Cynthia Ohana said she feels trapped inside a marriage to a man convicted of abusing her.
“It?s unfathomable that here I am in America, and I?m a slave to a man,” she said.
Cynthia Ohana and others in the community, including rabbis, rallied outside the University of Baltimore School of Law on Monday, demanding that Ephraim Ohana, a law student there, grant a “get,” or an Orthodox divorce, so she can move on with her life and remarry.
“Unchain your wife!” they chanted.
“There?s no justified reason for him not to. It?s a control thing,” said Yehoshua Zev, director with the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot, a group that helps free women in these situations and has offered to pay all costs associated with a get.
When asked why he would not consent to a get, Ephraim Ohana said, “You?ve already made a lot of assumptions. This needs more attention than a sound bite.”
He saidhe?d explain today.
Baltimore City delegate Ken Montague, now the state secretary of juvenile services, introduced a bill in the late 1990s that would “relieve the get” if either party filed for a civil divorce. Critics said such legislation allows the state to interfere with religion.
In New York, a judge can consider whether a man has consented to a get when determining the division of assets in a civil divorce, said Rabbi Yosef Blau, head spiritual adviser at Yeshiva University in New York City.
“So if he refuses to give his wife a religious divorce, he may lose out secularly,” he said.
Ephraim Ohana was convicted of abuse, voluntarily quitting his job so he wouldn?t have to pay child support and infidelity in 2005 after 18 years of marriage, according to the Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault.
Dr. Nancy Aiken, director of the Counseling, Helpline and Aid Network for Abused Women, said a state law would fail to affect Orthodox practices.
