It happened 2 weeks ago. A European Dayan spotted a man who abandoned his wife several years ago without leaving a trace, praying in shul. Just the day before the RCE sent the Dayan a picture of the man. Immediately the Dayan tried to find out information of the man’s whereabouts. The man found out about this and disappeared within a few hours.

Disappointing? Rabbi Eliyahu Maimon head of the Aguna department in the rabbinical courts states that there is no room for dismay.” The fact that the man feels insecure wherever he goes is another measure of pressure that in time will help cause him to give a divorce”. He added “Cooperation with the European Rabbis will help tremendously in locating men who refuse to give a Get and cause their wives to be Agunas.

At the Dayan conference in Brussels a month ago, Rabbi Maimon was the main presenter on men who refuse to provide a Get and on the topic of Agunas.

He spoke about the department he runs and how they operate. Rabbi Maimon made a suggestion that the European Rabbis accept pictures provided by the RCE to help locate husbands that have disappeared and have caused their wives to be Agunas. These pictures will be provided to the Dayan on the basis of information that the man is living in that particular city. This will help close- in on the wanted person and proceed until he is handed over to the Israeli police.

He continued to speak about the department activities and told the attentive audience about what happened 5 years earlier, as he was asked to lead a unique unit Instead of dealing with Halachic authorities and rabbinical discussions. He was delivered into a totally different world of ambush, inspections, investigations, and military intelligence. The goal of the Aguna Department is to locate and trap husbands that refuse to provide a Get for their wives and free them from the Aguna restrictions. The division has a website with all the pictures of the “wanted” men. (As legally accepted around the world).

The Dayanim are the ones who decide when a person should be included in the’ Aguna folder’, and put in the hands of Rabbi Maimon. Every person starts a new procedure that results in capturing the man no matter how many resources are put into the process.

“We start with investigations” states Rabbi Maimon.” We meet with the wife and any relevant family members and friends and try to collect all the information possible on what his motivations were to run away, and to where. Since Israel isn’t a financial haven, all our workers volunteer and give their heart and soul and experience for the sake of the Agunas. It is clear that without those volunteers wee would not get to so many results as we have been successful with.

This is the easy part of the process. Even after we know the whereabouts of the man, Rabbi Mamion and his staff still have to convince the man to give the get. It can take much time in certain instances Rabbi Maimon tells. Sometimes it takes years. We are not magicians but even so, we never give up.

He concluded with asking for cooperation and teamwork with the European Rabbis since they are dispersed over the whole Europe, in the name of all the women who are suffering. “Ant bit of information no matter how small can be the ‘missing piece’ to the puzzle to complete a process of giving a get. No doubt if the Rabbis uncover information and share it with us, we will be able to free other women from the strings of being an Aguna.”

Rabbi Maimon was pleasantly surprised at the positive feedback he recovered. “I expected to get a polite response and the feeling of Antagonism. In the past Dayanim were quite passive and lenient towards the husbands as they felt that the women’s rights organizations blame the husbands with a free hand. I got the impression from the European Jewry that the rights of a person on one hand the forgiving attitude to the husband on the other hand gave the man an upper hand.

That is why when I was first asked from the RCE to participate in the Dayan conference I had no interest. I explained that I have never left the country and I didn’t see any reason to participate. I added that I did not want to get into conflict with the Dayanim and Rabbis, as I see things different then they do. The RCE refused a “no” and repeatedly came back with the request of my participation. I presented the whole case in front of Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Rabbi of Ztfat who I consider my role model. I was surprised to hear his high impression of the RCE and strongly recommended that I go. HE was sure that there will be great benefits from trip. I ordered a ticket and came.

How do you summarize the conference? Was it beneficial?

Rabbi Maimon smiled. “As I stated, I found a totally different attitude than I expected. The Rabbis expressed willingness to assist with whatever they have the capability to do. There were many Dayanim and they displayed high levels of halachic knowledge aside from their experience, all of what we need to help ensnare the wanted man. As time went on I was becoming increasingly pleased that I participated at the conference. All of us benefited from the conference. The Dayanim learned a lot about how and what can help the Batei Din in Europe to deal with the man making his wife an Aguna. At the same time, we have acquired thousands of “eyes” and many Batei Din in Europe to assist us with the escaped men. This has created a major force that will help us without doubt.”

How can you help the Batei Din in Europe?

We have connections with the Israeli Police and they have agreements with many European governments. Therefore a Beit Din in Europe can contact A Rabbinical Beit din In Israel and as per agreements between their countries, they can get power from Israel to judge people. Last month something like this occurred and we were able to end another ugly Aguna chapter.

An Israeli Beit Din has more power than A European Beit Din?

Exactly. The European Batei Din do not have legal authority as the Israeli Batei din have. We have much authority and try to do everything in our power against men that do not give their Get.

After many discussions with Dayanim at the conference, it was clear to me that the Dayanim do not feel that they have real power against the men who refuse to give a ‘get’. We supplied them with significant legal tools that can be utilized in Europe, and can end up with substantial results.

Israel has all sorts of agreements with European countries, thanks to the Israeli Ministry of Justice. These agreements allow a wide range of authority to advance procedures. It might take time but, between the success in using their power as dayanim and the cooperation with us, we can get to resolve many Aguna cases and receive the much waited for “get”.

From what you say, I deduct that since the conference until now there has actually been cooperation and teamwork?

Correct. The process of dealing with the Rabbis in Europe goes through the RCE, after the Israeli attorney General authorizes permission to pass on information to them. They are connected to many of our sources when they need information, and also jurisdiction powers that I cannot reveal.

As a result the experience your department has accumulated, do you initiate conferences for Dayanim to prevent the state of Agunas?

Of course. We have heard complaints of harsh behavior of Dayanim in Batei Din but most of the time it is not so. At the conferences we take each case and deal with every detail as to prevent other similar cases in the future.

You are aware of the complaints against the Batei Din that between each court ruling there might be a lapse of 6 months or more that causes anguish to both sides and their families?

You are quite right, but one must remember that the Justice department of the Batei Din has a shortage in Dayanim. We deal with the tools that we have. Justice takes time. We must hear each side in depth and deal with every detail. One side says and the other replies and then the first replies again and the other replies, etc. With all taken into account, the system has definitely improved and has reached many results.