YWN recently reported that police intervened and broke up a chasunah in the “shawl cult”, involving a 13-year-old kallah and a 16-year-old chosson.
The “shawl cult” refers to an extremist sub-group which requires women to wear full-body ‘burqa’-style coverings. The group has been condemned by the vast majority of mainstream Gedolei Torah and rabbonim.
In the latest case, revealed by Kikar Shabbos News, a 13-year-old chosson, a day after his bar mitzvah, was married to a 12-year-old kallah in Meah Shearim in the presence of a minyan. Even more shocking, the father of the kallah was abroad – only learning of the wedding after his return home. He was angered and the situation led to police being summoned, and the father was detained for a number of hours by police and then released.
The report quotes a woman from the shawl cult explaining, “While we marry minors, this case is extreme, even for us, as there are limits.”
Police continue to assign measurable resources to prevent such weddings, but of late, it appears the shawl cult is marrying off its young while police remain in the dark.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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21 Responses
reminds me of the story of a couple years ago, a certain chasdius where couples married very young 15
.16 17
when there was a shulem bais issue they went to the rebbe and first thing each one got a loly-pop,
after too many divorces the kahele made a tukna no one should divorce the second time before the age of18
They should be fine or put to jail by the Government
Wait! I’m confused. Is it the police who are in the dark? I thought it was the cult ladies who are in the dark. 🙂
How do these people differ from Lev Tomei?
Ok the father of the bride gets detained, what the heck are they gonna do about the mother and whomever married the two minors??
Mo613,
How about: no one should MARRY before 18?
I see these creeps in Geula/Mea Shariim area. They are caught up in their own egos and think that they are better than the rest of us. They think they are the ‘real’ Jews and we are just people who act out a facade.
Their super large ego prevents them from seeing the truth….
Mo613: I believe that lollipop story is a myth. And the “no divorce before 18” was a joke they used to say about Skvere Chassidim some 30 to 35 years ago.
In many states of the US weddings involving minors are legal with parental consent.
this was mutar, even common, in the times of the bais hamikdash and tannaim.
There are two distinct groups. There are women who wear shawls over their clothing, and women who wear burqa style coverings over their faces.
In EY, the shawls over clothing is becoming more mainstream. The burqa is not.
If they just lived together, then the government would be ok with that. The government is NOT really religious. So what is the big deal if they also got a piece of religious paper from a Rabbi and just live together? Why is living together OK and getting religious permission to do that not OK?
Conservative1…. if you don’t see that CHILDREN being married off is sick & perverted, you are part of the problem.
So it’s ok for kids to be fooling around but a sacred one-person commitment is bad. And this is not an infusion of false values from the outside? I say good for them.
The Torah is our only value system. The minute you add or subtract you are a fool.
@mothcha 11. I’m so glad you’re here to let us know that moe613 comments were just jokes. What would we think without your explanation?
AH B”H YWN IS BACK IN BUSINESS WHAT WHOULD U DO WITHOUT THESE BURKAS ,, NOW ALL THE DIFF TYPE OF KUGELS CAN START COMMENTING AGAIN
the choson is 13 or 16?
Conservative1 – No. Minors living together would be a problem in nearly every secular society. I think you are referring to physical relationships. That is an entirely separate issue. Marriage is supposed to be a lifetime commitment between adults. It is not supposed to be a tool by which to enforce parental and societal control on children. In ancient times, by necessity, teenagers were forced to act as adults. Today, thankfully, they are not. Forcing a child who has no idea what life is about to spend it with another person unnecessarily is simply cruel abuse.
Conservative1; We have the identical situation in the U.S. with polygamous marriage.
So if someone was the father of children from different women they can all file for child support and the government would force him to pay it. However if he voluntarily committed to supporting them all and had a religious marriage document the government would imprison him for polygamy, thereby preventing him from supporting them! Such a case was actually prosecuted in Utah in recent years, though there were additional charges involved and prosecution for bigamy is rare.
conservative1
The issue is that most of the cult the children don’t want to get married the leaders make them married