In Israel, a Baby’s Death Triggers Strife With an Isolated Jewish Sect

An infant’s death has spawned a controversial criminal case centering on one of Israel’s most insular Jewish sects.

At issue in a Jerusalem court is whether a 19-year-old yeshiva student named Yisrael Vales fatally beat his 3-month-old son, Yitzhak, during a burst of anger last month. The case sparked three days of street disturbances and has spilled beyond the impoverished enclave where Vales sits under house arrest.

The sentiments surrounding the allegations underscore the often uneasy relations between Israel’s secular majority and the largely cloistered world of black-clad believers generally called ultra-Orthodox, or haredi, Jews.

Authorities say Vales confessed to police that he slapped and beat his son while caring for him April 2 because he could not cope with the child’s crying. The prosecution alleges that the defendant admitted he had slapped, pinched and bitten the boy at least once before. Vales, who is charged with manslaughter and child abuse, is being represented by one of Israel’s most famous defense attorneys.

Vales’ family is prominent within the Edah Haredit movement, composed of Ashkenazi Jews -- those from Eastern Europe -- who reject the state of Israel as a heresy, refuse government assistance and prefer to live apart, with their own religious leaders overseeing religious courts, marriages, burials and certification of kosher food.

Fellow Edah Haredit members in the Mea Shearim neighborhood, where Vales lives with his 19-year-old wife, Hanna, have rallied to his defense, accusing authorities of coercing a confession and trying to smear their community.

The neighborhood erupted just before the Jewish Passover holiday last month when supporters demanded that police release Vales. Posters, accusing the government of a “blood libel” against the community and signed by the chief rabbi of the Edah Haredit, went up.

Hundreds of people blocked roads, hurled stones at police and motorists and set fire to trash bins, causing $30,000 in damage, city officials said.

“They felt they were being discriminated against by the entire so-called Zionist society, which consists of the majority of Jews in Israel. His community felt it was being placed in a defensive position,” said Menachem Friedman, a professor at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv who studies haredi culture. “Their main fear is the government is out to get them.”

A judge later freed Vales on bail but placed him under house arrest at his grandparents’ home, sparking accusations by child welfare advocates that officials had buckled under pressure.

Along the cluttered alleys of Mea Shearim, outsiders are greeted with a wary gaze, banners warn against immodest dress and much of the neighborly conversation takes place in the Yiddish of Old Europe.

Above the street where Vales is confined, a sign reads, “Jews are not Zionists. Zionists are not Jews -- Only Racists.” On a stone-sided building nearby, someone has spray-painted in Hebrew: “Zionists Out.”

The allegations against Vales have placed the privacy-minded community on a collision course with the outside world. Vales stepped into an Israeli courtroom for a procedural hearing Thursday, accompanied by his wife and a dozen supporters, who wore side locks and knee-length black coats and formed a protective ring to keep reporters and news photographers at bay.

Prosecutors say Vales told police he was frustrated because his wife was working at a job outside the home and irritated that their child was born with a muscle defect in the neck that caused the infant’s head to tilt to one side.

The boy died in a Jerusalem hospital eight days after the incident. Prosecutors say head injuries, including retinal bleeding, point to “shaken baby syndrome.” Authorities did not perform an autopsy in deference to community sensitivities about treatment of the dead.

“We have the medical evidence in this case and we also have a confession,” prosecutor Nick Kaufman saud.

Avigdor Feldman, a secular lawyer known for handling high-profile criminal and civil rights cases, said he would seek a “trial within a trial” in an effort to have the confession thrown out. A recent ruling by Israel’s Supreme Court said judges could disqualify evidence obtained illegally, such as from a suspect who had not been informed of the right to have a lawyer present during questioning.

Ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Vales’ group are urging followers to pray for him and donate money to his defense. Many see him as a symbol of their community.

“This is a story of a young scholar with a young infant, who found himself in a difficult situation and what happened, happened. We are not saying that there may not have been negligence and that he should not be punished for it. But his punishment should be proportionate,” said Shmuel Pappenheim, who is friendly with the Vales family and edits a neighborhood newspaper.

“The Israeli public and media patronize the ultra-Orthodox,” Pappenheim said. “The public is seizing on this case to prove that haredim are no better than anyone else and using this case to defame the entire ultra-Orthodox community.”

Special correspondent Vita Bekker in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.