Head of conference of European rabbis deletes his tweet of support for mother denied access to her children
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt's sympathetic post for Beth Alexander has disappeared from social media platform
A social media post by a leading European rabbi in support of a British solicitor estranged from her children has vanished from the platform.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt is president of the Conference of European Rabbis, the main Orthodox rabbinical alliance in Europe.
Tweeting from a convention for rebbetzins of European Jewish communities, held in Vienna, Austria, he shared with his 2,485 followers that the women had observed a respectful moment of silence to say ‘Tehilim’ (psalms of David) for Beth Schlesinger (née Alexander), mother of twins Samuel and Benjamin.
The social media post has now completely disappeared from the Rabbi’s account.
Ms Alexander has been in a prolonged dispute with her ex-husband, Dr Michael Schlesinger, since shortly after the twins’ birth nearly 13 years ago. He has retained sole custody of the children, in Vienna, since 2011. In January 2022, Alexander was told that she would have no contact with her sons as a result of a new ruling by an Austrian court.
A letter from Rabbi Goldschmidt to the Chabad rabbi of Schlesinger’s synagogue in Vienna, dated 4th November 2022, pleaded with him to get involved:
“No mother deserves to be blocked from her children. The emotional abuse of a Jewish mother through the weaponising of secular courts must be decried and put to a stop. I am deeply concerned not only for Beth’s well-being, but for her children, who are left motherless. Please let us know if there is anything the Conference of European Rabbis can to do help reunify a mother and her children.”
During many battles in court, Schlesinger has challenged Ms Alexander’s fitness as a mother, whilst she has accused him of calling on his contacts in the Vienna Jewish community in order to impede her relationship with the children.
Last year, Jewish News reported that a letter from the president of the Vienna Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, offering to help Alexander, to take part in the upcoming June barmitzvah of her twin sons, Samuel and Benjamin, was denounced by the furious mother of two as “a whitewash” and “a tissue of lies”.
A Facebook group supporting Alexander has nearly 7,000 members.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis flew to Vienna in 2018 to try to resolve the situation but was unsuccessful.
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