Hersh lawsuit: Issac's twin Shlomo testimony Part I

SHLOMO ZALMAN HERSH, an infant above the age of fourteen affirms the following under the penalties of perjury:

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6. I am one of eight siblings. My father has not allowed me any contact with them, except for my twin brother Yitzchok whom my parents have also abandoned and neglected. My twin brother and I never found a place in my father's view of religious life and as a result we have always been segregated from the family.

7. In 2002, when I was eleven years old, my parents moved our family to Israel. My parents told me that we were going on vacation and it was not until we got there that we discovered we were not going back. My parents never placed myself nor my brother in a stable school environment. My brother and I would stay in the neighborhood and have meals at neighbors homes. When we would question my parents authority, we would be severely punished by being locked in our rooms for 12 to 24 hours without any food. My father stated that we did not deserve beds and we had to sleep on the floor. When my father went away on business, he would leave us with neighbors even though my mother was at home.

8. During the time I was in Israel, several families started to see that my brother and I were being neglected and took pity on us and let us live with them. We stayed with Ruben and Rochen Rosengarten (9 Panim Meroth Jerusalem), as well as Eli and Malky Wolbe.

9. In 2004, when I was 13 years old, my father began forcing both my brother and myself to take sedatives for which we did not have a prescription. That fall my parents enrolled me in a boarding school and when I came home for the weekends, my father would sedate me so that I would not be a bother to him. The, school's therapist learned of this and in March 2005, he reported this to the child service authority in Israel.

10. As soon as my father found out what had happened he immediately bought me a ticket to fly me back to NY. The Israeli social services quickly realized his plans and banned me from leaving the country. My father sent my mother to the school to plea with me to drop the case. She cried to me that they were at risk of having their kids taken away, and she also informed me for the first time about her cancer. She told me that I should go to my father and he would tell me how to get them out of''this mess". If I did so, I could go home. I spoke to my father who said that if I wanted to be a part of the family I would have to testify in court that nothing ever happened.

11. A couple of days before the court date, my father secretly packed his bags and fled to America with the rest of my family. He gave me specific instructions on,what to say in court. I asked the court to dismiss the petition and they did.

12. Two weeks after returning to America, my father and I got into an argument where he became physical. I said that if he ever hit me I would call the police. The next day he took me to a psychiatrist saying I had mental problems. The psychiatrist spoke to me for less than an hour and sent me home. Three days later my twin brother and I got into a stupid fight. After the fight was over, my father said that he had enough of us and called the police and said that I was going to kill my brother. I was arrested and brought to the hospital. My father said that he wanted me in a mental hospital because I was dangerous. He admitted me to Holliswood Hospital. He left me there for two months. My father claimed that I had to remain there because he had no place for me.

[to be continued]