Unchain My Heart Joins JCCV
UNCHAIN My Heart, the volunteer organisation supporting those trapped in marriages due to refused Jewish divorces, has been voted in as a member of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV).
Chair Yael Hersham (pictured) addressed the JCCV’s recent AGM, describing the group’s decade-long mission to help agunot, or “chained” individuals who remain halachically bound in marriages that have ended in every other sense.
“Our mission is simple but profound: to restore freedom, autonomy and dignity to anyone trapped in a dead marriage, and to ensure that Jewish law is never weaponised as a tool of coercion and abuse,” Hersham said.
Without a get, or Jewish divorce document, individuals cannot remarry under halachah, and any future children face the stigma of mamzerut (being born from a forbidden relationship).
While the issue predominantly affects women, Hersham noted the organisation also assists men.
“We’ve had women refusing to accept a get,” Hersham told The AJN. “Sometimes their lawyers will advise them to hold out so that they could get better financial arrangements put in place.”
In one case, a woman’s refusal nearly backfired when her husband sought a heter meah rabbanim overseas, a halachic mechanism allowing men to remarry without a get by obtaining 100 rabbinical signatures.
“That would have meant that she would have been left an agunah,” Hersham said.
The organisation handles between seven and 10 cases annually, though Hersham said the true number of affected individuals is impossible to quantify.
Unchain My Heart has worked closely with the Melbourne Beth Din to improve processes, including facilitating family violence training run by Jewish Care and ensuring trained female volunteers are present during get proceedings.
“It used to be such an intimidating space for a woman to walk into,” Hersham said, noting the Beth Din now has two women on its board and a female acting secretary.
She said JCCV membership would help raise awareness and dispel myths about the get process.
“I feel that it puts a tick of approval on our organisation,” she said.
Article from Australian Jewish News, December 5th, 2025
