Children who are in solitary confinement in a shelter for battered women were required to move to a father, although this is prohibited according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health.
Rabbinical Court (illustration)
Photography:
Dudu Greenspan
Contrary to the law and the guidelines of the Ministry of Health: The Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem ordered an unusual move to transfer children who are with their mother in a shelter for battered women to their father as part of stay arrangements, even though some are positive for Corona and some are in isolation.
In a decision given last weekend, Dayan in the regional court ordered that despite guidelines from the Ministry of Health that do not allow children to move in isolation between divorced parents, unless they can maintain the isolation and only once - the court ordered to continue the stay arrangements as usual, despite the isolation and despite The fear on the part of infection.
The affair began last December, when a Jerusalem resident, a mother of eight, filed for divorce due to violence by her husband. She was sent to a shelter with all her children, the eldest of whom was 15 and the youngest only one and a half years old.
At the same time, divorce proceedings began in the court.
A few days ago two of the children were diagnosed as positive for the corona virus and isolated, the rest of their siblings also went into isolation due to their exposure to their verified siblings.
But then the father appealed to the rabbinical court to continue the stay arrangements set for the father.
Although due to the duty of isolation on the person exposed to a verified patient the children are not allowed to leave their home, the father demanded that the children be transferred to him.
In an unusual move, the court ordered the stay arrangements to continue, despite the children's illness, in violation of the Ministry of Health's guidelines on the subject.
According to the guidelines, children may be transferred only once during isolation to a parent, but a situation in which they will be transferred back and forth is not permitted.
The mother, the court ruled, must transfer the children according to the stay arrangements and if this is not done, the mother will be charged heavy expenses for the contempt of court.
This creates an absurd situation in which the mother is trapped.
On the one hand, there is a clear directive of the Rabbinical Court, but on the other hand, if the children are sent to the father's house in violation of the law, it may incur a heavy fine for violating the isolation, because the guidelines are clear.
In the mother's environment, contact the Ministry of Health for instructions as the clock ticks back quickly because the decisions must be made immediately and the children are expected to pass into the hands of the father.
The Ministry of Health clarified in response that moving from one place of isolation to another is allowed only in exceptional cases that have received a special permit because the existing place of isolation does not allow the stay of the isolated.
In any case, the Ministry of Health prohibits migration from house to house during isolation, certainly not migration and back again.
Attorney Rebecca Schwartz, representing the mother, responded: "We conduct the hearing within the walls of the court and not in the media."
The rabbinical courts did not respond until the news was published.
Their response will be published when received.