It was a sad morning on Sunday when representatives of HoTza’ot L’Poel (court collections arm) armed with a court order, empowered to confiscate anything of worth towards collecting a debt from the Khal Adat Teiman Shul in Modi’in Illit, arrived in the community.  Supported by members of Israel’s Yemenite community, the mispallalim were in the shul for hours, reciting tehillim in the hope of turning around the harsh decree.

As tehillim were recited, behind the scenes negotiations involving leaders of the community in the hope of reaching an agreement that would prevent foreclosure. As talks were ongoing, agents of the court backed by border police entered the shul to begin the process of confiscating valuables, including sifrei kodesh and a Torah.

According to a Kikar Shabbat report, the story began about a year ago, when the Tzipka Company which is building in Brachfeld was approached by the leaders of the local Yemenite community requesting that the company allocate a building for their community, to serve as a shul.

Tzipka officials insist that to date, they have not received the entire sum agreed to by the Yemenite community. Community elders however have a different story, that the company has violated the agreement and failed to comply with its commitment. The dispute continued to escalate and the two sides found themselves in a beis din, in which the community showed documents attesting to the fact that the land on which the shul is located belongs to the Modi’in Illit Municipality. After numerous appearances before the beis din, the decision was made that the construction company’s version was correct. The Yemenite community was instructed to complete the payment due to Tzipka.

The kehila then took their case to a civil court, which rejected their petition, explaining the matter was already adjudicated by the beis din. The Yemenite community then turned to the HoTza’ot L’Poel court system, where their petition was also turned away.

Ultimately, the agents from the collection agency appointed by the court arrived in the community to actualize the ruling, instructed to remove property towards making payment to Tzipka.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)