By COLlive reporter
The two frum Jewish women of Jerusalem who were arrested on charges of shoplifting in Berlin were released after paying a fine.
The mother and daughter were in Germany as part of a group trip of frum women and went shopping at the Primark clothing and accessories store in the Alexanderplatz public square.
The women were accused of shoplifting and were detained by employees until Berlin Police arrived. They were taken in custody.
Both women denied the allegations. A relative said that the daughter didn’t have enough funds to pay for her items and crossed the electronic security system threshold when calling out to her mother.
During the legal proceedings, the women denied that they intended to steal. However, they admitted to the fact that they were out of the store with items that didn’t pay for.
The judge ordered each of them to pay a fine of 1750 Euro and released them.
The women received the support of Chabad Berlin, led by Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal and Rabbi Shmuel Segal, who provided them with kosher food and legal counsel.
They intervened after it was reported that prison authorities have removed the wigs that the frum women wore in adherence to halacha.
“It is our task to assist every Jew – spiritually and materially,” Rabbi Segal told the website ch10.co.il. “We have Chanukah events to deal with, but we put it all aside to assist these 2 prisoners.”
the lesson is: shoplifting = bad
The standard fine for a person convicted of shoplifting in Germany is around a month of the convict’s salary – subject to income. That is likely why these ladies got a hefty fine of around $2000 each – assuming the family earns around $50,000 annually.
If l were to steal clothes from a store it would not be Primark that l would go to. Their clothes are so cheap that it not worth being a Handful! Like a sweater for 8 Euro, or 5 pairs of socks for 4 Euros. Their fine could probably bought the whole shop!
Interesting why the fine was so steep, it would certainly deter people from steeling.
Paying a fine is a conviction after a finding of guilt. The fine was over $2000 US each.That works out to around $4500 – a lot of money for an Israeli family. The court did not accept their explanation, If it did, it would have dismissed the charges. The court did not consider the time they spent in jail as enough to satisfy the conviction – adding a heft fine. On top of it all, I am sure they had legal expenses and other costs which they obviously had. It is sad that these women broke the law and suffered… Read more »
go back home.
and don’t go beyond the store premises until you take care of what needs to be taken care of before leaving the store.
if she was outside the store without paying ,how is that NOT shoplifting ?
why was the mother arrested ?
im glad they’re out ! bh !
Why a Jew is choosing Germany for vacation knowin what happen in the 1930’s and in Munich 1972?
Rabbis Segal and Tecihtal,
Parsumei Kiddush Shem Shomayim..
Kol Hakvod Rabbi Segal !!!
but I’m sure they had a vacation that they will never forget! Actually we can all take a lesson & remind ourselves regularly, that we need to do everything possible to end this awful galus by increasing in acts of goodness & kindness to bring משיח כאו, the only hope!