[Video below.] Authorities on Thursday evening made public rare video footage from a raid conducted at a residence in the town of Yavne’el, after receiving information that a marriage involving a minor was taking place.
According to officials, when police entered the home, relatives present insisted that the gathering was only a vort, which is permitted under the law and does not constitute a violation.
Despite those claims, a search of the premises revealed items that appeared to contradict that version of events. Officers discovered a kesubah that they believe had been intentionally concealed, along with a glass designated for the customary breaking at a chasunah and a wedding ring.
The released footage shows the kallah, a 16-year-old girl, wearing a white gown, standing near what appeared to be a tefillah for the kallah. Outside the residence, police found a decorated vehicle prepared for the chosson and kallah.
Police said that the chosson is an adult man, and they suspect that the families involved attempted to present the gathering as a simple engagement while in reality conducting an unlawful marriage.
The release of the footage comes as tensions have been rising over a separate incident in the past day, in which a notice circulated announcing a vort between a man said to be around 30 years old and a minor. That situation sparked clashes in the area, as family members confronted local residents and activists who came to protest the planned event.
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In Israel, underage girls and boys living together is legal, and it is legal to have children and not being legally married, but it’s illegal to marry at 16. What a disgrace!
Firstly that would be true about almost all non-Islamic countries. Secondly they would not allow a minor to live with an unrelated much older man. Thirdly a minor in a marriage is a lot more stuck in the situation and probably went into it with a lot less knowledge of what they were doing than in the case of two underage’s living together.
and would the cops break apart an underage wedding if those involved were islamic???
Having grown up in secular America, I totally agree with you Ch R.
Also, am somewhat familiar with the community in Yavniel. Generally, both the chassan and kallah are young. It’s weird for them to have a 30-year-old man with an underage kallah; very unusual for them and I wonder whether it’s true.
And to Anonymous above:
The damage done to an underage girl in a non-marital relationship with a boy is severe. It’s just not politically correct to speak about it, so we never hear about it in the media/magazines/books. But these non-marital relationships almost always break up and prove devastating to the underage girl. In the secular Western world, relationships between a 13- or 14-year-old girl and a guy who is 20+ are not at all uncommon.
I’ve spoken to women in their 30s who still carry the trauma of teenage rejection/breakup with them, even after marrying and having children later, even after becoming frum.
To get a better understanding of this, read up on Reb Eliezer Shlomo Schick of Breslov Yavniel, there is material online, Wikipedia, etc.
A disgrace and shame what’s happening in the Jewish Land. It’s about time chareidim take over the authority, government and judicial court.
Most of the comments above seem to be more based on the false logic commonly found by extreme ideologues that they decide whether things are right or wrong based on what their enemies feel about them. They then immediately run to take the opposing view. You want to say that if it was your 16 year old daughter who wanted to marry a 30 year old you would go along with it? OK. I feel bad for her but that is your business . But how do you ignore the Mishna in Yevomas that says even when it comes to the Mitzvah of Yibbum when there is a big age difference between them Beis Din tries to convince them not to? When the Israeli police are doing something that seems correct even from a Torah haskafa that is not the time to complain and criticize.