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Full episode
553: Stuck in the Middle
Act Two

Sunrise, Sun-Get

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Mark Oppenheimer reports on agunah in the Orthodox Jewish community. An agunah is a woman whose husband refuses to give her a divorce – in Hebrew it means "chained wife." If you're an Orthodox Jew, strictly following Jewish law, the only real way to get divorced is if your husband agrees to hand you a piece of paper called a get. Without the get, women who want out of their marriages can stay chained to their husbands for years. In New York, a couple of rabbis were recently accused of using violence to force men to give their wives a get. (17 minutes)

Mark’s latest book is Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood.

By Mark Oppenheimer

Song:

“Blue, Pt. II” by Waxahatchee
Story Update

"Stuck in the Middle" Update: Gital Got Her Get

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