Monday, May 22, 2023, 16:19 Dozens of premarital counselors (madrichot kallot) and therapists signed a petition addressed to Defense Minister Yo’av Gallant. The petition calls on him not to extend the administrative detention of Avraham Yered, so he and his fiancée can get married. Yered has been under administrative detention since November 2022. The first order was signed by outgoing Defense Minister Benny Gantz. In late March, Defense Minister Gallant extended the order by three months. Honenu petitioned the Central District Court on Yered’s behalf, and Judge Ya’akov Spasser reduced the detention by one month. Because of that extension, the couple postponed their wedding and were forced to pay tens of thousands of shekels to the owners of their wedding hall. The current order will expire this week.
The petition’s signatories wrote that postponing the wedding has severe emotional consequences for the bride and groom: “We, women in the field of therapy and madrichot kallot, call on you to allow Bat-Ayin Hendel to realize her basic right to get married. For half a year, her fiancée, Avraham Ya’ir Yered, has been under administrative detention. He was not put on trial, no proof of any crime was presented, and he has no means of legal recourse. The couple has therefore been forced to postpone their wedding.
“This order harms not only him but also his fiancée. As premarital counselors of brides, we must clarify that according to the Torah and basic morals, a wedding is not postponed even under extreme circumstances such as a period of mourning for a member of the wedding party or a time of war – and for good reason. Postponement of marriage is an intolerable situation for the soul and a person’s mental health, especially when the postponement is in effect for an unlimited time: Nobody can assure the young couple that when the current order expires, it will not be renewed yet again at the recommendation of the GSS.”
At the conclusion of the petition, the signatories call on Minister Gallant to allow Yered and his fiancée to be married without delay: “The bride is effectively under never-ending torture as a genuine chained woman (aguna). This is all happening under your personal signature. As therapists, we are shocked by this injustice. We are turning to you to allow this couple to realize their basic right to get married, and not, G-d forbid, extend his detention again.”