The Yaffo Military Court has sentenced Tzvi Dov Friedman, an Eida-affiliated avreich who resides in Beit Shemesh, to 75 days in military jail. Friedman was arrested during a raid of his home by military police three weeks ago for not registering with draft authorities, leading to protests.
His attorney tried arguing his client is mentally challenged but it was not accepted by the court. The court on Thursday morning 10 Nissan sentenced him to 75 days in jail. The court has however agreed to release him to his home for the first day of Pesach after which he will be compelled to return to jail.
The court explained the heavy sentence is due to the fact Friedman is unwilling to cooperate with authorities. Persons close to him tell the media “no punishment will deter him and he is proud to be a prisoner on behalf of Torah and adhering to his rabbonim”.
The Eida Chareidis has released a flyer signed by Gavaad Eida Chareidis HaGaon HaRav Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss Shlita calling for pidyon shvuyim and to be “Heard throughout the world” until he is released.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
“pidyon shvuyim”? So how many problems with this characterization? Just for starters.
The Rambam (as translated) describes the term as follows:
> The redeeming of captives takes precedence over supporting the poor or clothing them. There is no greater mitzvah than redeeming captives for the problems of the captive include being hungry, thirsty, unclothed, and they are in danger of their lives too.
So what is it here? The prisoner is not fed? The prisoner is kept naked? Or the prisoner is about to be executed?
But aside from that, how much money is the government asking in order to release the prisoner? (For those who do not know, there is no money involved.) “pidyon shvuyim” means giving the captors what they want to release him, and certainly the captors don’t want all this publicity, so how can it be “pidyon shvuyim” (I know of no source that defines “pidyon shvuyim” means starting an insurrection).
And the main point as follows. If the objective really is “pidyon shvuyim” then the concept should have applied immediately upon the government request for him to appear before the draft board (which de facto constitutes “shvuyim”) and to perform the great mitzvah of “pidyon shvuyim” from the draft by actually requesting his legal deferment. Thus anyone
banning the individual from requesting the deferment is de facto banning the individual from performing the “pidyon shvuyim” on himnself.
Let the proud prisoner enjoy his short jail sentence
better two and a half months in jail than 3 years in army. Good on him.
#1: pidyon shvuim has taken on a role of releasing all Jewish prisoners by anti-Jewish regimes. During the times of Soviet Union refuseniks, Jews all over the world rallied and fought to release the refuseniks from jail, even though soviet jails fed the prisoners, let them have clothes, and mostly did not execute, and even though Soviet Jails were not asking for a “koffer” to release them. All the gadolim in the 60’s and 70’s fought for these prisoners under the flag of pidyon svuim
one less from losers blocking the streets…..
This is great news. We can now tell every Eida shnorrer that comes along that another has precedence over him, by the fiat of the head of the Eida. So far as Mr. Friedman is concerned, why is he being allowed out of jail for Pesach? The Military Court has no guts. In fact they should never have imprisoned him. He certainly is mentally challenged if he is affiliated with the Eida.