The Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations has taken the unusual step of denouncing a local councillor for allegedly refusing to co-operate with its Beth Din over his wife’s application for a divorce.
The head of the Union’s Beth Din, Dayan Aharon Dovid Dunner, said that Benzion Papier, who represents the Conservatives in Stamford Hill West in the borough of Hackney — a ward with a large Charedi population, should be considered an “offender” in the view of the Shulchan Aruch, the Code of Jewish Law.
In a letter in Hebrew to the officers of the Bobov 45 community, Dayan Dunner said Papier had refused to come to the religious court despite invitations to attend.
It urged them to do everything they could to influence him to comply with the Beth Din’s orders and not to continue to “chain” his “unfortunate” wife.
