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A Hasidic wife, tired of waiting years for a religious divorce, takes her quest for freedom to the sky: “Ready to go nuclear”
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A Hasidic wife, tired of waiting years for a religious divorce, takes her quest for freedom to the sky: “Ready to go nuclear”

A Hasidic woman who spent several years fighting a religious divorce from her husband upped the ante this week, going public with her predicament by taking her to the skies above Brooklyn.

A plane flew over Williamsburg for three hours Monday, trailing a banner behind it that read: “Release Aguna Ms. Steinmetz Now!!!” »

Aguna” is Hebrew for “chained woman.”

The plane was rented by members of the Hasidic community who support Yenta Reisa Pollack and her ongoing campaign for independence from her husband Eliezer Duvid Steinmetz.

The banner plane circled Williamsburg for three hours. Obtained by the New York Post
The flight path of Monday’s ‘plane of shame’. Flightaware.com

This 26-year-old mother of one child has been trying for seven years to separate from her husband, who refuses to grant her a religious divorce called a “get”.

“The objective (of the campaign) is both to raise awareness about this current case, to put pressure on the family who are victims of abuse and to try to systematically change the cultural norm,” explained the Pollack’s lawyer, Adina Miles-Sash, known online. as FlatbushGirl.

“In this situation, the abuse exists within a family dynamic,” Miles-Sash said. “This is not an isolated abuser and husband, but a person protected by his father and brothers.”

Adina Miles-Sash handed out flyers and led Friday’s pre-Shabbat protest. JC Rice
A mobile billboard truck also urged the Steinmetzes to desist. JC Rice

Pollack married Steinmetz when she was just 18 years old. She filed for divorce a year into the marriage.

“He was never home, he always left it – he was missing,” Miles-Sash said. “And for seven years he’s been trying to convince her to try again.”

The shameful plane belongs to the New Jersey-based company High Exposure Aerial Advertising, according to online flight records. Miles-Sash said the banner ad cost “thousands.”

Pollack’s campaign continued Friday, with a mobile billboard truck driving around their neighborhood to berate her husband and in-laws.

There was also a small protest outside the Foodoo Kosher supermarket, attended by supporters armed with bullhorns, who handed out flyers calling on the family to acquiesce.

The project has been delayed for the past seven years. JC Rice
Miles-Sash hopes that by putting pressure on the family, the benefit will be obtained. JC Rice

They also planned to have a wedding with the Steinmetz family on Sunday.

“They don’t understand that we’re ready to go nuclear,” Miles-Sash said, adding that many members of the Hasidic community support Pollack’s quest for freedom. “They keep (the get) in limbo like that, as a tool of abuse. He demands that she come back to the wedding, and she says, “No.”

Miles-Sash said the couple initiated legally binding arbitration, taking their case to a “Beth Din,” a rabbinical court established to resolve disputes.

Steinmetz, Miles-Sash said, was instructed by the court in December to give Pollack a “get” within 10 days or face excommunication.

The truck drove around the neighborhood for hours before Shabbat. JC Rice
It was hard to miss the truck on Friday. JC Rice

But Steinmetz faced no repercussions for violating the order, because of his parents’ high standing in the community, Miles-Sash said. His parents are Eizek Steinmetz and Shifra Eizek.

“It’s not just about freeing this particular woman, but about sounding the alarm about this abuse: wherever there are Orthodox women, this abuse is taking place.”

The Post has reached out to several members of the Steinmetz family for comment.