The state prosecution on Thursday asked the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court to sentence Rabbi Mordechai Elon to nine to 12 months in prison after he was found guilty of sexual offenses.
The prosecution said the punishment in cases similar to Elon’s ranged from six to 18 months in prison, and suggested that the rabbi be sentenced to a period in the middle of that range.
Elon’s defense attorney, on the other hand, requested that the rabbi receive only community service and a suspended jail sentence.
In August, a Jerusalem court convicted Elon of committing an indecent act against a minor on two different occasions, but acquitted the popular national religious leader of two other charges of sexual assault and harassment.
The boy was not a student of Elon’s at the time.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
The prosecution also demanded that, aside from a prison sentence, the rabbi be forced to pay compensation to the boy.
Before the allegations against him surfaced, Elon was one of the most prominent Zionist Orthodox leaders of his generation in Israel.
Elon was charged in a Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court following claims by Forum Takana, a religious group founded in 2003 that has attempted to police the Zionist Orthodox community on matters relating to sexual misconduct.
Aaron Kalman and Mitch Ginsburg contributed to this report
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
— Stav Levaton, military reporter
Yes, I'll join
Yes, I'll join
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
