BS"D
URGENT -- PIDYON SHVUYIM:
Reported Israeli Army Persecution of an Epileptic Religious Ethiopian Girl
בס"ד
13 Shvat, 5780 °° Parshas Beshalach °° Jan. 26, '21
By Binyomin Feinberg
By Binyomin Feinberg
Our
readers may have seen our recent post about the plight of a religious
girl recently imprisoned in Military Prison over her refusal to submit
to the Israeli Army female draft (http://daattorah.blogspot. com/2021/01/BSD-is-israel- asking-for-yet-more.html).
B"H, she obtained military draft exemption and was released shortly
after that post. However, today, we've received credible information
that, right now, a mitzvah-observant, 24 year-old young woman with
epilepsy is suffering in Military Prison Six, in Northern Israel, for
her refusal to submit to the female military draft. Tadalah bas
Mantjavush hails from a religious Ethiopian Jewish family in central
Israel. She was recently imprisoned for her steadfast refusal to
compromise her Jewish faith or her personal purity.
About six years ago, shortly after being drafted into the IDF, Tadalah fled the promiscuous Army environment, after witnessing first-hand the exploitive Army hefkeirus, which, many argue, renders the Army wholly unfit for any woman. Just recently, Tadalah was caught by the government in the course of an unrelated interaction with a law enforcement officer. After identifying her, they flagged her for being absent from the Army, for a period of approximately six years.
The Israeli government ensures that religious objectors suffer deprivation and indignities in Military Prison. What compounds the difficulty for Tadalah is that she reportedly has epilepsy, which is potentially life-threatening. Thus she needs constant supervision - not reliably being provided in jail. Consequently, this is piku'ach nefesh, even more so than the average case of girls incarcerated in Military Prison.
About six years ago, shortly after being drafted into the IDF, Tadalah fled the promiscuous Army environment, after witnessing first-hand the exploitive Army hefkeirus, which, many argue, renders the Army wholly unfit for any woman. Just recently, Tadalah was caught by the government in the course of an unrelated interaction with a law enforcement officer. After identifying her, they flagged her for being absent from the Army, for a period of approximately six years.
The Israeli government ensures that religious objectors suffer deprivation and indignities in Military Prison. What compounds the difficulty for Tadalah is that she reportedly has epilepsy, which is potentially life-threatening. Thus she needs constant supervision - not reliably being provided in jail. Consequently, this is piku'ach nefesh, even more so than the average case of girls incarcerated in Military Prison.
Why
the formidable Israeli military needs an epileptic soldier remains
somewhat of a mystery. This case is also reminiscent of the past
(antireligious) persecution of individual girls and women, which,
throughout history, has a demonstrated capacity to bring on awesome
Divine Retribution. For example, the Pirkei DeRebbi Eliezer, ch. 48,
relates how the Egyptian persecution of one Jewish mother triggered the
downfall of the mighty Egyptian empire via the Exodus (quoted by Rav
Meshulum Dovid Soloveichik Shlit"a, Droshos, end; cf. Radal ibid., 93,
99).
Tadalah faces a hearing tommorow, Wednesday Jan. 27, reliant on a government lawyer. If, Chas VeSholom, her case doesn't fare well, she could be facing grueling months in Military Prison for her "absence" from the Army.
Tadalah faces a hearing tommorow, Wednesday Jan. 27, reliant on a government lawyer. If, Chas VeSholom, her case doesn't fare well, she could be facing grueling months in Military Prison for her "absence" from the Army.
Tadalah is just one of
multiple religious Ethiopian girls imprisoned in recent months and
years over their principled resistance to the military draft. Another
heartbreaking case we covered in The Jewish Press and online is that of
Ziva bas Mazal M., https://daattorah. blogspot.com/2020/01/ religious-persecution-of- ethiopian-girl.html, https://daattorah.blogspot. com/2019/10/racial-profiling- or-pure-antireligious.html, https://daattorah.blogspot. com/2019/10/making-racism- great-again.html.
The
antireligious secularist Israeli Establishment has exhibited a
penchant for racism against Ethiopian Jews - and other Jews of color -
commensurate with it's well-demonstrated anti-Torah, anti-Jewish animus.
Ethiopian Jews suffer incarceration in Israeli Military Prison in
disproportionate numbers. Because they are naturally refined, they don't
take well to the very un-Jewish, coarse mistreatment rampant in the
Army. Many even commit suicide, R"L, under the abusive mistreatment they
endure under the pervasive secularist military regimen.
»» The tzibbur is requested to please take a few seconds to daven for Tadalah bas Mantjavush.
»» For more information, please text or call 845.642.1679.
»» For more information, please text or call 845.642.1679.
»»
A 24-hour Israeli Hotline for any female, independent of religious
background, who encounters problems with the Draft Offices, or who has
encountered sexual mistreatment in or by the Israeli Army, is
03.721.3337.
~~~~~
"... And if someone, like Pinchos, is one among a multitude, and every man is against him when he dares to speak out for truth and to fight for the Law -- the more lonely his stand, the greater the number of his adversaries, the more powerful is his word, the mightier his deed."
-- Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch OB"M (1808-1888), (in "Judaism Eternal," vol. 2, p. 293)
thank you for recognizing the ethiopian Jews as Jewish.
ReplyDeleteYosher koach, maybe now a wider spectrum of Hareidi world will do the same.
Maybe she or her family converted to Judaism.
ReplyDeletemaybe you consider them to be goyim otherwise
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of the Rabbinic establishment has never accepted the so-called Ethiopian Jews, as such, since they there is no evidence to support such claims.
ReplyDeleteDespite the similarities between the practices of the Beta Israel and the Torah, their beliefs and ritual are very different from mainstream Judaism. It is also admitted, that before the 15th century, there are no clues to knowing what their beliefs and ethno-religious affiliations looked like.
Also, a very important thing that most people are unaware of, is that contrary to what is accepted in the rest of the Jewish world; according to Ethiopian practice, a Jew is anyone who is born to a Jewish father. That throws a huge monkey wrench into any Jewish lineage they may have had in the past.
They don't have an oral law. They keep shabbat like the karaites, with no fires at all.
ReplyDelete" other rabbinic luminaries, such as Rashi, Rabad, and Abraham ben Maimon, cite Eldad as an unquestioned authority. Eldad ha-Dani speaks of the Falashas as Jews and describes the religious practices followed by the Falasha community."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sefaria.org/Contemporary_Halakhic_Problems%2C_Vol_I%2C_Part_II%2C_CHAPTER_XIV_Black_Jews%2C_A_Halakhic_Perspective?lang=bi
So I'm afraid that your claim is inaccurate, and that since eldad Hadani was accepted as an authority by Rashi , Raavad and ben Maimon, it actually goes back to the 9th and 10th centuries.
However, you want to be machmir and that is fine, but it doesn't mean they are goyim.
Also, by saying Ethiopian, he is implying she is Jewish
ReplyDeleteOtherwise would need to call her a ger zedek.
Did you ever hear of a ger being referred to as ashkenaz or Sephardi?
I did not posit that they're considered "vadai" non-Jews. My position merely is that their Jewishness hasn't been proven, and they therefore have the status of "safek goyim", and therefore require “geirus” in order to fully integrate with the Jewish People.
ReplyDeleteEven if we accept the legend of Eldad Ha'Dani, and the tale that he told, we have no proof that after 1,000 years, that these contemporary Ethiopians are the direct descendants of those same people, or that over the centuries they did not intermarry with neighboring non-Jews.
Totally irrelevant to the discussion if the so-called Ethiopian Jews are matrilinear descendants from the Israelite nation.
ReplyDeleteIf they have their own bet din, don't really need our verification
ReplyDeleteI said that regarding your claim. That they follow patrilineal line - if true, they fall out of the oral law.
ReplyDeleteif they were from the tribe of Dan, they could have ruled that way for themselves.
If they want to marry between themselves, then they don't need our verification. If they want to marry among us, then they need Halachic verification.
ReplyDeleteThey can decide what they want, for themselves. The minute they seek legitimacy by us, they are then judged by the Poskim by normative Halachic standards. The Halacha is that a person who only has patrilinear Jewish ancestry, is considered a Goy.
ReplyDeleteTo say that this is a very serious matter, is a tremendous understatement of epic proportions.
ReplyDeleteagreed
ReplyDeleteThis is a good halachic discussion of the issue
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sefaria.org/Contemporary_Halakhic_Problems%2C_Vol_I%2C_Part_II%2C_CHAPTER_XIV_Black_Jews%2C_A_Halakhic_Perspective?lang=bi
From the article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.sefaria.org.il/Contemporary_Halakhic_Problems%2C_Vol_I%2C_Part_II%2C_CHAPTER_XIV_Black_Jews%2C_A_Halakhic_Perspective?lang=bi
"Despite the unequivocal declaration of Radbaz with regard to the origins of the Falasha community, Radbaz' halakhic decision, handed down in the sixteenth century, may not be valid in the twentieth. In the course of the intervening four centuries it is entirely possible that there has been extensive intermarriage between the Falashas and the indigenous Abyssinian population."
I like Rav J David bleich shlita _ he is a giant Talmid chacham.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Oslo accords, I asked him if the huge opposition by rabbanim was a "rebellion against the nations". (3 oaths suggested by rav Yosef ztl).
His Answer was That There was a legitimate question As to weather Establishing the state of Israel was illegal But now that it is established Then that no longer matters.
This was the position of tab yosef henkin ztl.
Rabbi J D. Bleich just sat shiva for his brother z"l, who lived in Yerushalayim
ReplyDelete