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DAILY SHVITZ

Haredi Chooses Jail Over House Arrest
Meryl Yourish

by Meryl Yourish, January 11, 2007

2 comments

A religious Jew has chosen jail over house arrest because he says the house arrest ankle bracelet violates Shabbat. I think this particular case illustrates what I've thought for years: If Gentiles left us alone, our own infighting would tear us apart. Case in point: The Haredi riots.

A haredi activist arrested for allegedly pummeling opponents during a violent turf war demanded an exemption this week from wearing a house-arrest monitor on Shabbat.

But a Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge ruled that if the man does not wear the ankle bracelet monitor at all times, he must go to jail. As a result, Avraham Zarbiv, 24, who first made a name for himself in haredi circles by spearheading an angry and sometimes violent offensive against attempts to enlist yeshiva students in the IDF, was removed this week from house arrest and imprisoned because of his punctilious observance of the Jewish day of rest.

This man is definitely no angel. And yet, the Haredi are threatening riots if he goes to jail this weekend. This would be on top of the riot they threw when a security company arrived after he took the bracelet off.

Various rabbis have given their opinion on the legality of wearing a house arrest bracelet on Shabbat.

Rabbi Haim Kanyevsky, one of the most respected in the Lithuanian community, ruled by proxy that use of the monitoring system on Shabbat was prohibited.

Metzger, quoting Kanyevsky, Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau, and Rabbi Tuvia Weiss, head of the Edah Haredit's Rabbinic Court, joined the opposition against the monitoring system. However, none of the rabbis explained why the Zomet Institute's halachic opinion was wrong.

In contrast, Zomet's Rosen explained why he permitted the use of the bracelet. "In the prisoner's house there is an electronic receiver that constantly receives broadcasts from the ankle bracelet," explained Rosen.

"The prisoner's movements do not activate anything. As long as the prisoner does not leave the perimeters of the house he remains within broadcast range of the electronic receiver and no alarm is activated. There is no difference between the ankle bracelet and any conventional battery-powered wrist watch."

I am far from an expert on Halacha, but it seems to me that in this respect, the Haredi don't have a leg to stand on. So to speak.


Meryl Yourish

Meryl Yourish is a blogger living in Richmond, VA, after spending most of her life in northeastern NJ. She writes about Israel and Jewish issues on http://yourish.com/, the blog she started in April of 2001 (pre-Instapundit


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2 comments | leave a comment

Anonymous

01/11/07 6:37 pm
Ankle bracelet logic

While I am no expert in Halacha, I can see an obvious difference in the ankle bracelet and a watch. Ignore the actual use of the bracelet being worn and consider the similar use of a constantly transmitting radio device in the house. If it is in the category of an object with no permitted purpose on Shabbat, then a person is forbidden to move it around, even within private property (so that "carrying" does not apply). If that is the case (and I do not know that it is), then as he moves around, he is constantly moving the object (a forbidden act). Since it is not in the category of "jewelry" (as would be the case of a watch), it is not permitted under the rules of "clothing". In fact there are people who do not wear watches on Shabbat because they would not wear it if it stopped working and may thus not be in the category of "adornment" like a bracelet.

In order to understand the actual determination from Rav Kanievsky, I would have to see what he actually said and how the question was presented to him. In the world of Halacha, the analogy can be raised of comparing him to Justice Roberts or Alita (forgetting about politics and speaking about capability).

If someone like me can see the possibility so quickly, one would have to read his responsum in depth before daring to disagree.

Sabba Hillel



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