Family members of the newlywed avreich, Avraham Ben Dayan, who was prevented from putting on tefillin on Sunday after he was imprisoned on Motzei Shabbos for “draft dodging,” are furious at IDF officials for their violation of his most basic religious rights.

The avreich’s wife of two months, Esty, spoke with Kol Barama Radio on Monday morning.

“Police officers stopped the car for a routine check, and the policewoman arrested my husband and told him he was coming with them to Sde Teiman,” she said.

“I went there but no one could tell me where he was. They told me he was on the way to Ofakim, and then a soldier called me and told me he was at the Bahad base. All night they lied to us. They took him and didn’t let me speak to him.”

“They sent us all night from place to place as if he were a terrorist. I had always heard from afar about arrests. My husband only received two draft notices. He learns Torah day and night, a kollel student who learns a full day.”

She added that the most disturbing part was the violation of her husband’s basic rights during his detention. “At five in the afternoon, before the court hearing, they let him speak to me for one minute. He was broken and told me that they didn’t allow him to put on tefillin. He was devastated by it—completely broken and crushed. In a Jewish state, not allowing someone to put on tefillin? It’s a busha and cherpah.”

Esty said that she is still shocked and devastated but was mechazeik after receiving a phone call from HaGaon HaRav Moshe Hillel Hirsch. ““The Rosh Yeshiva called us and was mechazeik us,” she said.

During a Knesset meeting on Monday, Degel HaTorah chairman Moshe Gafni harshly criticized the conduct of the IDF, saying, “I don’t intend to remain silent about this matter. A person who was arrested for no reason was not allowed to lay tefillin for an entire day—it’s reminiscent of communist Russia.”

Meanwhile, the police are preparing today for protests by Peleg Yerushalmi in several areas following the arrests of Ben Dayan and a bochur in Be’er Yaakov.

According to the group’s statements, the protests are expected to begin at 4:00 p.m. in the Bnei Brak area and in southern cities.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)