The Jerusalem Magistrate Court rejected a 796,000 shekel lawsuit by the Oranim Printing Company which sued Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita.

According to the plaintiffs, the rabbi delayed providing material required for publication and even asked to add pages and repair books that have already been bound, causing them significant damage.

The court discussed whether there was an early agreement under which the Rishon L’Tzion must pay the damage but determines that it has not been proven and has not been presented with sufficient arguments for the existence of such an early agreement and therefore the rabbi is exempt from paying the claim. In addition, the court ordered the printing company to pay the rav’s court fees in the amount of 19,000 shekels, of which 18,000 is attorney fees and 1,000 for the Rishon L’Tzion to be present at the hearing.

Attorney Moshe Usditscher, who represented the rav, is quoted telling Kikar Shabbos News, “The prosecution, already at the time it was submitted, was clear to any reasonable person, who showed no real cause against Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, when the court’s verdict fully confirmed that the claim was futile, lacking substance.

“The prosecutor knew that he had nothing, and the filing of the procedure 12 years after the outbreak of the dispute and after the appointment of Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef as Rishon L’Tzion was submitted in an attempt to put pressure on the rabbi in light of his public status”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)