Gitty Grunwald with her daughter Esther Miriam
B"H
A little more than a year ago, the press was full of the "Gitty Grunwald" case.
Just to remind you: Gitty is a young American woman who ran away from the Satmar community in Kiryat Yoel. She got divoced from her husband (a Satmarer Chassid) and lost (then, in July 2008) custody for her little daughter Esther Miriam. However, Gitty was allowed to visit her in Kiryat Yoel.
Gitty Grunwald became well - known because the case ended up being published by the "New York Magazine". Here on SHEARIM I published an article called: "Revenge as a state of Emergency" telling about the problems of people (myself) leaving haredi society in order to continue a different lifestyle.
The question is: What has happened to Gitty ever since ? The Gitty - story in the "New York Magazine" contains more than a thousand comments. People promised to be with her all the time. Not literally but, at least, think about her. Where and how is Gitty now ? Has anyone ever done a follow - up ? I started surfing the new in order to find an e - mail address and maybe ask Gitty personally. My search was not too successful but my friend Tamar did a better job but still: No present sign of Gitty Grunwald !
"The Jewish Journal" on Gitty in July 2008
Here we find an interesting comment and this may be true:
I AM THE MOTHER OF A 34 YEAR OLD SON LIVING IN BENSONHURST BKLYN.WE ARE OF ITALIAN DESCENT AND ARE ROMAN CATHOLIC.I HAD THE MISFORTUNE OF MEETING GITTY GRUNWALD IN SEPT. OF 2007.FOR APPROXIMATELY 3 MONTHS SHE MADE MY LIFE A LIVING HELL.SHE PRACTICALLY MOVED INTO MY HOME AND DISRUPTED THE LIVES OF MY WHOLE FAMILY.AT THIS TIME SHE MADE NO EFFORT TO REGAIN CUSTODY OF HER CHILD.MY SON HAD AN ONGOING BATTLE WITH HER OVER THIS.HE EVENTUALLY LOST HIS JOB OVER THE SITUATION.HE WOULD TAKE DAYS OFF WORK TO GO WITH HER TO FAMILY COURT BUT SHE WOULDNT EVEN GET OUR OF BED TO GO WITH HIM.AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED SHE IS USING THE SYSTEM FOR HER OWN MEANS AND NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF HER CHILD.THERE IS SO MUCH MORE I CAN SAY BUT TIME WILL ALLOW THE PUBLIC TO FIND OUT THE TRUE NATURE OF GITTY.I CAN UNDERSTAND HOW SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE COME TO HER AID FOR SO DID I UNTIL I DISCOVERED HER TRUE NATURE. .PLEASE STOP AIDING HER IN THIS WITCH HUNT AND INVESTIGATE HER FURTHER BEFORE YOU CONTINUE TO ENLIST THE AID OF THE UNSUSPECTING PUBLIC….......SANDRA RUGGIERO BKLYN NYMaybe somone knows if Gitty has succeeded in building up a new life of her own. And what about the custody of her daughter ?
Comment by sandyrug on 7/29/08 at 11:35 am
Gitty also set up a blog but has not continued posting anything since 2007. This is all the information we were able to gather.
It would be interesting to know what happened to her. Was she truly oppressed or just another frustrated young woman who learned to like the secular life? And, what about the child? All this cannot be good for a little one.
ReplyDeleteAfter all she said about the way the religious community treated her, and you think this has to be true? This anonymous and mysterious post? Anyone could write that and say it was a non Jewish family writing it. sounds like this blog has some residual woman hatred lurking.
ReplyDeleteWhy would it be so surprising if she didn't want to get out of bed? How depressed would you be if this was your life? My brother in law is a drug dealer and so I can't see my niece and it makes me so frustrated it is hard to get up in the morning and this was her daughter, who she had when she was a child because this community pimps out their children. Disgusting.
B"H
ReplyDeleteTo tell you the truth:
I would prefer listening to both sides. To Kiryat Yoel, to Gitty, to her Ex and to her mother.
Only then I am able to get the picture.
I actually tried that when I wrote about the Gur runaway Sarah Einfeld but, of course, Gur refused any cooperation.
I was curious too, what happened to Ms. Grunwald, after reading the NY Magazine article. Periodically, I would search but there wasn't much info, I did find this though, apparently she has been embroiled in a custody case with her ex-husband and here is the link to it:
ReplyDeletehttp://cojcr.org/vol11no2/613-642.pdf
If there is further info, I'd appreciate seeing it posted also.
I too, was curious about Ms. Grunwald's fate after reading the NY Magazine article. I have periodically searched for news about her but to no avail. I did find this post, she appears to still be embroiled in a custody dispute with her ex-husband. Here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttp://cojcr.org/vol11no2/613-642.pdf
I would appreciate postings if anybody else has any info.
B"H
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for sending the link and I will read the document and maybe write about it. Otherwise, Gitty seems to have disappeared.
she is currently in israel.
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteDo you know why and where ?
She was seen at a shiur in an all girls seminary.
ReplyDeleteB"H
ReplyDeleteIs she doing Teshuva ? :-)))
Maybe in NEVE YERUSHALAYIM ... Well, Neve is not chassidic but litvish.