She’s Jewish, he’s Catholic. Joseph and Rebecca Reyes both said their differing religions didn’t matter when they got married, but when they had a child, Rebecca says they both agreed to raise the girl Jewish (Joseph converted but says he only did it to please Rebecca’s parents). Now they’re getting divorced, and 3 year old Ela is at the center of a bitter custody battle…one that could land Joseph in jail. You can see more details in Fox news correspondent Lauren Green’s article here: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/26/split-baby-interfaith-couple-struggles-divorce/?test=latestnews
At closing arguments in their divorce case, Rebecca Reyes’ attorney Steven Lake told the judge “This case is not about religion, its about custody. Rebecca is not seeking to prevent Joseph from practicing any religion. The two parents fostered the daughter’s belief in Judaism (took her to temple and sent her to a Jewish school), so now it would be confusing to suddenly tell her something different. Religion was never an issue in this case until custody battle came up”.
Joseph’s attorney, Joel Brodsky, (the same attorney defending Drew Peterson) tried to explain why his client violated an earlier court order, and took their daughter to mass and to get baptized. It might have gone unnoticed, except Reyes invited a tv crew along and took pictures he later sent to his ex-wife.
“Rebecca is delusional about religion, absolutely delusional. She says it was a Jewish wedding but she has a Catholic husband….she doesn’t keep kosher she eats pork…in her so called Jewish home. …she has a Jewish identity in Rebecca-land but not in the real world”, attorney Brodsky said. In response to claims that Joseph didn’t contribute financially to the marriage, Brodsky said “Behind every successful man is a good woman. I guess we can say, behind every failed man is a bad wife”.
With the Easter holiday around the corner, Joseph wants to take daughter Ela to church, which would again be a violation of the court injunction. The judge could decide to dismiss the injunction, but the judge says that likely won’t happen before April 4th (Easter Sunday).
Click here to see comments attorneys made to the press (first seen is attorney Joel Brodsky with Joseph Reyes, next is attorney Steven Lake):