Inside the sex strike that has infuriated husbands and shaken the ultra-Orthodox world.
Thanks to Sash’s efforts and the global campaign, Malky has finally gotten a date to proceed with the civil divorce from Volvy. The pair are due in Rockland County Family Court in mid-May, which is, as Sash points out, more progress than has happened in four years, even if it still falls short of Malky obtaining her gett. But ultimately, it remains up to the men who control every institution in Orthodox life to recognize that change is not only an urgent necessity but a means of strengthening their religion.
The concerted efforts of religious leaders like the Satmar Rebbes have striven to preserve a certain type of Judaism in amber and isolate it from the modern world. But Jewish law is not static: It has always been porous, influenced by the world around it, changing according to thousands of years’ worth of commentaries, rabbinical answers to congregants’ queries, exile, disaster, and time. What makes Malky’s story different from the many agunot that have preceded her is the fact that her plight has been recognized by a network of Orthodox women around the world, able to communicate with each other directly without the mediation of patriarchal systems. These women may be part of a faith that regards them as “less than” — unable to complete their own divorces, to stand up in front of a congregation and lead prayers, even to serve as witnesses in rabbinical courts — but they are talking, and from such talk change can arise even in a hidebound world. {read}