The Irish Supreme Court has ordered the authorities to provide kosher food to the prison where Rabbi Jonathan Avraham, 47, of London, is being held after Irish police raided a house where he was to perform an illegal circumcision on a non-Jewish child.
According to him, his rights were violated because he was not provided with kosher food. The Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Rabbi Yoni Weider, told the Jewish Chronicle that "everyone I spoke to agreed that Rabbi Abraham should be provided with kosher food and expressed a willingness to help. Unfortunately, however, no satisfactory solution has been found."
"I have informed the prison staff on numerous occasions that kosher meals must be prepared in kosher utensils, using certified ingredients, and under the supervision of a Rabbi. There was no way to comply with these requirements without outsourcing to a kosher vendor. I appreciate, of course, that there is a strict protocol regarding the introduction of outside food into prisons. Nevertheless, this is a matter of the right of the individual to religious freedom, and is readily accepted in other prisons when necessary."
"Until the court proceedings, Rabbi Avraham ate little more than cereal for breakfast. But for the case, it would have lasted for weeks", the rabbi said. "The Jewish community members were shocked to discover that Rabbi Avraham had no access to kosher meals until that point." Now Rabbi Avraham will have kosher food and will have daily access to tefillin.
According to suspicion, Rabbi Avraham, a certified mohel, performed circumcisions on Muslims in contravention of the terms of his license.