UK rabbis slam Austrian peers for ‘shunning’ orthodox woman in custody battle
Some of London’s leading rabbis have slammed their peers in Austria for “shunning” an Orthodox woman after a Viennese court deprived a British Jewish mother of her children.
The group of 17 rabbis, from London, Liverpool, Reading and Manchester, as well as one from Australia, called on other rabbis to get involved, saying Beth Alexander had been through “dreadful and unnecessary pain”.
In a series of legal rulings following her divorce from Michael Schlesinger in 2009, Alexander lost custody of her children, Sammy and Benji, and is now limited to six nights a month, no weekends, having to pay handover fees and child maintenance.
Last year, British lawmakers said the case was “Kafkaesque,” and rabbis last week mirrored the language, calling the rulings which all but barred Beth from seeing her two boys “perverse” and “an injustice”.
The rabbis’ letter blasts the “Austrian Jewish community and certain members of the Austrian rabbinate [who] have largely shunned her,” and takes aim at “Austrian Jewish communal leaders [who] have not adequately supported a vulnerable and defenceless young woman”.
Among the signatories are Rabbi Danny Bergson of Pinner, Rabbi Boruch Boudilovsky of Borehamwood and Elstree, Rabbi Boruch Davis of Chigwell and Hainault, Rabbi Elchonon Feldman at Belmont, and Rabbi Yisroel Fine, formerly at Cockfosters.
Others include Rabbi Moshe Freedman from New West End shul, Rabbis Pinchas Hackenbroch and Gary Wayland of Woodside Park, Rabbis Dov Kaplan and Marc Levene of Hampstead Garden Suburb, Rabbi Daniel Roselaar of Alei Tzion, Rabbi Meir Salasnik from Bushey and Rabbi Nissan Wilson from Redbridge.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
