Tamar Epstein Aharon Friedman divorce: He refuses to give her a “get” but she gets tons of secular support; will this shame him into being more reasonable?
PHILADELPHIA: This interesting story was published in yesterday’s New York Times. It begins this way:
This should have been a good New Year’s for Aharon Friedman, a 34-year-old tax counsel for the Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee. He spent time with his 3-year-old daughter, and could have been thinking about the influence he will have starting Wednesday, when his boss, Representative Dave Camp of Michigan, becomes chairman of the powerful tax-writing committee.
Instead, Mr. Friedman, an Orthodox Jew, finds himself scrutinized in the Jewish press, condemned by important rabbis, and attacked in a YouTube video showing about 200 people protesting outside his Silver Spring, Md., apartment on Dec. 19. They were angered by Mr. Friedman’s refusal to give his wife, Tamar Epstein, 27, a Jewish decree of divorce, known as a get.
All parties have said that Mr. Friedman is angry about the custody order, which grants him three weekends a month with his daughter, two of them in Philadelphia, beginning at 6 p.m. on Fridays. As a religious Jew, Mr. Friedman will not drive from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday — so he cannot see his daughter until Sunday.
The custody order is “a joke,” said Yisroel Belsky, a prominent Brooklyn rabbi. “The court decided in a bullheaded way not to respect the Shabbos,” or Sabbath, he said in a interview.
But the two issues should not collide. He needs to rabbinically release his wife from her chains. And he needs to petition the civil courts for a modification of the custody order that is fair, and reasonable, and is in the best interest of the child. He cannot keep his wife chained just because he’s not getting enough time with his daughter. He’s being a bully and he needs to stop. Good for her that she is getting so much support from the secular and religious groups. He’s being ridiculous and should be ashamed of himself. IMHO.
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