R’ Yisroel Asher Wallis, Victim of Israeli Blood Libel, to Return Home

R’ Yisroel Asher Wallis, the victim of a well-documented blood libel in Israel, is finally returning home.

The Wallis case was reported in the past here on Matzav.com (see a comprehensive report here), but received more prominent coverage in Eretz Yisroel, where the State of Israel brought forth a case of alleged abuse against R’ Yisroel Asher Wallis, a young Yerushalmi father whose baby died, r”l.

Just before Pesach of 2006, R’ Yisroel Asher, then 19, was holding his crying three-month-old child in his tiny apartment, trying to rock the baby to sleep. The baby unexpectedly slipped from his hands, and banged his head on the wall before hitting the floor. The baby seemed limp. R’ Yisroel hastened to the emergency room, where the severity of his baby’s condition became apparent to the heartbroken father. The conscientious yungerman maintained a bedside vigil for nearly ten days, until, tragically, his infant son passed away.

The tactics used on R’ Yisroel Asher, falsely accused of murdering his child, are well documented. He was not allowed any visitors and was told that nobody wanted to visit him, in order to break his spirit. A smear campaign by the secular authorities ensued. Even come of the chareidi media in Israel repeated the lies and distortions.

Four years ago, in November 2008, R’ Yisroel Asher was sentenced to six years in prison. The details of the case, and the unproven charges against R’ Yisroel Asher, have been reported at length. Yidden, with no recourse, focused their efforts on trying to alleviate some of the financial burden faced by the Wallis family. R’ Yisroel Asher’s father, Rav Benzion Wallis, undertook responsibility on his son’s behalf.

R’ Yisroel Asher and his wife have one other child; the niftar had been their bechor.

At a parlor meeting in Lakewood three years ago for the Wallis family, Rav Dovid Schustal, rosh yeshiva of Beth Medrash Govoha, referred to the Wallis case as an “alilas dam,” a blood libel, and urged all who can to participate in helping the family.

The parole board has deducted one-third of the sentence for good behavior, and thus R’ Yisroel Asher is returning home after serving four of the six years of his sentence.

{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}