Isles Of The Forsaken, an illustration of the plight of Agunot by Ilene Winn-Lederer (2002)

Isles Of The Forsaken (ink drawing, 2002) is intended to address the tragic situation of many Jewish women, who, abused, abandoned and wishing a divorce, are refused a get (bill of divorcement) by their husbands who may use their wives’ need for this document as a threat for ransom in obtaining custody of their children.

In the event of abandonment and/or civil divorce, a Jewish woman may not remarry without a ‘get’ document which must be signed by two witnesses and dated.

The meaning of a ‘get’, which is the Hebrew term for Gmar Tov (good completion). It is sometimes better to have peace reign in two houses, than strife, discord and disrespect in one home. The ‘get’ consists of twelve lines written in such a way that no writing may be added. For example, extenders may be added on specific letters to avoid adding text between lines. The setting of this image is a metaphorical space out of time, however, locations mentioned in the gittim (pl.) must be geographically specific to avoid confusion between other similarly named locations. The husband’s name, nickname and/or pseudonym must be included.

This image was suggested many years ago by the situation of an acquaintance with several young children who was a victim of her husband’s physical/psychological abuse. Sadly, she had a very difficult life and has since passed on.