The Ashlag Rebbe, Rav Simcha Ashlag, grandson of Rav Yehuda Leib Ashlag ZATZAL (the Baal HaSulam), will return this weekend to the partial detention he and his Gabbai received in February, in which the two are forbidden to leave Paris.
The sentence of partial detention was issued by a judge after a substantial quantity of illegal drugs – which the Rebbe and his Gabbai maintain they knew nothing about – was found in the travelers’ posession.
The incident took place back in February, when according to the Rebbe, a religious-looking man who presented himself as a clothing manufacturer from Turkey approached him. The man claimed that he heard that prior to his trip to the United States the Rebbe was expected to fly to Turkey and therefore requested that he take four suitcases packed with clothing with him to his needy family in the United States.
The Rebbe says that he agreed to help the man, but when the local customs official at the Paris airport asked him and his assistant to open their luggage, it turned out that aside from clothing, there were 44 pounds of drugs hidden in the suitcase.
Their attorneys, Yitzhak Osbicher and Moti Zivin filed a request through their representatives in Paris to allow the Rebbe and his Gabbai to visit Eretz Yisroel over Yom Tov. The judge agreed to the request, clearing the way for the Rebbe to spend recent weeks with his family and Chasidim in Bnei Brak.
Attorney Osbicher commented, “This is a rare case in which a drug smuggling suspect who is not a French citizen, is released under no conditions but rather only based on his personal liability. This apparently proves that the judge is starting to believe that the Hassidic leader and his assistant were led astray and that someone took advantage of their kind-heartedness.”
Osbicher added, “We would like to emphasize that the public needs to know that a small favor they ask from someone may cause them to pay the price of a heavy and unnecessary legal case.”
(Source: Ynet)
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5 Responses
We must do everything possible to free the Rebbe!
This is an outrage.
the divrei chaim was also held under “house arrest” under orders of king franz yosef (after intervention of rav shimon sofer (the chasam sofer’s son), rav of krakow (under which sanz was a part of), due to a particular interesting halachic issue i will not get into here.
of course, this “house arrest” allowed the rebbe to go ANYWHERE he wanted to go, in town, out of town, etc.
MiMedinat HaYam
If you can please provide me with “Mareh Mekomos” for this piece of History, its seems very interesting. I’d really appreciate it!
Rabbeinu Gershom was also arrested and held on false charges.
This is as old as golus itself.
to #3 heimeshe yid:
as i wrote, it was a halachic issue. the sanzer rov put someone in nidui, and the person went to the king to protest. so he was to be “arrested”.
rav shimon sofer, a member of the kings parliament, went to the king. the king was ready to do what the rav wanted, but even the pope cant put someong in (their form of) cherem, so what can i (the king) do?
besides “michtav shenishlach venechtam betabaat hamelech ein lehashiv” (patraphrase from the end of megillat ester), which was law even then in ostrreich (and even law today in the us)
so they agreed to keep the diverei chaim in official “house arrest”, but in practice, the rav did whatever he wanted to do, ignoring the “official” house arrest.
of course, to #5 sammygoel — the first question seurity asks is “did YOU pack these bags, are YOU taking something for someone!
its a security issue, as well as a legal issue