Aharon Friedman: Messiah Stopper

What’s stopping the Messiah from coming? It’s you, Jewish husbands who refuse to give your wives “gets” and thus create agunots—women who are legally divorced but cannot marry again in the Jewish faith—at least according to Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Washington. Regarding the refusal of Aharon Friedman, a Republican tax counsel on the House Ways and Means Committee, to grant his civilly-divorced wife, Tamar Epstein, a get, Herzfeld says, “I don’t think the Messiah can come, as long as there is one agunah in the world.”

Mashiach? I like the cut of your jib, Sir.

Mary Valle lives in Baltimore and is the author of Cancer Doesn't Give a Shit About Your Stupid Attitude: Reflections on Cancer and Catholicism. She blogs on KtB as The Communicant. For more Mary, check out her blog or follow her on Twitter.