Getting Free

<p><span style="font-weight:400;">They left abusive marriages. </span><span style="font-weight:400;">But under Jewish law, they were still not free.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">Getting Free is a six-episode limited series sharing the firsthand stories of five women whose abusive husbands denied them a Jewish divorce, known as a </span><span style="font-weight:400;">gett</span><span style="font-weight:400;">, to keep controlling them long after the relationship was over.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">A Jewish marriage is not fully dissolved without a religious divorce. When a husband refuses to grant it, a woman becomes an agunah — a “chained woman.” No civil court can free her.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">In their own voices, Amit, Julia, Helen, Melissa, and Alla each recount their courtship, marriage, separation, and long fight for freedom. They describe how financial pressure, custody threats, isolation, intimidation, and violence continued even after they left. Some are still not free.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">Gett refusal is not a private dispute. It is the continuation of abuse. It affects Jewish women of all ages and denominations worldwide, raising urgent questions about power, faith, and communal responsibility.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">Hosted by Rabbanit Leah Sarna and produced by the International Beit Din, Getting Free names the withholding of a </span><span style="font-weight:400;">gett</span><span style="font-weight:400;"> for what it is: abuse and a violation of Jewish law. It also shows how, with proper support, women in these situations can get free.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">To learn more about the series or seek help, visit </span><a href="http://internationalbeitdin.org/gettingfree"><span style="font-weight:400;">internationalbeitdin.org/gettingfree</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">The women in Getting Free are professionals, mothers, and leaders from diverse Jewish backgrounds and levels of observance.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">We do not speak for them.</span><span style="font-weight:400;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight:400;">They speak for themselves.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight:400;">Because change begins with listening.</span></p>