After Rabbi Taylor gave counsel to the wife, the couple decided to divorce, and the husband launched an offensive against the rabbi, including a demand for Petro • The husband in response to the lawsuit: "Silence letter"
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Rabbi Nehemiah Taylor did not believe that he would find himself in a situation where he was forced to sue a man following a halakhic question to which he answered, and more for a total of one million shekels. But it turns out that as with everything there is a precedent, and after what his lawyer calls a scheming campaign and an attempt that failed to prevent the man from continuing to spread a goat on him, it was decided to file the lawsuit against him in the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court.
The story began in February 2018, when Rabbi Taylor, who serves as a rabbi in the Beit Midrash HaGadar in Bar Ilan and as a community rabbi in Petah Tikva, assisted his colleague in a nearby city and submitted a telephone answer to halakhic questions. One of the inquiries he received was from D. (pseudonym), who asked for a recommendation regarding "between him and her." After this request the same woman began to consult several times on various issues with the rabbi, when one of the meetings took place in his house, in the presence of his wife.
In January 2019, it was revealed to R. (pseudonym), D.'s husband, that she had approached the rabbi, and he had approached him with a demand to talk to him about the ruling of the halakhah. It turns out that at that time D. decided to start divorce proceedings, and R. aggressively and threateningly asked Rabbi Taylor to solve the problems in his family, even though the rabbi made it clear to R. that counseling with a rabbi is not a substitute for professional couple therapy. Later, in April 2019, R. sharpened the tone, sent an email to the rabbi in which he described the course of his relationship with his wife in detail and demanded that he contact D. and ask her to stop taking the divorce proceedings she began. The rabbi chose not to respond to this message. Will stop bothering him.
About a year ago, R. started a war of emails and telephone calls against Rabbi Taylor. He addressed the president of Bar Ilan University, the Tzohar rabbinical organization, Yeshivat Kerem in Yavne, synagogue rabbis and more, and according to the indictment, "he even handed out leaflets that included slander about the drowning man, and even came to the prosecutor's house and shouted at his neighbors."
In statements he issued, it was alleged in the indictment, he spread lies regarding Rabbi Taylor. "In these letters, the defendant expressed himself in a crude language saturated with accusations and hypotheses formulated in questioning and puzzling language, which was designed to impose blemish and serious accusations on the plaintiff, which denies his legitimacy as a rabbi and employee at Bar Ilan University, and presents him as a family member."
Rabbi Taylor asked Mr. to stop several times, and even issued a restraining order against him, which did not lower the height of the flames. "This week there was a lot of water, and the rabbi filed a lawsuit against the husband in the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court for NIS 1 million," his attorney noted. The main claim is about the damage to the rabbi's good name, following the fulfillment of his role as rabbi of the community.
Advocate Elon Eishar, representing Rabbi Taylor, stated: "It is not possible for a rabbi in Israel to feel threatened as a result of fulfilling his role as rabbi of a community. We tried to resolve the issue peacefully, but the husband chose to hurt, quarrel and threaten the rabbi, while harming the rabbi's good name - something for which there is no forgiveness. The conduct of the husband not only harms the good name of the husband but all the members of his community and the impact is acute. Should a person who seeks to consult a rabbi now fear that he will be swallowed up? The protection is not only for the rabbi but for the rabbinical institution. "
In response to "Israel Today", R. presented the original statement of claim he filed against Rabbi Taylor in the Court of Appointments last January, in which he demanded the immediate dismissal of Rabbi Taylor, due to what he defined as "negligent case law and immoral and inhumane conduct." In addition to Rabbi Taylor, he also sued the Tzohar organization and Bar Ilan University, and demanded the dismissal of Rabbi Taylor from the university and the termination of his representation in the Tzohar organization.
"It is unfortunate that Rabbi Taylor avoids facing Torah law, but chooses to threaten and petition a court instead of giving an answer to the interpretation of his rulings and behavior," R. said. He claimed that letters before a lawsuit filed by Rabbi Tyler's lawyer were "letters of silence." He further stated that "due to the behavior of 'Rabbi Taylor', it turns out that all my claims in the statement of claim before the Honorable Court of Appointments headed by the Honorable Rabbi Ratzon Arusi Shlita, Mayor of Kiryat Ono and member of the Chief Rabbinical Council of Israel, were correct."
