Rabbi David Satyu, rabbi of the city of Shoham and director general of the Tzohar rabbinical organization, filed - in a very unusual way - a defamation lawsuit in the amount of NIS 292,000 against the mayor of Nesher, Rabbi Yitzchak Levy.
The reason for filing the fall lawsuit is that Levy was interviewed on an ultra-Orthodox website, and according to Rabbi Satya, defamed him and called him a reformer.
In the lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys Assaf Benmelech and Ohad Wiegler in the Rishon Lezion Magistrate's Court, they complain that Rabbi Levy harmed Rabbi Satyu's good name in an interview on the Haredi website "Kikar Hashabat" at the end of last July, and was quoted in other sectoral media.
"During the interview," the lawyers wrote, "the defendant named Rabbi Satyu as an example of rabbis who could not be trusted to set halakhic guidelines regarding kosher, stated that he 'came into question,' and attributed to him so-called promiscuous halakhic rulings, which Rabbi Satyu never ruled. "While linking Rabbi Satyu to the Reform current in Judaism."
It was also written: "These are lies that were said with full awareness and with the first intention to turn Rabbi Satyu into an ax to strike at the kosher reform. There are things that are detrimental to Rabbi Satyu's good name and public office and make him a target for hatred."
The lawyers noted that Autumn asked Levy to retract his remarks, but he refused, inviting him to file a lawsuit against him under Torah law.
In addition, they said that last month a Shabbat newsletter was published, edited by Rabbi Levy, who stated that "in the past, they wanted to bring real Reform rabbis to the Chief Rabbinate and the Rabbinate of Jerusalem."
In response to "Israel Today," Rabbi Levy said he was unaware that a defamation lawsuit had been filed against him.
"I was sent a warning letter before a lawsuit, and I said he would sue me for Torah law," he confirmed.
"I do not believe that a mayor will sue another mayor in the courts and not through Torah law. In any case, I am not interested in arguing over a newspaper."
