Wife in plea for after husband is jailed
THE WIFE of a man who was jailed for lying to obtain a civil divorce from her prays he will repent and grant her a get.
Moshe Charazi, of Stamford Hill, north London, was sentenced to eight months at Harrow Crown Court this week after admitting two counts of perjury.
The couple were married in 2002 but separated a year later.
In obtaining the civil divorce in 2008, Charazi, 41, had falsely claimed in two sworn affidavits that he did not know of his wife Rivka Raani’s whereabouts and that he did not know she had given birth to his son. He later claimed the boy was not his.
He had also falsely claimed that get negotiations were not ongoing. A civil divorce cannot be granted until any religious divorce proceedings are completed.
Having obtained the civil divorce, he kept it secret from Ms Raani who found out about it only four years later.
Charazi remarried in a Jewish religious ceremony in Yemen in 2009 and has since had five children.
The civil divorce has now been overturned. Charazi
Rabbi Seth Farber and Ms Raani, both of whom belong to the strictly Orthodox community, have failed to agree terms of a get despite negotiations spanning several years.
A get can only be granted with the husband’s approval. Without it, Ms Raani, who now lives in Israel, is unable to remarry or live with a partner, and any child she bears will be considered illegitimate.
Rabbi Seth Farber, who has advised Ms Raani for the past three years, told the JC that Charazi “deliberately and consciously ruined her life”.
Rabbi Farber, who heads an Israelibased organisation helping Jews navigate religious law on marriage and conversion, said: “This has all been very painful and heart-wrenching. She has not been able to live a normal life.
“She can’t date, she can’t live with someone else. She’s been pretty much left on her own.
“We welcome the judgment but we were never interested in making him suffer. Our one simple goal is to get this woman her get.”
Passing sentence on Monday, Judge Justin Cole said Charazi had “committed this perjury to maintain the tactical upper hand on Ms Raani so you could silence her in divorce proceedings.”
He added: “You used the English justice system for your own need to control and manipulate.”