The Irish Court ruled today that a rabbi detained for allegedly carrying out illegal circumcisions on non-Jewish children must receive kosher food in prison after he complained he had been denied it.
Rabbi Jonathan Abraham, 47, of Golders Green, was remanded in custody after Irish police raided a house where he was due to perform a circumcision last week.
According to the Irish Times, Rabbi Abraham claimed his human rights were being breached by Cloverhill Prison in Dublin in a High Court hearing on Saturday.
Chief Rabbi Yoni Wieder, following a judge’s ruling on Sunday, told the JC: “It is very disappointing that it’s taken so long to resolve the issue of kosher food, and that a case had to be taken to the High Court before a resolution was obtained.
“Since Rabbi Abraham was first taken to Cloverhill, I raised this issue with several of the prison officers. Everyone I spoke to agreed that Rabbi Abraham ought to be provided with kosher food and expressed a willingness to help. Yet regrettably, no adequate solution materialised.”
Rabbi Wieder added, “When I continued to raise the issue last week, I was told by officers that Rabbi Abraham was indeed being served kosher – even though no expert guidance on kosher requirements had been sought, and even though no kosher supplier in Dublin had been contacted.
“I informed prison staff several times that kosher meals must be prepared in kosher utensils, using certified ingredients, and under rabbinical supervision. There was no feasible way the requirements could be met without outsourcing to a kosher supplier.
“I appreciate, of course, that there is strict protocol regarding bringing food into prisons from outside. Nevertheless, this is a matter of the human right to freedom of religious practice, and it is easily accommodated by other prisons when necessary.
“Up until the court proceedings, Rabbi Abraham was eating little more than breakfast cereal in the mornings. But for the case, it is likely this would have continued for weeks. Members of the Jewish community have been shocked to learn that Rabbi Abraham has not had access to kosher meals up until this point.”
He said he was delighted that following the ruling “Rabbi Abraham will now be provided with foods that are fully compliant with kosher standards, and that he will have daily access to tefillin.”
Rabbi Abraham had told the court that he had asked the prison authorities for kosher food on “numerous occasions”, according to the Irish Times. He said he had received a piece of chicken in a cardboard box with the word “kosher” written on it.
Explaining the details of kashrut which required the food to come from an authorised authority in a sealed box, he said the chicken had been on a tray where there were many other pieces. “There is absolutely no way that such a piece of chicken can be kosher.”
The prison’s assistant governor Paul O’Neill said that provisions had been made “to the best of the kitchen’s ability” and there had been “absolutely no attempt made to re-box a chicken that had come from the tray”.
Cloverhill had tried to source kosher food from an accredited provider but could not do so yesterday as it was Shabbat, he explained.
But according to the newspaper, he told the court “there would be a change of practice going forward”.
Rabbi Abraham, an experienced mohel who is registered with the Initiation Society in the UK, was charged with carrying out a surgical procedure without being a registered medical practitioner.
It is not uncommon for mohalim to do circumcisions outside the Jewish community.
A mohel is permitted to perform a brit in Ireland in accordance with Jewish tradition.
