'Enough is enough!': Hasidic woman publicizes divorce battle

A Hasidic woman who has waited years for a religious divorce took her case to the streets and skies of Brooklyn, the New York Post reported on Saturday. 

Yenta Reisa Pollack, a twenty-six-year-old Aguna from Williamsburg, New York, has spent 7 years trying to break away from her marriage to her husband Eliezer Duvid Steinmetz.

This issue of Agunot, or "chained women," is an ongoing halachic problem in which women wishing to get a religious divorce require the consent of their husbands, who may refuse as long as they want. 

A year after their marriage, Pollack asked for a divorce. Steinmetz refused to provide a “get,” a Jewish divorce document to their marriage contract, demanding she return to the marriage.

Rabbinical court

According to the NYP, Pollack took the case to the “beit din,” the rabbinical court, where in December, Steinmetz was given 10 days to provide the annulment to their marriage contract or be excommunicated.

Despite the pressure, Steinmetz refused, and according to those directly involved with the community, he has faced no repercussions for violating the order due to his parents’ status within the community, the NYP added.

The NYP reported that Pollack took her case public on Friday, standing on the streets to make her story heard while supporters protested outside a kosher supermarket. 

Additionally, with the support of those within the Hasidic community, a plane was hired to fly over Williamsburg for a few hours, carrying a sign that read “Free Aguna Mrs Steinmetz now!!!”

A mobile billboard truck was also seen driving around the neighborhood, shaming Steinmetz and his family with his displayed image. 

"7 years waiting...enough is enough!" the truck read.