NY woman in ‘get’ case describes abuse by her husband

Rivky Stein, a young New York Jewish woman who launched a social media campaign to attain a religious divorce, broke down in court Wednesday as she described in chilling detail her husband’s alleged actions throughout their years of marriage. Speaking at the King’s County Supreme Court in Brooklyn during a civil custody trial, Stein, 25, claimed her estranged husband Yoel Weiss, 32, had subjected her to beatings, as well as physical, verbal and sexual abuse.

“Whenever I refused anything from Yoel, he raped me, physically hurt me, verbally abused me and threatened me,” Stein said, according to the British Daily Mail. “He threatened to take my kids away from me. I didn’t agree to go to Canada. He held my son against my will and I went with my daughter. He said if I ever want to see my son again, I should do as he says.”

Stein added that in one case, when her daughter was 22 months old, Weiss exited the shower and “put his private parts in her hand for her to play with,” the Daily Mail reported. However, Stein stated that she was unaware whether any other such incidents had take place.

She also claimed Weiss starved her and their two young children. “We got roughly two meals a day, normally reused chicken soup,” Stein said.

Stein requested that the court award her full custody of her children, but said she would accept the Weiss be granted supervised visitation “in a healthy way.”

In August, Weiss, failed to show up at a beit din, or Jewish religious court, to complete the process of granting his wife religious divorce, or get, the New York Daily News reported. Weiss later told the Daily News that he would only give his wife a get if the same three rabbis who started the process would be there to complete it. One of the three rabbis could not attend the session since at the time he was in Israel for the funeral and shiva of his mother. Other rabbis who could step in were at the proceedings.

Weiss’s stipulation has no precedent in Jewish law, rabbis told the newspaper.

“[Weiss] has continuously refused to give me a get,” Stein told the Daily Mail Wednesday. “I don’t know what I can do any more I have tried everything: Jewish court, Beis din rabbis and mediators but he refuses. He said he will never give me a Get, and that I will die old and alone.”

Weiss has repeatedly denied that he abused Stein, who left her husband a little over two years ago.

“I made some phone calls which I was scared to do because Yoel checked my phone but I prayed really hard to God that he wouldn’t check it until later,” Stein said during Wednesday’s court hearing, referring to the period before she left Weiss. “I called my former foster mother and she told me to come back to her. I called a car when Yoel went out. I went with a friend to get an order of protection from the court.”

Weiss in June told the Daily News that he will give his estranged wife a get once they work out custody of their two children in family court.