A 22-year-old Chabad bochur who voluntarily presented himself to military authorities to settle his status was arrested and held in a military prison, where he was left without access to his tefillin for three days.

The bochur had recently returned to Eretz Yisroel after spending a year on kevutza at 770. Upon his return, he sought to resolve his standing with the army and reported voluntarily, but was instead taken into custody last Wednesday.

According to Chabad journalist R’ Mendi Rizel, who exposed the case on Kol Barama, the family attempted to provide the bochur with his personal tefillin immediately after his arrest.

Military officials gave the family the impression that the tefillin could be brought to the detention facility and transferred to him. His father subsequently traveled to the prison carrying them, only to be left waiting outside while the tefillin remained in his hands.

For three days, the detained bochur was not permitted to receive them.

During the same period, military personnel attempted to contact his parents at approximately 10:00 p.m. on Friday night, despite knowing that the detainee and his family were Charedi.

Rizel further reported that the young bochur was being held in the same prison as detainees accused of spying on behalf of Iran.

The arrest comes amid the collapse of the long-standing arrangement for Chabad yeshiva students, which had allowed bochurim to complete the regular year of kevutza at 770, before entering a structured path toward army service.

Since that framework fell apart, Chabad bochurim have repeatedly faced detention while traveling through Ben Gurion Airport. In one case, earlier this year, eleven bochurim returning from a year at 770 were taken into military custody, while another was arrested while traveling to spend Tishrei with the Rebbe.

After the latest incident became public, a claim was published that tefillin were available inside the prison and that the detainee had not raised a complaint about them.

Rizel rejected the account, writing that it contradicted what he had been told directly by both the bochur and his parents.

He added that he possesses a recording from the IDF Spokesperson’s public inquiries department in which an officer acknowledged that a “mistake” had occurred and said the matter would be investigated.

Rizel said he had been waiting since Friday for a formal response from the IDF Spokesperson. No response had been issued at the time of publication.

The bochur has since been released from military custody.

Following the report, MK Meir Porush sent an urgent letter to Defense Minister Israel Katz, demanding an immediate investigation into what he called “a grave violation of religious rights in a military prison.”

Porush wrote that his conversation with the family confirmed that military officials had led them to believe the father would be allowed to bring the tefillin to his son. In practice, the father remained outside the facility and the tefillin were never transferred.

“It cannot be that a Jew is prevented from fulfilling the mitzvah of putting on tefillin properly,” Porush wrote, describing it as one of the most basic religious rights of a Jewish prisoner.

He also condemned the treatment of the worried family and demanded that those responsible for the incident be identified.

Porush called on the Defense Minister to order an immediate and thorough investigation, clarify the circumstances of the incident, and refresh procedures at every military prison to ensure that detained soldiers and bochurim are not denied their basic religious rights.