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Meir Kin Seruv Reissued
June 25, 2010

A seruv (order of contempt) was issued this week against Meir Kin. This is a very significant development in the case of Meir and Lonna Kin. We, at the Organization for the Resolution of Agunot (ORA), hope that the Los Angeles Jewish community will take the necessary steps in order to convey to Meir his obligation to go to beit din and issue an unconditional Get.

This is a very detailed case which, tragically, has been going on for many years. Meir and Lonna will mark their 10th wedding anniversary on July 4th, though they have been living separately - since January 2005 - longer than they lived together. Much has happened in the intervening five and a half years, including countless attempts at mediation and arbitration. Unfortunately, none of these attempts have been successful in reaching a final resolution and in convincing Meir to issue a Get.

Both sides have claims against each other. That's not the problem. The issue here is whether or not both parties are prepared to go to a beit din to adjudicate those issues. Lonna is willing to go to any well-recognized beit din or panel of rabbis for arbitration. Meir, unfortunately, is not. He insists that there is only one beit din in the entire world which he is willing to go to, and that Lonna must accept their jurisdiction in order to receive her Get. The problem here is that Meir's beit din, run by Rabbi Tzvi Dov Abraham of Monsey in association with Rabbi Avrohom Gestetner, has been internationally condemned for corrupt practices and not following halachic procedures.

This is not a case of my rabbi versus your rabbi. This isn't about the Rabbinical Council of California (RCC) versus a beit din in Monsey. This is about the entire rabbinic establishment worldwide - from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, to the Rabbinical Council of America, to the Satmar beit din in Williamsburg, among many others - opposing two corrupt rabbis in Monsey who have made it their business to assist recalcitrant husbands in extorting money from their wives in exchange for a Get. We have not encountered any other beit din anywhere which recognizes the rulings of Rabbis Abraham or Gestetner. To the contrary: every beit din we have contacted who is familiar with this Monsey duo has insisted on their status as personae non gratae within the rabbinic world. Put simply, a Get from Rabbi Abraham is a tool for extortion and isn't kosher.

On Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010, a seruv was issued against Meir Kin, signed by Rabbi Hershel Schachter, Rabbi Nachum Sauer, and Rabbi Avrohom Union. A copy of the seruv is available at here including an English translation. This is not the first seruv to be signed against Meir. The first seruv was signed in March 2006 by the Agudath HaRabbonim in New York, including Rav Yisroel Belsky. After Meir fled New York to file for divorce in California (and thereby avoid the New York Get Law), a second seruv was issued against him by the RCC in May 2007.

After two protest rallies which ORA organized in March and May of 2009, Meir informed the RCC that he is willing to come to the table to resolve all issues. The RCC suspended their seruv in June 2009, in a good-will measure in order to open lines of communication between the two sides. After 10 months of intensive negotiations, with two well-respected members of the L.A. community who were friends of Meir serving as the primary mediators, the RCC was informed by the mediators that Meir was intractable, cruelly withholding a Get from Lonna and refusing to bring his claims against her to a respectable beit din. As the mediators wrote in a letter to Meir once negotiations had failed: "Lonna is willing to go to a reputable Beis Din to adjudicate ALL issues. Your position that you want money from Lonna irrespective of what the Halacha is and that you should get it because otherwise you won't give her a Get is nothing more than EXTORTION."

Now that the seruv has been re-issued, we are going to restart our efforts to convince Meir to issue a Get. Please visit http://www.MeirKin.com for updates.