Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, and Rabbi Dov Stein of the nascent Sanhedrin initiative, a rabbinic court modeled after the supreme religious judicial body of sages that meted out justice during the Temple period, were arrested for over two hours of questioning today. The issue: Religious rulings they handed down a year ago.
The rulings in question concerned a teenaged girl, Tzviyah Sariel, who was arrested a year ago during the eviction of residents of a Jewish settlement outpost in southern Binyamin named Ramat Migron. Though normally such arrests end after a few hours or a day, in this case the girl refused to recognize the authority of the court. She stood by her belief that in the Land of Israel it is incumbent upon a Jewish court to render verdicts according to law rooted in Jewish tradition. She therefore refused to speak in court or defend herself in any way.
A religiously observant police investigator, Chaim Toledano of Ofra, asked that her remand be extended time after time, and a religiously observant judge, Miriam Prives Lifschitz of the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, complied. The two of them were ostracized to varying extents in their respective communities because of the way they treated the young girl.
The Honenu legal rights organization and the girl's mother, Mrs. Ruth Sariel, turned to the Sanhedrin on this matter. Acting as a religious court, the Sanhedrin summoned Judge Lifschitz to a hearing, but she did not appear. The Sanhedrin's court later ruled that the public must relate to Toledano and Lifschitz in accordance with the rulings of the Shulhan Arukh [the traditional Jewish Law Code] regarding those who do not abide by religious court rulings, trample Jewish Law, and cause harm to fellow Jews. It also stated that Sariel was correct in taking the approach that she did.
Rabbis Ariel and Stein, who were signed on the above rulings, were questioned on suspicion of having shown contempt for the Israeli law system. They were released around 3 PM. It is not yet known whether they will be charged.