Need Help Right Now?
If you or someone you know is being denied a gett or facing extortion in the Jewish divorce process, you are not alone.
The International Beit Din connects women with trusted rabbinic authorities, legal guidance, and community support to help them move forward safely and with dignity.
Podcast: Getting Free
Getting Free is a six-episode limited series sharing the firsthand narratives of five women whose husbands denied them a Jewish divorce, called a gett, in order to continue exerting control over their lives long past the end of their marriages. In their own voices, these women recount their stories, from courtship and marriage through separation and the long struggle for freedom.
Hosted by Rabbanit Leah Sarna and produced by the International Beit Din, this series names the withholding of a gett for what it is: abuse and a violation of Jewish law. By showing these women’s paths out of captivity, it paints a picture of how, with proper communal support, all women in these situations could get free. And you can help.
Listen Now
New episodes released weekly
Episode 1: From Courtship to Court
About the Women
They left abusive marriages. Under Jewish law, they were still not free.
In this series, five women describe how financial pressure, custody threats, isolation, intimidation, and violence did not end when they left. For some, the fight to be free continues.
They are professionals, mothers, neighbors, and leaders. In Getting Free, we do not speak for them. They speak for themselves.
Listen to the Trailer: They Didn’t Sign Up for This Crisis
Amit
A mother of six whose husband was full of excuses.
Julia
A vibrant former activist who went from independence to erasure.
Helen
An engineer who had a happy marriage… until she didn’t.
Melissa
A puzzle-loving freelance writer who married Jekyll and instead got Hyde.
Alla
A lawyer whose family encouraged her to stay despite it all.
Stay Connected
Follow the stories of these women and the work of the International Beit Din.
Sign up to receive updates about Getting Free and related content.
The Agunah Crisis
Gett refusal is all about abuse.
Withholding a gett is not a private marital dispute. It is abuse and a violation of Jewish law.
A woman without a gett is an agunah — chained to a dead marriage. No civil court can grant the religious divorce required for her to remarry in the Jewish community or rebuild her life.
The agunah crisis affects thousands of Jewish women across denominations and communities around the world. It raises urgent questions about power, faith, and what we choose to tolerate.
Religious divorce must never be used as leverage or extortion.
It is time for our communities to stand with agunot and insist that abuse has no place in our religious life.
About the Host
Rabbanit Leah Sarna
Rabbanit Leah Sarna is an award-winning Jewish educator and the host of Getting Free. She is the Director of Public Education and Media at the International Beit Din and Spiritual Leader of Kehillat Sha’arei Orah in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania.
Leah’s work bridges classical Torah learning and urgent contemporary issues, with a deep commitment to women’s engagement in Torah and halacha. In Getting Free, she brings clarity, integrity, and empathy to the agunah crisis.
What to look for and how to help
- Listen to the series
- Share an episode with someone in your community
- Bring an educator to your synagogue or organization
- Become an Emissary of the Court (monthly supporter)
- Sign up for updates
- Support this work
- Interview Rabbanit Leah on your podcast
- Share an episode on your podcast