While Israel’s prison service is doing everything it can to ensure that the Covid-19 Coronavirus doesn’t spread to the prisons, prisoners are still receiving their religious rights. During the month of Nissan prisoners who wished to do so were allowed to make the Birkas Ha’Ilanos Bracha as Rabbonim from the prison service made sure to bring blossoming fruit trees into the prisons.
The trees, which were in full bloom and have not yet sprouted fruit, were carted between the various sections of prisons in order to allow each prisoner who desired to do so to say the bracha.
The trees were brought to almost all prisons across Israel and prisoners in more than 300 subdivisions were given the chance to make the bracha.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
I’m really torn. On the one hand it sounds so special and nice and warm and fuzzy. Religious rights! Yay!
on the other hand I’m sort of upset that tax money would be apparently wasted on prisoners like this. They can survive without this.
like I said, I’m torn.
They can survive without this?! They can survive without tefillin and kosher food too. They can survive without non-critical medical treatment. They can survive on rice and beans, and without any reading material. They can survive without lots of things, but does that mean the state is exempt from providing them?! If you lock someone up and prevent him from keeping mitzvos on his own, then you must provide him with the means to do so from inside. Otherwise you must let him go.