The torch lighting ceremony is one of the main highlights of Yom Haatzmaut, Independence Day, in Israel.

an interesting case came before the beis din in Tel Aviv of a Yemenite woman who could not get a divorce from her husband.

The story goes that this woman was forcibly married off to her husband as a child in 1993 in Yemen. The husband was a violent man and would beat her along with other violent acts against her. At some point in a complicated mission, the Jewish Agency and the security forces pulled off the complicated task of sneaking her out of Yemen with her 6 children. Initially they were taken to the United States and eventually to Israel. The only problem remaining was that she remained married to her husband back in Yemen and communication with him became very difficult due to the complicated security situation in Yemen. This husband had converted to Islam in Yemen and seemingly all hope of getting a gett from him was lost due to the complications.

The dayyan in Tel Aviv investigated the case and analyzed her kesuba and the details of her wedding speaking to family members and friends and others of the few Jews in Yemen.

The dayyan's conclusion was that the original marriage can be nullified due to a number of justifications to invalidate it retroactively. In a 250 page psak, Rav Aviran Yitzchak HaLevi details 19 halachic reasons to release her from the marriage, including the kashrus of the witnesses, the process of the wedding itself, the husband's eventual conversion, and the fact that she was married against her will, and more.

At the end of the psak Rav Aviran Yitzchak Halevi and the beis din declared her marriage annulled and declared her a single woman who could marry another man if she so desires.
sources: Behadrei, Haredim10, Kikar

Lahav Levine, a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, posted the following report out of Yemen...



If Israel would try such a thing as a way of solving the Palestinian problem, by either forcing conversion or deportation, would the world let it happen? If any European country would say all Muslims must either convert to Christianity  or be deported, would the world let it happen? Would the Muslims be ok with it?

Why is this ok in today's world??

The Jewish Agency just conducted a secret operation to bring 17 more Yemenite Jews to Israel. I heard on the radio last night that after this mission, only 90 Jews remain living in Yemen, specifically in the city of Saa'na.

Kibbutz Gakuyot and being a haven for Jews, and being a home for Jews, is a major part of what Israel is all about. And despite the plenty of things there are to be upset about with this or that government, at the end of the day Israel is here to do things like this, and even when they aren't doing other things to the best of our liking, they still get some things right...

To quote the Jewish Agency's press release:
The group included two set of parents, who were brought directly to Israel from Yemen, and ten of their children, who were brought to Argentina two years ago. The new immigrants landed at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night and were brought to their new homes at a Jewish Agency absorption center in the South, where they will begin the next chapter of their lives as free and protected Jews living in the State of Israel. 

 "Tonight we are privileged to engage in a mission that combined the saving of lives, the reunification of a family, and Aliyah [immigration] to Israel," said Chairman Natan Sharansky. 

"Behind the scenes of this operation lie the dedication and expertise of The Jewish Agency and other bodies who all contributed to the mission's success. The Jewish Agency stands at the ready to bring any Yemeni Jew who expresses interest in making Aliyah to Israel, and to help the local community in any way possible," said Chairman Sharansky.

Here is some video of them in the airport - it starts off slow but gets emotional quickly when they are reunited with their kids.



Another point - next time you see a Burqa Lady walking down the street, don't heap scorn on her - maybe she isn't one of the crazy women, but maybe she just got off the plane from Yemen.

While discrimination in religious schools is nothing new (neither is discrimination in non-religious schools), the particular form I was just made aware of was particularly shocking to me.

Normally the discrimination I hear of is Sephardi or Ethiopian kids not getting accepted into an ashkenazi school. It is way more common than it should be, but there is nothing new or particularly shocking about it.

This particular case, at least to me, was particularly shocking. A young man (whom we know through various channels), is of Yemenite descent. He has the classic "Yemenite" peyos and appearance. This young man is, as far as I can tell, smart and a mensch and comes from a good family.

This fellow is looking for a yeshiva to learn in. Having been told that his appearance, and specifically his peyos, might present a problem, he decided to go to the gedolim and ask if he should perhaps cut them off so they will not be an impediment to getting accepted into yeshiva. He went to a couple of gedolim (irony of ironies, he went to Ashkenazi gedolim), and was told to not remove his peyos, and he would succeed at getting accepted into a good yeshiva.

He went for his entrance exams to the yeshiva of his choice, and did reportedly well. Unfortunately, his application was rejected anyway because he refused to cut off his peyos. The rosh yeshiva told him that in this yeshiva we don't have peyos, and if he was not willing to get rid of them it would not be a good fit.

I guess there is what to be said for uniformity, that's why many schools have school uniforms, but it was particularly shocking for me to hear that a yeshiva was insisting on a young man cutting off his peyos. It makes no sense. the Torah says not to cut one's peyos - different people take that to mean different specific forms, Briskers have one type, different hassidic groups leave their peyos different styles and lengths, different yeshivas encourage various lengths.. but to insist on the peyos being cut off rather than left to the individual taste even if different than the standard? That was shocking.

Peyos being cut off is something the non-Zionists and especially the anti-Zionists have always accused the early-State secular Zionists of doing to religious childrne, and Yemenite children, upon arrival in the Land of Israel (pre-State as well as after the formation of the State). Even nowadays some accuse the army of almost forcibly changing religious kids to not-frum, and specifically have pointed to some unscientific pronouncement of the number of boys who go into the army with defined peyos relative to the number that come out with peyos still intact.

When I hear about forcibly cutting off peyos, that is what I think of. Are the Ashkenazi yeshivas guilty of the same? Could it be? Is uniformity really that important that they wish, nay - deserve, to be associated with the anti-religious secular Zionists of old who forced kids to cut off their peyos? It didn't just happen 60 years ago, but it still happening today?

This young man will have to simply find a yeshiva to learn in that is not so anti-Torah...

Shocking.

Satmar and the Yemenite Jews

(at the end of each section of video you can click to go to the next part)


The description of the video on Youtube:

The Ultra-orthodox jewish sect Satmar has throughout many years driven a campaign in Yemen with the purpose of persuading them to immigrate to the United States, and not Israel.. When the Jaradi's arrives in the community of Monroe is New York they experience a traumatic event in which their children are taken away from them and put in custody of the satmar. This is the story of how the Jaradi's try desperately to recover their children, and how Yemenite Jews are being exploited and harassed by the hasidic community.

I never heard this before. I have heard of the work Satmar does with the Yemenite community, and was always under the impression that they were doing good work saving and helping them, and they simply preferred bringing them to New York instead of Israel because of their anti-Zionist views, combined with their belief that if they would go to Israel many would become not religious or less religious. I never before heard anythign like this.

Does anybody know particulars about what goes on? Is there truth to this? Are they really doing the same exact thing they continue to hold the Zionists in such contempt for because of what was, allegedly, done in the 1950s?

I don't know if this is like the Yemenite version of American Idol (Yemenite Idol?) or just an entertainment program, but this is interesting..

So it turns out that the Neturei Karta does not just want Israeli Jews to live under Muslim rule, but they seem in general to want Jews to be living under Muslim rule.

On Friday the Neturei Karta sent out via their email list a protest statement against Satmar. The NK were protesting, an official m'cha'a, the work Satmar has been doing to transplant the remaining Yemenite Jews in Yemen to England. The statement said that the only true way to save the Yemenite Jews is to help them continue living in their own land, in Yemen, as has been proven by experience.

They attached a document with 8 pages explaining how horrible it is for these people to have been moved to England. To be honest I only read a small portion, a very small portion, of their document of proofs.

It doesn't matter that they fear for their lives in Yemen because of the murder of and attacks on Jews in the past few years. And nobody is forcing them out, but they are looking for this assistance, whether from the Israeli government to relocate to Israel or via Satmar to relocate to the USA and England.

But the Neturei Karta seems to think all Jews, not just Israelis, should be living under Muslim rule and that is what is best for us.

Briefly, in the early days of the State of Israel, it has been claimed, the secular Zionist government was very sympathetic to Jews of Ashkenazy origin and prejudiced to Jews of Sephardic origin.

It has been claimed that the leaders of Israel took advantage of immigrants from Arabic countries, mostly Yemenite Jews, due to their overwhelming naivete and trust of the government. The government was supposedly responsible for a campaign of stealing their babies and "selling" them to Ashkenazy couples, usually childless and willing to pay alot of money.
The natural parents would be told their child had died in childbirth, or shortly after because of a disease or birth defect and had to be buried right away. The parents would be left with nothing to do other than mourn their dead child.
Unbeknowest to them the child was really removed from the hospital and sold to childless Ashkenazy couples for lots of money.

This has never really been verified whether the allegations are true or not, but there is a lot of proof out there. The story almost came to a head a few years ago when a mother and daughter reunited claiming the daughter, Tzilla Levine had supposedly been "dead at childbirth" but was really raised on a kibbutz.
The story died down when the DNA was inconclusive. One DNA test had shown with 99% definity that they were mother daughter, but then a new test had been ordered by the government which contradicted the earlier tests findings and was less conclucive and not a high enough percentage to be considered proof.

There is plenty of information available. The results of a Google search using the words sold Yemenite children can be seen here.

Rabbi Uzi Meshullam gathered evidence and names of over 4500 children but was then arrested. He was let go after a number of years due to health problems, with the condition of his release being that he would not continue the investigations.


Here we have a fascinating story that seems to show the Yemenite community were not the only victims of evil government beaurocrats. In this story a Satmar couple had given birth to twins. One died in childbirth and the second, the parents were told, had died shortly after childbirth due to a fatal disease and had already been buried. The parents had nothing to do other than mourn their babies.

It turns out a young man in Canada, raised as a non-Jew, was told in his will by his dead mother that he had been adopted when he was just a few days old and is really from Bnei Brak in Israel. The young man has gone on to search for the truth and to find his real family and is now in the process of genetic testing.