o.deutsch@ikg-wien.at
office@ikg-wien.at
Dear Mr Deutsch,
I write to you with the hope you can help correct an ongoing injustice.
I’m sure you have been able to spend time with family members over Shabbat. I, for one, was lucky to spend time with my husband and children. I have family overseas, but can’t bear to travel alone to see them, can’t bear to leave my children behind for more than a few days.
Beth Alexander doesn’t have that basic human right.
She isn’t allowed to see her children, because the father of her children won’t allow it, and because the local court won’t allow it.
This is going on in your local community.
Beth is a UK citizen who is suffering daily due to her treatment by the father of her children; bruised by her experience as a newcomer to the Jewish community in Vienna.
We have seen weak leadership by Rabbis and community activists who claim nothing can be done to support Beth.
However, as an Orthodox Jew, Dr Michael Schlesinger cannot function without the help and support of the institutions of the community to which he belongs.
How can a man behaving in such cruelty be allowed to participate in communal prayers? How can he enjoy social support while the mother of his children is not allowed to raise them? How can he be allowed to send his children to community schools? How can local organisations, at worst, take part or, at best, fail to protest the way Beth’s children are deprived of their mother?
The Torah teaches us communal responsibility shown by leaders when a newcomer to a town comes to harm: “Then all the elders of the town..shall wash their hands..And they shall make this declaration: “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done”.
Please be the one to end this tragic saga. Help two innocent boys have their mother back. Show decisive leadership, and present a model of justice for the world to see. Because the world is indeed watching, and waiting for justice.
Sincerely,
Rachel Bass
Manchester, UK
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