A renewed effort to help agunot seems to be spreading across the Orthodox community. Last week The Jewish Week reported on the significance of one Jerusalem judge's ruling strongly in favor of an agunah who has waited 12 years for a divorce. Recently, the film Mekudeshet, about the suffering of agunot in Israel, was shown in my community. Somehow, the filmmaker brought a camera inside the beit din. The film has it's drawbacks - everything said by the dayanim is dubbed by male actors, and viewers are forced to watch the walls of the beit din for long periods of time, since the rabbis could not be filmed, which can be a bit tedious. However, the stories of the agunot themselves were incredibly moving, and the role of the toanot beit din (female rabbinic court advocates) inspired hope and provided much needed support for the suffering women. Both the film and the article emphasized that one of the major obstacles to improving the situation for these women is the batei din and the judges, whose symapthies for the most part lie with the men, much to the disadvantage of the women who come before them.
Comments