What Am I Doing in Murfreesboro?
| April 18, 2023A cascade of events frees a Jewish woman in the Bible Belt
Part I
Last May, my friend Yisrael (name changed) called. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and the two of us overlapped during our years in Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Queens. After we briefly caught up, Yisrael explained the reason for his call.
He had started studying with a beginner to Torah learning, a total stranger who was interested in exploring his heritage, and his new study partner had shared that he had gotten divorced some ten years earlier. With gentle prodding, Yisrael ascertained that his chavrusa had been married to a Jewish woman in a fully halachic ceremony officiated by an Orthodox Rabbi. When Yisrael asked if they had arranged for a get, his study partner replied in the negative; obtaining a Jewish divorce had just not on been on their radar. However, Yisrael’s chavrusa was open to taking care of it now, a decade later.
“Fascinating,” I said. “But how can I help? I live in Memphis, Tennessee, not New York — and Brooklyn has no shortage of rabbis who can assist you.”
“My chavrusa’s ex-wife now lives somewhere in Tennessee,” Yisrael explained.
“Hmm,” I said. “Tennessee is a large state, and Memphis is located in its furthest southwest corner. Do you know where your chavrusa’s ex-wife lives? Without knowing which city she’s in, it’ll be impossible to assist.”
Yisrael then asked me if I knew of a rabbi who specialized in gittin who could help him proceed. With great sadness, I told him that our community was still mourning the loss of Rav Nota Greenblatt ztz”l, who had passed away just a few weeks earlier. (His first yahrzeit is on 28 Nissan.)
Rav Nota had devoted his life to the service of Klal Yisrael and was renowned for literally traveling the width and breadth of the United States writing gittin and administering Jewish divorces.
“If only Rav Nota were still with us, he certainly would have been able to bring this case to a quick resolution,” I remarked.
Nevertheless, I suggested that we reach out to Rabbi Chaim Jachter of Teaneck, New Jersey — a formidable talmid chacham, who is a popular high school rebbi at the Torah Academy of Bergen County; the rabbi of Shaarei Orah, The Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck; and most significantly, a dayan in the nearby Elizabeth beis din who is extensively involved in gittin.
We reached out to him, and he said the first thing we needed to do was establish contact with the chavrusa’s ex-wife and ascertain just where in Tennessee she lived. Yisrael said he would work on that.
Oops! We could not locate your form.