Hyper-Tzniut Mom Sentenced to 4 Years in Jail

The “Taliban mother” was sentenced to four years in jail for child abuse.

The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday sentenced to four years in prison the woman who the media have nicknamed the “Taliban mother” – because she covers herself from head to toe in clothing – over three months after this mother of 12 was convicted on at least 25 counts of assault in aggravated circumstances.

Her husband was sentenced to six months in jail after he was convicted on at least 10 counts of the same crime. Although he was charged with assaulting his children, the main allegation against him was that he did nothing to stop his wife’s abuse.

The mother arrived at the hearing, which was held behind closed doors, draped in her customary layers of black clothing which prevented her from seeing where she was going. She had to be guided by prison service officers down the hall from the elevator to the courtroom.

In her sentencing, Judge Nava Ben-Or wrote that the crimes committed by the mother were grave and that she had no choice but to sentence her to jail, even though it was clear the woman suffered from a severe personality disorder, “in order to express revulsion at and rejection of her deeds.”

But Ben-Or added that she also had to consider factors calling for leniency, particularly the fact that several of her children had testified as character witnesses on behalf of their parents and pleaded with the court not to send them to jail.

I also read that the judge criticized the haredi community and welfare authorities for the fact that this went on for so long.

Read more about this hyper-modesty, this woman and her followers. Commenters debated at the time about whether or not she was mentally ill. In a radio  interview, her daughter said that her mother’s standards of modesty have nothing to do with Judaism or Jewish law, and they stem from mental illness.

More links:

At PhD in Parenting, guest poster Erin analyzes breastfeeding “information” provided by a formula company.

Simply Jews presents Haveil Havalim.

Comments

  1. Only 4 years? Unbelievable.

  2. Last week, I also happened to take a look at the YU guide and was shocked by the annual costs. The three schools that I checked out ranged from $18,500 to $22,000!

    How do parents manage?

  3. “…draped in her customary layers of black clothing which prevented her from seeing where she was going.”

    Now there’s a mashal for you!

  4. The criticism of the Charedi community is totally unwarranted in this case. In fact, the Chariedi community was totally non-supportive of her behavior, and several of her Chareidi neighbors even filed reports with social services. Social services were another whole kettle of fish though – they chose to ignore the problem, even though they had YEARS of complaints about this woman, including from her own sister!

    The judge should place the blame squarely where it belongs. And, in this case, it belongs squarely on the shoulders of the social services.