An Israeli judge ruled that a 48-year-old Israeli man who collects tzedaka at the Kosel must pay a fine of only NIS 18. The police had filed five indictments against the beggar over the past three years. According to a Ynet report, the police stated during the court hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court that the man can collect tzedaka outside the Kosel, at Kever Rochel, at Me’aras Hamachpeila, or any other place he wishes – just not at the Kosel plaza itself. The police requested that the court impose a suspended jail sentence and a fine of NIS 5,000 but the beggar counterclaimed that “the Kosel is the place that generally opens many people’s hearts, it’s unlike any other place.” He also told the judge that he had a difficult childhood and has failed in finding any proper employment. At the end of the hearing, Judge Dovid Shaul Gabai Richter ruled that the beggar pay a fine of NIS 18 and a collateral payment of NIS 3,000 that he won’t commit the offenses he was indicted for over the next year. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

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