The State Attorney's Office is expected to demand a one year prison sentence against the controversial rabbi.
As part of the plea agreement Rabbi Pinto would serve as a state
witness against former police Maj. Gen. Menashe Arbiv, who is to be
investigated on suspicion of receiving benefits.
Earlier this year, the Attorney General's Office stated it would file an indictment against
Rabbi Pinto for allegedly attempting to bribe senior police officer
Ephraim Bracha with $200,000 for information about a pending police
investigation into the Hazon Yeshaya charity organization, which Pinto
headed.
Bracha immediately reported the incident to his superiors, prompting a separate investigation against Rabbi Pinto himself.
That investigation revealed that Rabbi Pinto allegedly tried to bribe
several other officers for information about the case against Hazon
Yeshaya. The charity, which was supposed to have provided millions of
dollars to Holocaust survivors and ran a popular soup kitchen and
volunteer network in Jerusalem, closed in 2012 under allegations of
fraud. [...]
it is my sincere wish that someday the news media will stop referring to someone convicted of felonies (and kal v'chomer someone who spends time in prison) as "הרב".
ReplyDeleteIt is my fervent wish that someday those who have received the title of "Harav" will live up to that title and not disgrace it and all others who bear it. It is ridiculous to blame this on the news media, as much as they enjoy reporting such news. The fact that the Chilul Hashem is increased by their using the term Harav is completely the fault of the perpetrators.
ReplyDeleteWhy should their later deeds eclipse their former? Our Tannaic and Ammoraic sages didn't always behave the best either... However, we never stripped them of the honor they were due.
ReplyDeleteYou are a fool and a complete am haaretz to compare this person to the Tannaim and Ammoraim. And please don't list your credentials to me--it really makes no difference.
ReplyDeleteActually your statement shows who the real Am Haaretz is. Elisha Ben Abuya lost his place in the world to come. The Gammarra tells us the same about other Tannaim and Amoraim.
ReplyDeleteHas Rav Pinto lost his place in the world to come? Has he become a complete heretic?
You haven't learned enough to know that there are both Tannaim and Amoraim we are told became complete heretics. Yet despite that we still learn their words, and they are still given the honorific of Rav.
So please go learn a little, and then try again.
We know all about your warped, Bizarro world in which the Tannaim and Amoraim are vilified and criminals such as Pinto and Todd who were mechalel Shem Shamayim are exonerated. And I have learned more than you, thank you very much. However, you need to understand that there is a sort of clear, straight-minded thinking that some people possess, and others do not, regardless of the amount they have learned.
ReplyDeleteI have learned a little, thank you very much. However, I do not belong to a warped, Bizarro world in which it is considered an achievement to vilify Tanaim and Amoraim, (and Avos, for that matter), and to exonerate perpetrators of Chillul Shem Shomayim. It is not my fault if, in addition to my learning, I possess clear and straight-minded thinking abilities, which others do not.
ReplyDeleteWe know all about your warped, Bizarro world in which the Tannaim and Amoraim are vilified
ReplyDeleteYes because Rabbanim like the Arizal, the Leshem, the Tal Orot and numerous others who do not hold to the shita that previous dorot are automatically above reproach have a "warped worldview"... Sad that you cannot see that there is another, sourced based equally valid approach.
I possess clear and straight-minded thinking abilities, which others do not.
Clearly not. The Mishnah says "All Israel have a place in the World to come."
Yet the Gemarra tells us that Elisha Ben Abuyah, and Rabbi Yanai forever lost their places in the world to come so great were their errors.
So please demonstrate your claimed intellectual capabilities. Have Rav Pinot or Rav Todd been eternally cut off from the Jewish people? Do their sins equate to forever losing their place in the world to come? Are you a Navi or Baal Ruach HaKodesh that you can pronounce such a thing absent clear statements otherwise?
If they are guilty of these crimes, then yes they have performed a Chilul HaShem, but like the Admur that the blog owner often speaks about who was convicted of fraud, and now works to help religious institutions stay firmly within the laws, they can also do Teshuva. Those Tannaim that we still honor cannot.
If you do not see the Kav V'Chomer there, you do not have such impeccably clear thinking.
Nat,
ReplyDeletePlease, cut out your garbage.
And I have learned more than you, thank you very much.
Really, now? What is your name? As long as you are anonymous, you cannot ask that we accept your assertions based upon your claims that you "have learned more".
We know all about your warped, Bizarro world in which the Tannaim and Amoraim are vilified
Which Tana or Amora did he vilify?
On the other hand, you are vilifying Rabbi Pinto. Did you notice that he is guilty of bribery, but not of the other and original crimes they came up with against him???
Reality is that he is a young, charismatic and powerful Rabbi. He's a threat to the secular establishment. Read Rabbi Shlomo Laurence's report about how they tried to oust him when started with similar accusations.
Is this how you justify calling yourself rabbi?? Nat are you seeing the same pattern as me? This is all a ploy for a lowlife like Tzadok to call himself "Rabbi" hah better luck next time!!!!
ReplyDeleteNo he was referred to in one passages as Acheir, to spare his dignity. ֓The only place you see him referred to as Acher in on that one daf in Chagigah. He retains it in both Avot and Moed Katan.
ReplyDeleteAs well we have Rabbi Yanai who lost his place in the world to come. In fact Rabbi Elazar Ben Durdia gained his portion and thus he merited to be called Rabbi(Arizal Shaar Mamaari Razal and Petach Einaim).
Your argument simply does not work.
Yes, but every time that his opinion is quoted throughout Shas, it is not as Elisha ben Abuya, but as Acherim omrim, which means that the title even extended to Rabbi Meir who did nothing wrong at all. So what part of my argument simply does not work?
ReplyDeleteWrong again. His opinion is quote din Pirkei Avot as Elisha Ben Abuya. His opinion is quoted in Moed Katan as Elisha Ben Abuya. Unless you believe you know Shas better than the Ben Ish Hai, the only time that Elisha Ben Abuya is referred to as Acher, is on one daf in Chaggiga. Aside from that he is referred to by name, and his opinion is given in his name.
ReplyDeleteYou also are conveniently avoiding the issue of Rabbi Yanai.
Notice I said Acherim, not Acheir. How many times throughout Shas does it say Acheirim omrim? More than a few. And he was never referred to as Rav Elisha ben Abuya. And I am not following your point on Rav Yanai. If the Gemara says that someone loses his chelek in the world to come, and that is how he is remembered in the Gemara for posterity, isn't that enough of a disgrace? Does anybody think of Elisha ben Abuya or Rav Yannai as a respectable person? Is it necessary for the Gemara to write shem reshaim yirkav after the names of reshaim for you to understand that they were reshaim? Because most people are capable of putting that together on their own.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Arizal and Leshem and the others can say what they want; they don't need my approval. Just like the Gemara and the Rishonim can criticize the Avot. But you are not them. And their works were all-encompassing. It is different when you have people who salivate every time they get a chance to put in their two cents about the Avot and the Tanaim and Amoraim. If you had the reverence of the Arizal and the Leshem zt"l for the Avot and the Tanaim and the Rishonim, I would respect your words as I do theirs, but you do not, so I do not.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am not following your point on Rav Yanai. If the Gemara says that someone loses his chelek in the world to come, and that is how he is remembered in the Gemara for posterity, isn't that enough of a disgrace?
ReplyDeleteSo much for your straight thinking. The point is simple, even the great disgrace that took away their portion in the world to come, did not totally eclipse their former good works.
If you had respect the previous generations you would have learned a bit of musar from them, namely that we do not denigrate a Rav, even if they perform some disgraceful deed. Rabbi Yanai wasn't stripped of his title, even after death. Which is my original point to Ben Waxman.
If you had the reverence of the Arizal and the Leshem zt"l for the Avot and the Tanaim and the Rishonim, I would respect your words as I do theirs, but you do not, so I do not.
So you are a Navi now that you can know what level of reverence I have for the Avot(whom I've never mentioned), the Tanaim or any of the previous generations? You assume much, and err more, which is not a sign of overly clear thinking.
So Rabbi Yanai now holds a position of honor by Hashem? Is he in some sort of twilight zone where he is receiving some kind of great honor eve though he has lost his portion in the world to come? I am not understanding where his honor is. . . Would you like to receive his position of honor? If so, then that's fine with me. However, most people would not think that he has retained any semblance of honor.
ReplyDeletesorry for the late reply:
ReplyDeleteבמקום שיש חילול השם אין חולקין כבוד לרב