A Skverer yungerman who was arrested earlier this week while attempting to resolve his military status was released from an Israeli military prison on Wednesday, allowing him to return home just one day before the bris of his firstborn son.
The release of Yitzchok Cohen brought considerable relief and simcha to the Skverer community after several tense days during which there were fears that he would remain incarcerated and miss his son’s bris, scheduled to take place Thursday in Yerushalayim.
The episode began when Cohen traveled to Camp Yotam in Eilat in an effort to regularize his status with the military. He hoped to resolve the matter so that he would be permitted to travel abroad for the upcoming Yomim Tovim and spend the Yomim Noraim in the presence of the Skverer Rebbe in the United States.
Instead, Cohen was arrested at the military facility and transferred into military custody. He was subsequently sentenced to seven days in Prison 10.
His arrest immediately raised concerns that his incarceration would prevent him from attending the bris of his first child.
Over the ensuing days, askanim and attorneys became heavily involved in the case, undertaking intensive efforts to secure Cohen’s early release and emphasizing the urgency of allowing him to participate in his family’s simcha.
Those efforts ultimately succeeded. Cohen was released Wednesday, several days before his sentence was scheduled to end, and returned home to his family.
On Thursday morning, he is expected to stand alongside his family in Yerushalayim as his firstborn son enters the bris of Avrohom Avinu.
The development comes as the Skverer Rebbe himself has been invited to participate Thursday in a meeting with President Donald Trump as part of a delegation of Admorim and rabbonim.
It now appears that the Rebbe will send his eldest son, Rav Aharon Mendel Twersky, to participate in the meeting, while the Rebbe’s own attendance remains uncertain.
{Matzav.com}
