The quiet and close knit Sephardic Jewish community in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn was rocked to the core on Thursday afternoon, when it was learned that that a man who had adamantly refused to give his wife a Get (bill of Jewish divorce) for 17 years was arrested. In Jewish law, a woman who does not receive a Get is considered an Agunah (a chained woman) and she is not permitted to get remarried and carry on with her life.
A phalanx of NYPD officers arrived at the home of the man who is known as Dibo (Jeff) Hafif to make the arrest. Community members became aware of the tragic situation and held a demonstration outside of Hafif’s home, where hundreds of people chanted “Give her a Get!!” and proceeded to throw eggs at the home. They returned for several consecutive evenings to ratchet up the pressure on Hafif to adhere to Jewish law. According to Jewish law and rabbinical decrees, it is permissible and even encouraged to persuade a recalcitrant husband to give his estranged wife a Get.
A number of years ago, Hafif married a second woman, (without giving his first wife the get), had several children with her and according to verifiable reports the man began to severely abuse her.
According to a post allegedly sent to Mexican-Pacino on Instagram, the 18-year old daughter of Hafif wrote: “My mother married him after going through a divorce in her 20s and saw someone in the same predicament as her who presented himself as a nice and good person. He manipulated her and abuses her and is not good to me. I hope you can help us because we are in a bad state and need some guidance. My mother does not want a future with him, but he scares her.”
According to a report on Yeshiva World News, a voice note went viral on Thursday morning of the man violently abusing his wife and her children. YWN said that the audio clip was simply too horrifying to publish on their web site. A community member who heard the clip reached out to the wife, and convinced her to press charges, according to the YWN report.
Vois Es Nais reported that what could be heard on the video is Hafif hurling horrific verbal abuse at his wife. After berating her non-stop for almost 5 minutes, he then appears to become violent.
After police arrived at the man’s home, within a few minutes he was taken in to custody. Law enforcement sources told YWN that Hafif is expected to be charged with assaulting his wife in the form of strangulation and for assaulting a minor child.
Sources told YWN that the NYPD’s Domestic Violence Unit interviewed the woman, who detailed the extensive violent abuse allegations to them.
Sources in the Sephardic community told the Jewish Voice that the issue of men who refuse to give their wives a get was something that they had thought they were immune to. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a well placed source in the community said, “For many years now, we thought the problem of men not giving their ex-wives a get only went on in the Ashkenazic community. If you read the Jewish Press, for instance, you will see that each week, without fail, they present a growing list of men who are in direct violation of Jewish law and rabbinic decisions by refusing to give a get. Despite community pressure, they are adamant about making the lives of the women they were married to and had children with a total nightmare.”
The unnamed source added with indignation in his voice, “How dare these men behave is such a despicable manner. How dare they call themselves Jews and participate in the synagogue and in community affairs. They should hang their heads in shame and the community should continue to place enormous pressure on them until they fully comply with Jewish law.”
