On June 24, NYU Law’s Tikvah Center for Law & Jewish Civilization, co-directed by University Professor Joseph Weiler and Gruss Professor of Law Moshe Halbertal, held a summit on "The Resolution of the Agunah Problem." "Agunah" means "anchored" or "chained," and refers to a married Jewish woman who is not living with her husband, but has not been released from her marriage under Jewish law. The summit was co-sponsored by the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, founded by Blu Greenberg. The event was held for the purpose of demonstrating the existence of systemic solutions within Jewish law that can resolve current agunah cases and prevent future ones. Opening remarks were given by Tzipi Livni, minister of justice of Israel, followed by Joint Straus/Tikvah Fellow and Maimonides Fellow Gerald Blidstein, professor emeritus at Ben Gurion University in Israel. Global Visiting Professor Dorit Beinisch, former president of the Supreme Court of Israel, and Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz gave keynote addresses. Read the detailed schedule of the summit here, and watch selected videos below.
Watch the opening remarks by Tzipi Livni, as well as remarks by Joseph Weiler, Gerald Blidstein, and others (1 hr, 46 min):
Watch the keynote addresses by Alan Dershowitz and Dorit Beinisch (56 min):
Watch a discussion on "Lessons from the Front" and closing remarks from Moshe Halbertal and Blu Greenberg (1 hr, 52 min):
Posted on July 8, 2013