This is as crazy a story as any I have heard recently.
A beis din of financial issues in Mea Shearim was recently visited by a visitor that would just not leave. A dog showed up at the entrance to the beis din, and they were unsuccessful in their many attempts to chase it away.
When discussing what to do about the disturbance, they had decided to assume it was a gilgul coming "back" for a kapara of some sort, and they would say "machul lecha, machul lecha, machul lecha", you are forgiven, so that the soul could move on and ascend to heaven after receiving forgiveness for whatever its body had done wrong during it's life.
Before they did so, the dayanim of the beis din recalled that more than 20 years prior a famous lawyer (who remains unnamed) had taken the beis din to civil court regarding a psak they had issued. Beis Din had begged him to cancel the suit, but he refused. After they had to appear in court, they decreed upon the lawyer that after death he would return to the world in the form of a dog, and that would bring about his forgiveness.
They went to check it out and found that the lawyer died a few years ago. They then discussed how to proceeded and paskened that the dog needed to be stoned. The children of the area were called in to stone the dog, and they came and threw stones at it. After a while the dog left the area. (source: bechadrei)
Perhaps whenever the residents of Mea Shearim decide to throw stones they are really helping a troubled soul receive his forgiveness. Is it possible?
UPDATE: Maariv has apologized for misleading headlines..
Crazy, no. SICK. Teaching children to stone an animal will only leed to sociopathic behavior and even greater atrocities.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteLo tsar baale chaya.
Even if it was the lawyer, the decree only said he'd come back as a dog. They didn't have to take revenge!
ReplyDeleteThey are only trying to further frighten people from entering civil court suits when they don't agree with the beis din's pasken. They want to keep their power. The message is clear: follow our decisions, or you'll die and come back as a dog, and then we'll stone you.
ReplyDeleteThe way they told the children to stone the dog is sick. They are trying to raise sociopaths?
this story has made the rounds, as it clearly would. In Walla's report they say they spoke to the head of the beis din, Rav Levin, and he denies it. he says it never happened. there was a dog near the entrance to the beis din, and one of the people in the waiting room mentioned that they had tried to chase it away, That is as far as the story goes, according to the walla report. They never told kids to stone the dog.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.walla.co.il/?w=/1/1829151
Somewhere in this story there's a lawyer joke!
ReplyDeleteshame on Israel law, shame on Israel mentality. Ludicrous magical thinking that would only be imagined in medieval times. And lamentable cruelty against an innocent animal. Non acceptable attitude for a state that claims to be civilized.
ReplyDeletethe newspaper has apologized for misleading headlines as it turns out the rabbinical court never did any such thing and even had the municipal dog catcher collect the dog safely.
ReplyDeletesee http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2011/06/maariv-apologizes-about-misleading.html