Press Clippings

Held by

Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

Dates

1993-1994 (indexed as 1993–1994)

Level

file

Scope & content

Includes a large number of newspaper clippings detailing Na'amat's work with women and children with emphasis on their work helping women being denied a Jewish divorce (get) and disadvantaged children in Israel.

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Subjects

Press Clippings

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textual record

In the picture

ColumnCrowdDocumentDressGroup PortraitHeadlineJewish CommunityMicrophoneMontrealNewspaperNewspaper ClippingPodiumPoliticsPortraitPrintedReligious CeremonySpeechSuitWomanTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

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The Canadian Jewish NewsThursday, March 3, 1994Recia Gordon (at podium) reads a prayer for agunot, while Norma Joseph (left), Evelyn Brook, Bunny Levy and Diane Sasson keep a candlelight vigil. [Howard Kay photo]Vigils for Agunot held in seven Canadian citiesBy JANICE ARNOLDCJN Staff Reporter[Cont'd. on page 5]MONTREAL — Sombre vigils were held last Wednesday evening in seven cities across Canada to show solidarity with and draw attention to the plight of agunot — women whose husbands refuse to give them a Jewish divorce (get).The Vigil for Agunot was organized by the Montreal-based Canadian Coalition of Jewish Women for the Get, which comprises B'nai Brith Women, Emunah Women of Canada, Hadassah-WIZO, Na'amat Canada, Women's Canadian ORT and the Montreal and Toronto Jewish Women's Federations.Coalition chair Evelyn Brook spoke at the Montreal vigil to about 100 people, mostly women but including some rabbis, gathered in the lobby of the Montreal Jewish federation headquarters. "Too many women are caught in the shackles of the Jewish divorce system," she said. These women depend on each and every one of us. Our survival as a community is tied to our ability to respond to them."Norma Joseph, leader of the International Coalition for Agunah Rights (ICAR), said, "Unless we address [the agunah issue], we will not be able to talk with our heads held high about Jewish continuity."She cited several examples of women in Israel who are trapped in relationships with abusive men and treated with indifference — or worse, denounced by the rabbinical courts.Since 1990 Canada has had a law requiring spouses to remove any barriers to the remarriage of their partners before a civil divorce is granted. But, Joseph noted, it has not been completely effective because many lawyers do not know how to use it. It also has no jurisdiction over a recalcitrant spouse who has left the country, nor does it help agunot who already have civil divorces.Orthodox Rabbi Mordecai Zeitz was congratulated for taking the lead in Montreal in terms of concrete action on the get issue. The constitution of his synagogue, Congregation Beth Tikvah in Dollard des Ormeaux, stipulates that anyone not participating in the get process cannot be a synagogue member. In addition, anyone stalling on a get is not accorded Torah honors or privileges at Beth Tikvah.The synagogue has never used the clause, the rabbi said, but its presence alone has acted as a deterrent to recalcitrance in at least a couple of cases.Rabbi Ira Grussgott of Conservative Congregation Shaar Hashomayim, the largest synagogue in Montreal, told The CJN he intends to propose to the board a similar clause in the Shaar's bylaws."Jewish law should never be understood as a force that oppresses. Judaism is synonymous with justice... This is one issue on which Orthodox Judaism feels almost apologetic or ashamed or defensive," he said. Rabbi Grussgott thinks the agunah issue is probably "irremediable" in theThe Rabbinical Council of Canada, Quebec region, an Orthodox rabbinical group, has insisted for a couple of years that none of its mem-Read automatically; may contain mistakes.

Harvested

2026-10-19T02:01:12Z · source datestamp n/a · andornot

Digital objects at the source

• imageOpen original at source ↗MA07-9-5-CanadianJewishNewsClipping1994.jpg
• imageOpen original at source ↗MA07-9-5-CanadianJewishNewsClipping1993.jpg