https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/2025844/shocking-newlywed-sephardic-woman-in-brooklyn-discovers-her-husband-may-be-palestinian.htmlThis is crazy
Updated statement The Rohr Chabad Jewish Student Center at Texas A&M is open to all Jewish faculty and students to explore Judaism. In 2018 a student presenting himself as Eliyah Haliwa began visiting Chabad along with other local campus Jewish institutions (including serving as president at one of them). He would occasionally attend Shabbat meals at Chabad, and infrequently attended the services or Torah classes.Last year he met a woman from N.Y. on a Jewish dating website.He falsely presented himself to her as observant. When asked by the woman and her family, I informed them that his conduct did not reflect that of a fully observant Jew. The fundamental responsibility of the officiating rabbi at a wedding, the mesader kiddushin, is to determine the Jewish status [birur hayahadut] of the couple and ensure that they are both Jewish, single and allowed to marry each other in accordance with Jewish law. Accordingly, when Rabbi Ezra Zafrani, a respected Syrian rabbi in Lakewood, N.J., asked me if Eliyah was Jewish, I explicitly informed him that I did not know and that whoever was officiating would need to do a proper birur and would need to independently confirm his Jewish status. The wedding itself was officiated by Rabbi Zafrani’s son, Rabbi David Zafrani. As my wife and I were in New York for other reasons, Rabbi David Zafrani, who was officiating in place of his father, and his wife, asked us to join the wedding. As the groom had no family attending, at the request of the couple and the Zafranis, we walked him down the aisle and I signed the ketubah, which had been drafted by Rabbi Ezra Zafrani. We were not officiating and our involvement was predicated on the understanding that, as supervising rabbis, Ezra and David Zafrani had done their due diligence to confirm the groom’s Jewish status. In the ensuing weeks, it has come to light that the bride was aware that Eliyah was using a false name, information he concealed from others, when she learned of his Muslim name. We were clearly misled about his identity. Our hearts go out to this woman, her family and everyone else deceived by this individual here in Texas and in New York and New Jersey.Rabbi Yossi Lazaroff
Prob this should be made a separate thread for this.
Where is he now? Did he disappeared once show found out or what ?
He was taken into custody late last night
Sickening. Mind boggling how these infiltrations are still happening so often.(still wondering how someone gets married with knowing nothing about a spouses past.)
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/featured/2026026/update-from-chabad-of-texas-we-never-did-birur-hayadut-to-determine-if-eliyah-haliwa-was-jewish.html
Theres a youtube video going around from their wedding. This is so sad and scary.
Link?
Side effect of the kiruv movement.
Something tells me that there was more to the store like abuse etc. If not, then why didn't they keep it quiet and have him undergo a גיור. After all he was in Yeshiva for years and was well integrated in the community.
I don't think this has anything to do with the Kiruv movement. This comes up once in a while and it seems like some Rabbis make mistakes. This mistake was a dreadful one, and I by no means wish to minimize the suffering and trauma experienced as a result of such mistakes, nor to absolve in any way anyone involved in this mistake.
