A senior dayan at the centre of a furious row over Jewish divorce has reportedly admitted he advised a man to hold off from giving a get to his wife - even though the husband had agreed to do so.
Dayan Jonathan Hool was among the group of Federation of Synagogues rabbis who triggered a communal storm earlier this month when they released a statement saying it would be “halachically impossible” for a wife to be granted a get - or religious divorce - if she took legal action under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
According to halachah, the rabbis said, a get has to be given of “free will”.
A shul member told the JC they heard the dayan give a speech at Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue on Saturday in which he appeared to say he had dealt with exactly such a case himself, and that he had advised the husband “to wait”.
