great disdain, there is a particular rabbi in Brooklyn who regularly issues heter meah rabbanim that do not conform to accepted halachic guidelines," Rabbi Schachter wrote in a letter to the Rabbinical Council of America, urging members of that organization to attend the rally. "In so doing, he is greatly increasing the incidence of agunah cases…The more people at the protest, the greater the likelihood that this rabbi will realize the harmfulness of his actions."
Rosenfeld has also appealed to several other rabbis to enlist their help with her situation. One is Rabbi Shlomo Herbst, Hacohen’s former rabbi who officiated at their wedding and handled his divorce from his previous marriage.
…Rabbi Ephraim Bryks, who is a member of the Vaad Harabanim of Queens and is said to frequently officiate gittin, has been active on Rosenfeld’s behalf, and has been in contact with the Hacohens, attempting to negotiate an agreement with them. It is not possible for Rosenfeld to talk to Hacohen herself, since he received an order of protection against her.
They have not spoken in a year and a half. "The Hacohens believe that there is a process that has to be followed, and that Susie has not followed that process," said Rabbi Bryks. Though members of the Hacohen family refused to comment for this article, they support Ariel in his belief that the only recourse is to attend a beit din presided over by Rabbi Blumenkrantz. Rosenfeld rejected this Beit Din because she felt that it was biased and unscrupulous. At one point, she told The Jewish Star, Rabbi Blumenkrantz suggested a payment of $100,000 to convince Hacohen to talk to her, but wouldn’t guarantee that she would receive a get. Blumenkrantz denied that claim.
Morris emails:
Although I do not know the details in the Hacohen case,i would like to state that ORA is an organization that terrorizes ALL MEN and even the innocent ones. they have a secret charter that vilifies any man that has not given a GET to his wife despite the problem being the woman. we all know that not every divorce IS THE MAN"S FAULT!! yet ORA"s approach has been to intimidate any and ALL MEN. this is a directive given by the evil Hershel Schlechter from Y.u and passed along down then tube. please see the website mishpattsedek.com and these other links to make you aware of this cruelty and deception that is going on:
http://rabbiunion.blogspot.com/
http://rabbiniccorruptionatrcc.blogspot.com/
Let me suggest to the public that the only way to stop the abuse on both sides is for a genuine bais din to be formed where a GET is deposited at an early stage ,thereby guaranteeing the woman that she will have a GET,but to offer the man a guarantee that the woman will not proceed to the civil courts as is seen very often,and if she does then the GET becomes invalid. unfortunately many men that i spoke to complain that women abuse the system by going to the civil courts instead of a Bais din once a GET has been granted!! this type of protection for the man has not been given or guranteed by anyone including Schlechter,Ora or other rabbis and therefore has caused men to be hesitant in giving a GET until their halachic rights are assured and protected. you can read all about it at Mishpattsedek.com. this unfortunately has added to the growing problem of Singlehood,since many now fear marriage.
