Here is a conundrum.. in an unusual situation, a beis din worked hard and found a solution for an aguna.. though this specific case seems unusual. I dont know how common or unusual it is in general to find solutions for agunot - however common it might be, it is not common enough. too many women are suffering from a lack of creative solutions.
So what is the conundrum?
The beis din found the solution for the aguna by canceling the conversion of the recalcitrant husband retroactively.
So, do you praise them for finding a solution for the aguna or do you blast them for whimsically revoking the husband's conversion? A real conundrum. I am not sure what I am supposed to do here.. :-)
The story, as reported by Kikar, is:
A woman named Shachar Fuchs was abandoned by her husband two days after their wedding when she was 19 years old. He ran off to America, leaving her behind and pregnant (she was pregnant two days after the wedding? hmmm). He also took all the money from the wedding gifts with him, leaving her with nothing.
Her family located him and caught up with him and tried to persuade him to give Shachar a get. He demanded 40,000 NIS in exchange for his agreement to give the get.
The family turned to the Rabbanut beis din, explaining what happened, where they were advised to pay the extortion and let her move on with her life. The family did not agree and continued to act to persuade the husband and/or find an alternate solution, both through the Rabbanut beis din and through a private beis din of Rav Avraham Dov Levin, Rav Dov Bigman and Rav Michi Avraham (seemingly a private Dati Leumi beis din).
The private beis din found the solution by annulling the original marriage retroactively. Because the husband was a convert "al daas beis din" - meaning his conversion was done without his own knowledge and acceptance but by beis din imposing it on him - usually meaning it was done when he was a child - and the halachic conditions were not fulfilled (the family was not religious), the beis din has the power to revoke the original conversion retroactively. It turns out the wedding was between a non-jew and a Jewish woman, which does not take effect in halacha.
Other members of the beis din had other reasons to allow the freedom of the aguna, but Rav Levin's decision about revoking the conversion is the decision that was finally upheld and the decision was based on that.
The beis din confirmed the decision, but it seems that the Rabbanut in Netanya is rejecting the private beis dins revocation fo the conversion saying they had no authority to do so.
Making the story even more dramatic is that eventually the family succeeded in gettign the husband to give the get. They still want the beis dins decision to be the deciding factor, as that would register Shachar as a single woman rather than as a divorcee. The mother plans on filing in th Supreme Court to have the private beis dins decision authorized. The mother says she fought for two ears and succeeded in saving her daughter, but now she will continue to fight for other agunot to have solutions to their cases.
So, do we get upset about the revocation of a conversion or shall we be happy about the freedom for the aguna. It is hard to be upset about the revocation of the conversion, even though when Rav Sherman did it to one of Rav Druckman's converts the entire country was up in arms screaming he had no right and could not know if the convert had perhaps accepted for a bit, etc.. Here, there is a clear benefit in solving the aguna situation whereas there it was just a revocation with nobody else being helped. Is that enough? Is that a reason to say it is ok to revoke a conversion?
It looks good when hearing the story, but it does present a dilemma.
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