What Became of Chayim's Former Wife Simcha Layah?

 B'Ezrat Hashem
    I always knew there would be light at the end of the tunnel.

    Simcha Layah was actually looking to be divorced ever since we arrived in Israel in 1996, and I was always looking to make the marriage work.  We got good counseling over the years, but she decided not to try any more, and, with threats, threw me out of the house in 1999.  In 2000, she filed for divorce, and by the end of 2001, the Beit Din here in Tzfat determined that she was a "rebellious wife," that she deserved no support from me (although I was completely responsible for the children's support--3 of them: David, Hannah and Aharon--as all fathers here are), and that she was required to return all gifts I gave her in the marriage, including, in some form in a divorce agreement, the house, which had come entirely from my money.  Based on that ruling, I was ready to make a divorce agreement with her and give her the Gett.  Although the head rabbi of Tzfat (Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, son of the famous former head Sepharadi rabbi of Israel Rav Mordechai Eliyahu) told her she had to accept the ruling, she didn't, and she appealed it up first to the Beit Din Gadol in Yerushalayim, and finally to the Supreme Court of Israel.  Ever since the Tzfat Beit Din's ruling, I was anxious to be divorced, especially because I had my eye on a special woman, but until I was divorced, I couldn't really talk to her other than warmly greet her whenever I happened to see her in the street or at a Shabbos table.  At the same time, I believed I needed to hold onto my assets that I had worked so hard for, in order to support a wife that did want to be married to me.

    To make a long story short, things got stalemated in the Beit Din Gadol and the Supreme Court of Israel, and I finally made the best deal I could in order to get on with my life--giving Simcha Layah the whole house in exchange for reduced child support, but she gets title to the house completely only when the youngest child turns 18, so she can't sell before then, and she has a good incentive to remain in Tzfat.  My children walk to me for visits generally 3 times a week.

    We came to agreement and I gave the Gett November, 2004.  That very day, I asked a rabbi to ask the special woman I had had in mind (Bracha Rogers) to go on a Shidduch (formal meeting) with me.  She didn't get asked for a couple weeks, and she said no at first.  But, within a week, she changed her mind.  We had 4 meetings, and got engaged on the first day of Chanukkah that year.  We were married in January, 2005.  You can see the invitation and pictures on my web site.

    We are very happy, and we both see many miracles in all that has brought us together.  One example: Without knowing it at the time, we were both in the same room together in December, 1991, in Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, at a talk by Rabbi Manis Friedman and concert by Moshe Yess.  One thing is very clear to me, that I think I'm finally able to successfully apply: Choose your spouse according to one criteria: Who is the person to whom you will be able to show kindness and give to most?