The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court today (Wednesday) heard the police’s request to impose a fine on a 48-year-old Jew who used to collect charity at the Western Wall – for a living. The police demanded a fine of 5,000 shekels for the crime of collecting alms, but the judge rejected the police request.
According to the indictment filed by the police, A., he used to collect alms at the Western Wall for 3 years (between 2016 and 2019), in violation of the regulations for the preservation of holy places, which prohibit the robbery and collection of alms at the Western Wall.
A police spokesman said at the hearing, “I suppose the respondent will try to direct the fire at the state and drag the court into a humanitarian field and shout how it is that the state instead of helping the underprivileged, dares to prosecute them,” the police spokesman went on to explain to the court He changed the circumstances and demanded that the court impose a significant fine of NIS 5,000 on the begging group and the signing of an undertaking in the amount of NIS 10,000.
The defendant argued before the court that the police made the case heavy and that the Western Wall is a place where people’s hearts are opened – unlike any other place so he chose to collect money there. And that the law of the holy places, was intended not to disturb a person from praying, but I did not disturb or ask charity from people who prayed.
• Like the Shabbat Square Facebook page and stay up to date
The defendant even told about the difficult childhood he went through for which he could not find a normal job, what is more, that his father died a few years ago and his mother is in a nursing home and has no relative he can rely on.
Judge David Shaul Gabay Richter heard the arguments and ruled that A. would pay a token amount of NIS 18 and a commitment of NIS 3,000 that would not exceed the offenses for which he was convicted within a year from today.
Defendant’s attorney Menachem Stauber, In response to Kikar Hashabat: “The court severely criticized the prosecution’s demand for a substantial fine – stating that this is an excessive demand that is detached from the reality of the defendant’s life. And the circumstances of the offense – a difficult day man who in total asked for alms at the Western Wall in order to survive – and imposed a fine of 18 NIS, which is a sum that is both symbolic and symbolic – life (18 in gematria – 8), in the spirit of the words of Chazal, ‘ Charity will save from death. “