Jerusalem–Haaretz reports that scores of haredi dayanim will be watching an Oscar-nominated Israeli film about women trying to get their gets from recalcitrant husbands. Most haredim refuse to watch movies at all.
The movie they will watch, Gett–The Trial of Viviane Amsalem, tells the story of a woman who attempted to obtain a get through the rabbanut and met a stone wall when her husband refused to grant her one. The movie was shown in Cannes to great acclaim and is Israel’s only entry for the Oscars.
Rabbi Shimon Yaakobi, an attorney, told Haaretz that he won the approval of Supreme Av Beit Din Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef to hold a private screening for the dayanim, followed by a panel discussion.
Dr. Rachel Levmore, a rabbinical court advocate who attempts to free agunot said, “The reason this screening … is so important is that the movie conveys the point of view of the woman who has been unable to obtain a get (a writ of divorce). Even for a rabbinical court advocate like myself, who has represented hundreds of women–when you see this movie, because its effect is not just intellectual but emotional too, it enables you to understand something of what she’s going through.”