Rabbi Reuven Sharbani, the right-hand man of the Rosh Yeshiva of Yad Aharon, HaGaon HaRav Yehoshua Eichenstein, was detained at the entrance to the Kosel on Tuesday by Israel Police officers after a routine check showed that he is classified as a “draft evader”.

His detainment was the first carried out under the new policy announced on Monday by Police Commissioner Danny Levy. After his arrest, officers waited for the arrival of the military police, and when they failed to arrive within 10 minutes, they gave him a summons to report to the draft office and released him.

Rabbi Sharbani also serves as director-general of the “Ezram U’Maginam” organization, which assists bnei yeshivos dealing with draft authorities

According to a B’Chadrei Chareidim report, immediately after his detention, Rabbi Sharbani managed to inform his contacts about what was happening. Within a short time, dozens of bochurim and avreichim arrived at the scene, leading to a crowd around the police forces, which played a part in the officers releasing him after ten minutes rather than waiting for 30 minutes for military police representatives as dictated by the new policy.

Rabbi Sharabani said that after his arrest and release, he informed HaRav Eichenstein about the incident, and the Rosh Yeshiva responded by saying, “Very serious. The continued persecution of the Olam HaTorah endangers the State.”

The Ezram U’Maginam organization sharply criticized the police conduct, stating: “We are witnessing criminal conduct by the Israel Police, which is persecuting Lomdei Torah whose only ‘crime’ is that they diligently study Torah. In light of this, our power to prevent such incidents lies in the power of the masses, and therefore the public is asked to register for the ‘Lo Ta’amod’ alert hotline, which operates under the guidance of Gedolei Yisrael, at 02-500-0110, extension 9.”

The organization added that “following the change in police procedures, in any case of an encounter with a police officer, please contact the organization’s hotline at extension 3, whose effectiveness was also proven in this incident.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)