One of the three Hassidic yeshiva boys sentenced in Japan can breathe a sigh of relief: The Japanese prosecution has not appealed his "light" six-year sentence.
On the other hand, the tribulations of another of the three are apparently not over, even though he is now serving the duration of his prison sentence in Israel. Shortly after his arrival in Israel a month ago in Israel, he spoke with a leading rabbi – and his remarks were then published as an “interview.” The prison authorities, ever sensitive to the international ramifications of remarks made by prisoners-from-abroad, have threatened to restrict his visitation and other rights.
Yosef B., the youngest of the three and the prisoner who is now in Israel, was sentenced to 5-8 years in prison, with the likelihood of parole. Given that the Japanese must still determine whether the sentence is five or eight years, it is not clear when he will be released.
The other two boys arrested with Yosef are Yoel G., whose trial has not yet begun, and Yosef G., who was recently sentenced to six years in prison. It had been feared that the prosecution would appeal and insist on a 13-year-sentence, which is why his counsel did not try to get a lesser sentence, but the deadline for such passed last week, and the Goldstein family and his lawyers are pleased. He is expected to return to Israel by the summer.
The three had been asked by an erstwhile “friend” - who is now imprisoned in Israel, awaiting trial - to carry suitcases to Japan, unaware – as the court ruled – that the false bottoms were carrying drugs.
The “interview” with Yosef B. was published first in Sha’ah Tovah magazine, and then, in part, on the Yeshiva World News website. It was actually an exchange between the boy and the Chief Rabbi of Migdal HaEmek, Rabbi Yitzchak David Grossman, who was apparently the only non-family member to visit him during his first weeks in Israeli prison. Yosef talked of the terrible difficulties he suffered alone in a foreign culture, and said it was his faith in G-d that kept him going.
However, the head of the prison in which Yosef is incarcerated summoned him after the publication, telling him that because he did not receive permission to be “interviewed,” his visitation and vacation rights could be severely restricted.
“The isolation was very difficult,” Yosef was quoted as telling Rabbi Grossman. “As a yeshivah bachur [student], I was used to a certain society, a social circle, and suddenly, there I was, without a living soul to talk to, totally alone… It wasn’t only the loneliness, but the actual living conditions, which are much harsher than those in Eretz Yisrael. At first, I slept on a mattress on the floor – that was the only thing they gave me.” Only a year later did he receive a table and chair. He also subsisted at first only on vegetables, and afterwards, “Good people provided me with some food but never meat, certainly not hot food… I lost 40 kilo. Not only didn’t I have decent food but I was terribly anxious – consumed with worry, all the time, and feeling terrible.”
Yosef also said that he did not know at first that “the outside world was even aware of my situation. That was when people from the embassy came to visit me… [Before that,] I felt as if I had disappeared off the face of the earth, that I was lost in a distant and foreign land whose language I couldn’t begin to comprehend and whose social norms were alien to me. I simply didn’t know what they wanted from me.”
When he learned that Jews knew about his imprisonment, he said, it made it “a lot [easier]. I learned that the press was writing about me and keeping the Jewish world informed about me and that everyone was praying for me… It gave me hope that someday, I would leave that place, in the merit of all the prayers of Israel.”
Asked what kept him going, he said, “My emunah [faith]. In such a situation, when you’re far from home, from the yeshivah and your friends, only emunah can give you strength. A person without faith simply falls apart. What stood by me was the education I received at home – that G-d is everywhere and watches over us all the time. Whatever G-d does is for the best. During my difficult moments, I really felt that G-d was there with me in my Japanese cell.”
As stated, however, Yosef, never formally gave an interview, and family members were reportedly upset that the publication of his remarks was liable to hurt him and his family. “Why not ask us before publishing the interview?” a brother of Yosef lamented. “Are they not aware that much sensitivity is needed with a prisoner who has been transferred from a foreign prison?” Family members also said that Yosef called home and wept at the consequences of his remarks.
The Sha'ah Tovah magazine responded, “The Rabbi of Migdal HaEmek, known as a central figure in bringing the boy back to Israel, visited him and heard his experiences, in response to the questions he asked him, as our magazine noted. In view of the interests of the other arrestees in Japan and Israel, we are unable to add details.”
A lawyer involved in the “Japan boys” case evaluated for Israel National News that publication of this article, merely a “review” of what occurred in the past, would not hurt Yosef B.