The refusal by the federal prison authorities to obey a court order to provide Rabbi Meir Kahane with kosher food has resulted in another court order delaying the transfer of Kahane to a federal prison from a detention center in Manhattan, The former Jewish Defense League leader was scheduled to leave this morning for Allenwood (Pa.) Federal Prison to begin serving the remainder of his one-year prison term. He has been held at the Federal Training Center in New York since March 18.
In a press conference this morning, held at the detention center, Kahane said that last Friday, Federal Judge Jack Weinstein conducted a hearing on Kahane’s charges that the prison authorities, in defiance of Weinstein’s own order, refused to provide him with kosher food.
According to Kahane, U.S. Attorney Tom Peterson told the Judge that it is “too expensive” to have kosher food and that “if the Jews will get it other groups will ask for special food” as well. “Judge Weinstein was furious,” Kahane said, “because the refusal of the government was not only a violation of human rights but also a question of court contempt.”
Kahane, who looked pale and haggard and has started to grow a beard, was eating meals outside the detention center since his arrest in order to have kosher food. Kahane said that he and his lawyer, Barry Slotnick will take “this case up to the Supreme Court, to uphold the right of Jews for kosher food in prison.” Kahane added that even if his case is resolved, there are presently two other JDL members in federal prison who do not get kosher food. According to Kahane, Weinstein gave the government two weeks to file a brief on the case.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
