Dei'ah veDibur - Information & Insight
  

A Window into the Charedi World

26 Iyar 5759 - May 12, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
NEWS

OPINION
& COMMENT

HOME
& FAMILY

IN-DEPTH
FEATURES

VAAD HORABBONIM HAOLAMI LEINYONEI GIYUR

TOPICS IN THE NEWS

HOMEPAGE

News
Gedolei Yisroel Visit R' Aharon Kornblit in Prison

by Yated Ne'eman Staff

This past Sunday HaRav Aharon Leib Steinman and HaRav Chaim Kanievsky visited R' Aharon Kornblit in the Sharon prison. R' Kornblit has been detained for more than six months. The charge against him is that he was one of the organizers of the burning of the missionary apartment in Meah Shearim, but the only evidence was the testimony of someone who later said that it was not true. The gedolei haTorah were accompanied by Rabbi Moshe Gafni, secretary general of Degel HaTorah.

HaRav Shmuel Auerbach asked Prime Minster Netanyahu to make efforts to free R' Kornblit, and told him that this was an important mitzvah of pidyon shevuyim of a person who has been languishing in prison for a long time. He stressed that if Netanyahu took action on behalf of Kornblit's release, he would merit an important mitzvah.

Rabbi Kornblit was moved to tears by the visit of the gedolei Yisroel. In response to the question of whether he had been in solitary confinement in a cell which is very narrow and without any air vents or light, Rabbi Kornblit replied that he had indeed been kept under such conditions for two days, during which he had only garlic and bread, and a bit of water. Rabbi Kornblit's reply was contradicted by the statement of the prison's commander to Rabbi Gafni only a few moments earlier. Rabbi Kornblit added that during the forthcoming days he might be transferred to the Ayalon prison, where the conditions are much easier for shomrei mitzvos.

The gedolei Yisroel displayed much interest in the situation of Rabbi Kornblit's family, and asked where his children studied, how he was treated in prison, and about the kashrus of the food. At the end of the moving visit, HaRav Steinman and HaRav Kanievsky blessed him that with Hashem's help he be released very shortly, and that his family would not be adversely affected by his long stay.


All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.