Organization For The Resolution Of Agunot (ORA)
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The Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA) is a New York-based
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
that advocates for the elimination of the infliction of abuse from the Jewish divorce process. The organization advocates on behalf of
agunot An ''agunah'' ( he, עגונה, plural: agunot (); literally "anchored" or "chained") is a Jewish woman who is stuck in her religious marriage as determined by ''halakha'' (Jewish law). The classic case of this is a man who has left on a journey ...
and promotes the universal adoption of Jewish prenuptial agreements for the prevention of
get Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS, a ...
-refusal (a get is a bill of Jewish divorce). Although 98% of the people ORA helps are women, they also support men whose wives refuse to accept a get. ORA views get-refusal as a form of domestic abuse. Keshet Starr is the Executive Director of the organization.


History

ORA was founded in 2002 by a group of Yeshiva University students. Since then, the organization has resolved over 220 cases of get-refusal, and at any given time is actively involved in approximately 50 open agunah cases. In 2014, the Slingshot Guide named ORA as one of the most innovative non-profit organizations in North America for its success in "advocating for vulnerable women and changing the conversation about divorce in the Orthodox community".


Advocacy efforts

ORA resolves cases of get-refusal by combining facilitation with advocacy. Their strategies may include "staging protests in front of a husband's home and office, urging his community and synagogue to keep him out, raising awareness in the media and applying financial and legal pressure." ORA's advocacy efforts on behalf of agunot have been covered by several major newspapers, including
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Educational initiatives

ORA's Agunah Prevention Initiative raises awareness in the Jewish community about the importance of signing the Jewish prenuptial agreement for the prevention of get-refusal. The tagline of their initiative is: "Friends don't let friends get married without the ''halachic'' prenup", and in November 2014, ORA released a video to promote that message. While there is no way to know definitively if Jewish prenuptial agreements are becoming more popular in the Orthodox world, Rabbi
Shlomo Weissmann Shlomo (, Polish: Szlomo, Szlama, Szlamek, Szloma), meaning "peaceable", is a common Hebrew male given name. The following individuals are often referred to only by the name Shlomo: * Solomon, king of ancient Israel, according to various religiou ...
, Director of the
Beth Din of America The Beth Din of America is a Beth Din (Court of Jewish Law) which serves Jews throughout the United States of America as a forum for arbitrating disputes through the din torah process, obtaining Jewish divorces, and confirming Jewish personal status ...
, stated that, "Anecdotally, there appears to have been a big increase in awareness and usage in the last few years."


References


External links

* {{Official website, https://www.getora.org/ Agunot Jewish marital law Marriage and religion Women's political advocacy groups in the United States