Rabbi Abraham Chederski of Perespy, near Minsk White Russia, was fined 25 rubbles yesterday by the Minsk court, on a charge brought against him by his son.
The Rabbi was found guilty of having circumcised his grandson in the absence of the child’s parents, who are both employed in a Soviet institution and objected to the performance of the Abrahamitic rite on their son.
The Rabbi’s son Joseph, advertised in the Minsk Yiddish paper, “Oct(###),” a warning to the Mohilim that he will prosecute anyone who would aid his father by performing the circumcision. The Rabbi, however, persisted in his demands and taking advantage of the absence of his son and daughter-in-law from their home be sent the child’s nurse from the home on a pretest and performed the operation himself without the aid of a Mohel as none could be found to take the risk.
Rabbi Chederski who is one of the thirty-six rabbis who recently signed a declaration exonerating the Sowiet authorities form the charge of religious persecution, appeared in court to defend his action. He quoted the peragraph in the Shulchan Aruch. Jewish religious code, according to which the duty of observing the Abrahamitic rite is incumbent upon the grandfather if the son refuses to obey it. The court showed leniency in giving Rabbi Chederski a minimum sentence.
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