27-year-old Chabad avreich Shalom Cohen, a resident of Yerushalayim, was in an IDF court in Yaffo on Sunday, 11 Iyar 5774. The avreich is imprisoned for failing to report to an induction center. He is married and the father of two children and has been behind bars for about a month. He was arrested trying to leave the country for Crown Heights before Pesach.
Defense attorney Idan Dvir called on the court to instruct prison officials to bring him mehadrin food and to permit him to toivel in a mikve daily. Dvir pointed out to the court that as a result of the IDF prison refusing to bring him mehadrin food, he has been living on bread and water and his health is failing. Another hearing is set for Thursday, 15 Iyar.
A friend of his from yeshiva in the USA, Shmuel Notik, is quoted by Kikar Shabbos explaining “Shalom learned in yeshiva in Israel and he was heading to yeshiva to continue his limudim in the United States…He flew back and forth a number of times and was never stopped or told there is a problem. It has been eight years since his induction date and now they arrested him.”
The friend explains that Shalom is not challenging the arrest but he is questioning why his basic religious rights are being ignored. He explains he will sit in prison for as long as necessary but he wants to be able to toivel daily as he has not missed a day since his bar mitzvah. His second request is to receive food with an acceptable hashgacha.
The IDF has been giving him the run around on both matters and on one occasion, he was apprehended filling a large barrel which he hoped to toivel in and was sent to solitary. On a second occasion he declared a hunger strike when they would not bring him mehadrin food and once again, he was sent to solitary, punished for his defiance.
Many friends attended the hearing to support Shalom, some currently serving in the IDF. The hearing addressed the conditions of his imprisonment. The court ruled he may bring homemade food into his cell one time only. The friends were saddened to see how much weight he has lost and they stated his appearance was “pale and weak but he was happy to see his friends and family members as he was escorted from the bus to the courtroom”.
Shalom’s mother continued complaining about officials not giving him food meeting his kashrus standard and this led to the hearing. She angrily asks why one must fight to bring their child kosher food. She points out the IDF Chief Rabbinate has ruled a prisoner requesting “badatz” food must receive it but no one is lifting a finger to assist Shalom. He is demanding Eida Chareidis meals or alternatively food with the hashgacha of Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau Shlita.
Friends attending the hearing expressed amazement at the IDF’s treatment of Shalom, adding that at a time they are working to bring more chareidim into the military their actions are starkly different from promises made to the chareidi tzibur.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
Where are the hafkonos? Where are the rabbonim sitting outside the prison with hundreds of bochurim protesting? Oh ………I just realised he is a chabadnik so he will get no support from the litvatks.
The IDF is anti-Judaism. What else is new?
1. In western democratic countries, civilians are not tried by military courts, especially for political offenses. Of course Israel is a middle eastern country, and having civilians tried by courts martial is normal in that part of the world. But the claims of Israel being a western democracy are sounding more hollow than ever.
2. Ignore the nice words from the Dati Leumi camp. Israel, i.e. the zionist state, is planning mass arrests for those hareidim who insist on being frum while living in Eretz Yisrael. It has taken almost a century, but there is no final proof that zionism is the enemy of Torah. Zionist promises to the frum Israelis deserve no more credibility than what the Nazis and Communists said (as in “its for your own good we are relocating you, try it, you’ll like it).
This is a known fact,….never leave the country if your IDF paperwork is not in order. This has been known for the last twenty years.
Is Israel becoming the new Europe of yore? Only cuz he was learning…. had he roamed the streets they wud’ve let him go free after 24 hrs
Don’t know if it’s just the IDF that is anti Judaism in reality it’s the whole Israeli government…
Who needs enemies around the world when we have our own enemies…? Who are worse than….
Hot stick. We are our own worse enemies. We get nisyonos because of how we are acting towards the OneAbove and we just don’t get the gezeiros are happening because we need a good wake up call.
akuperma sometimes I wonder if you just write things to sound as fanatic as possible or you actually believe what you are writing. Do you live in Israel? Have you ever served a day in the army in your life? Have you risked your life so that others may learn Torah? I agree it is sad to see a person going to jail. But who in the State of Israel doesnt know that they can stop you at the airport if your draft orders arent in order? Again I agree that the fact that he is not getting Mehadrin food is not acceptable and whoever in that Jail is responsible for food should be court martialed but seriously people stop making everything people do anti chareidi… And akuperma this question is for you. If the Chareidi Rabbonim are so great and care for the sanctity of Shabbos so much, how come they are unwilling to delay the lighting of the Lag Ba’omer fires so that the police and all the gov’t agencies that need to preapre on Meiron can at least have a chance of not preparing on Shabbos?
“PoshiterYid1”:
Of course, the millions of “litvish” dollars, including ads in the “litvish” Yated Neeman, spent on defense of chabad chassid S.M. Rubashkin, mean nothing to you.
How shameful to write such a comment as yours.
YoungJew:
What people “know” about Zionist oppression of our brethren is not relevant to akuperma’s post that the Zionists belie their attempted “Western” image with this particular issue.
In many respects, particularly regarding the IDF and regarding religion as well (the two are actually the same issue, as in shmad), as he noted, the Zionists are actually more like the anti-religious commies, and certainly not like the enlightened “western” nations.
Good question, young Jew!!
Where is Shabbos, where is Shabbos , oh where is Shabbos for am Yisroel …..while security preps are happening so some Medura can be lit!!!!
His first request is to toivel, and only his second is mehadrin kosher food? He’s got a weird set of priorities. Also, where did he just randomly get a barrel in jail?
dear young jew: many rabonim have assured people from attending the lag b’omer night festivities in meron because of the chillul Shabbat involved.
Everyone knows the whole army “accomadation” to charedim is a joke