Online Comic Breaking Chains: ‘Get’ this Empowering Tale of a Young Jewish Woman

This past June, following a protracted struggle spanning several years for her emancipation, 28 year old Ariella Dadon managed to receive a get (a Jewish divorce) from her violent, abusive husband. “Unmasked: The Ariella Dadon Story” is the poignant story of Ariella, a courageous woman who continues her struggle for the assisting of agunot and mesoravot get (women denied a Jewish divorce).

The cartoon is inspired by the genre of political cartoons, such as: “Waltz with Bashir,” “Maus” and “Persepolis”. By utilizing this medium, the creators of this cartoon, Inbal Freund-Novick and Chari Pere, wish to bring to light Ariella’s story to an audience that had previously not been exposed to the issue of such women who are in need of assistance.

“Ariella described her story to us in a lucid and inspiring manner, which led to the birth of the cartoon – a cartoon that calls for increased public awareness of the subject of mesoravot get ,” says Freund-Novick. “The comic discusses the finding of viable solutions for this problem, the signing of premarital agreements for the prevention of get refusal and the encouraging of women in this situation to seek help from professional organizations”.

The cartoon, which is being distributed in preparation for the International Day for Agunot that occurs on the fast of Esther, incorporates motifs from the holiday of Purim and encourages people “to remove their masks” and discuss the issue of mesoravot get in Israel. “I enjoyed every moment working on this project”, says Pere. “I hope that our comic sparks a greater cause and a greater awareness of Ariella’s story.”

This project was made possible by a grant from ROI, of which Inbal Freund-Novick is an alumn. She collaborated with Chari Pere, a 2008 PresenTense fellow. Unmasked: The Ariella Dadon Story follows below (in English) and has a  great bi-lingual Website, Unmaskedcomic.com where you can find the Hebrew version.