[COMMUNICATED]
On a regular shabbos, Batel would be in her parents’ house. Maybe she would sleep in, and sleepily walk out to have her morning coffee and a cookie that her mother made for kiddush. She would spend time with her family, have the seuda, maybe take a nap or read a book.
This shabbos – was different.
Recently, Batel and 3 friends were offered an “all expenses paid” trip to Bulgaria by a member of our community, in exchange for bringing a suitcase with items perfectly legal in Israel. Growing up sheltered, they had know idea they were being tricked. Upon arrival, they were arrested and brought to prison. She has been subjected to harsh conditions unheard of in the Israeli or US penal system and sentenced to a shocking 15 years in prison.
This shabbos was spent by Batel in a cold, dark jail cell. She was surrounded by violent criminals who hate Jews. She feared for her life. She cried for her future. She cried to be in her parents’ home on shabbos once more.
Her family is desperately trying to raise enough money to hire lawyers and translators to free Batel from prison and bring her back to Israel. This is a real and genuine case of pidyon shvuyim.
Who in their right mind would let their daughter go to Bulgaria of all places on a vacation? Something sounds real fishy here. In our family our chidren are sheltered too. But none of us leaves Eretz Yisroel just stam for vacation. We go to America to visit parents, grandparents, for Pesach. We wouldn’t even visit Eilat for pleasure. And we certainly would not let our children travel by themselves without a proper destination. Maybe we would aend our daughter to help my sister abroad. But we’d know where she was going and what she was taking. This whole story sounds like something out of a fiction novel.