Workers collect clothes and other materials, under the instruction of investigators, at the scene where the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 crashed shortly after takeoff killing all 157 on board, near Bishoftu, Ethiopia on March 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Mulugeta Ayene)
JTA — A special rabbinical court has been set up in Israel to determine the marital status of the wives of two Israeli men who died in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines plane.
The court ordered by Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef must prove conclusively that the men got on the plane and died in the crash on March 10 near Addis Ababa, The Jerusalem Post reported. Without such proof, the women will remain agunot, or chained wives, who are prevented from remarrying.
The Israelis killed in the crash were identified as Avraham Matsliah, 49, from Maale Adumim, and Shimon Reem, 55, of Zichron Yaakov.
Because neither of the men’s remains have yet to be found, their families have not yet been able to sit shiva, the Jewish ritual mourning period.
Avraham Matsliah, 49, from Ma’ale Adumim, was killed in the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight near Addis Ababa on March 10, 2019. (Facebook)
Volunteers from Israel’s Zaka search-and-rescue organization and an Israeli forensics team have had limited access to the crash site and have been unable to complete the research necessary for the rabbinical court.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Airline officials last week began delivering 2-pound bags of scorched earth from the crash site to the bereaved families to bury in place of their loved ones’ bodies. Death certificates were expected to be issued by the end of the month.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
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
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
