Wed., 4 Ellul, '79
By Binyomin Feinberg,
Contributor to The Jewish Press*
* Views and perspectives herein do not necessarily reflect those of the ownership or management of The Jewish Press.
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For Giyus Banos updates throughout the week, visit:
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As of now, Avigail L. H. risks arrest by Israeli military police for her courageous refusal to comply with anti-Torah Israeli draft orders - while her mother battles both cancer and the IDF simultaneously.
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A 17 y/o Chabad girl in Israel, Avigail L. H., is under immediate threat of arrest, despite being under 18, because of her refusal to comply with Israeli military draft orders. Her mother, Mrs. Ruth E. H., a baalas teshuva, and a former Israeli Air Force captain, who has been battling cancer for seven years, is simultaneously battling the government's bizarre insistence on harassing her only daughter.
Avigail submitted her religious certification properly and on time. But, in February, just after she turned 17, her mother had a shocking conversation with a Jerusalem Draft Office official, Keren L. (now a Colonel). In that
conversation, according to Mrs. H., Officer L. refused to accept that Avigail is Chareidi, and therefore legally entitled to a religious exemption." I will decide" that question she said, adding that "I will profane (or "violate") The Vineyard ("Achalail et HaKerem"), and I will start with your daughter."*
Since then, the family has been enduring incessant harassment by the IDF draft office. Now Avigail has been threatened with arrest.
It is Keren's antireligious agenda of "profaning the Vineyard" that is what appears to be behind the bizarre vendetta against this indisputably Chareidi teenage girl.
As the legal process proceeds, this needless battle takes a serious toll on the health of the severely ill mother. It's literally a situation of pickuach nefesh. B"H, an especially suitable attorney has been retained for this case.
Donations for attorney fees are needed. Donations may be made to "Shomrei Torah," 646-585-3044. Specifically designate funds for the case of Avigail Leah H..