'Free Adeena.' Rally held in Monsey in support for woman to get religious divorce document
Adeena Kohn is an Orthodox Jewish woman is reportedly being denied a gett by her estranged husband for nearly five years. It's described as a religious document, required in Orthodox Judaism, to terminate a marriage.
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Demonstrators in a Hasidic community in Monsey took to the streets on Sunday to support a woman who is seeking a divorce.
Adeena Kohn is an Orthodox Jewish woman is reportedly being denied a gett by her estranged husband for nearly five years.
A gett is described as a religious document, required in Orthodox Judaism, to terminate a marriage.
The process requires the husband to formally issue the gett and for the wife to receive the 12-line handwritten document. Without it, under Jewish law, remarriage for Kohn is forbidden and future children may be considered illegitimate.
"They have not lived together in five years. If she does not have her religious divorce, that means she is not free to date other people, she's not allowed to form a relationship with other people, she cannot get married. And what it does, it promotes within the community a sense that women are property," said protest organizer Adina Sash.
A truck mounted with a loudspeaker demanding "Free Adeena" momentarily snarled traffic.
The protest became heated at one point, with one woman not involved in the demonstration falling to the ground twice.
Ramapo Police soon arrived, as did a crowd of curious onlookers.
"I'm a mother, I'm a daughter and I believe in the chain of women power. If not for women being for ourselves, we could wait years for somebody else to be for us," said protestor Dena Tocker.
"I think raising awareness is really the best way to go about it. Look, there's not much we can do, we're not rabbis, we're not people who are in a position of power, but when you have a crowd and the crowd builds, that's how stuff gets done," said Jonathan Greenberg, another protestor at the rally.
Her friends said Kohn is staying out of the spotlight in the fight for her freedom from her marriage, but they added that a "Free Adeena" petition has garnered more than 500 signatures as of Sunday night.
