'Bad Rabbi' by Eddy Portnoy (Courtesy Stanford University Press)
Thugs. Thieves. Blackmailers. Deadbeats. Murderers. These are the kinds of Jews who populate “Bad Rabbi and Other Strange But True Stories from the Yiddish Press,” a new book published this month by Stanford University Press.
Contrary to what Hollywood, popular culture, and family lore would have us believe, not all Jews who lived in the first part of the 20th century — in the old country and new — were pious, honorable and upwardly mobile. One need only peruse the back pages of the many Yiddish dailies published in New York, Warsaw and other heavily populated Jewish cities in the decades leading up World War II to see that life was a series of daily disasters for many average members of the tribe.
We can add to “Thugs. Thieves. Blackmailers. Deadbeats. Murderers. These are the kinds of Jews who populate “Bad Rabbi…
ReplyDeletePacer: Case: 15-405935 Date Filed: 09/08/2017
Jane Roth, Circuit Judge
“Binyamin Stimler, Jay Goldstein, and Mendel Epstein are Orthodox Jewish rabbis who were charged with various kidnapping-related offenses, stemming from their involvement in a scheme through which they, along with others, sought to assist Orthodox Jewish women to obtain divorces from recalcitrant husbands. After a jury trial, all three defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The defendants now appeal various rulings made by the District Court before, during, and after trial. Because we find no merit in any of the defendants’ arguments, we will affirm all three convictions.
In the Orthodox Jewish tradition, a married woman cannot obtain a religious divorce until her husband provides her with a contract called a “get” (pluralized as “gittin”), which must, in turn, be signed by an “eid,” or witness. A woman who attempts to leave her husband without obtaining a get becomes an “agunah” (pluralized as “agunot”), which subjects her to severe social ostracism within the Orthodox Jewish community. Agunot may seek relief in a “beth din,” a rabbinical court presided over by a panel of three rabbis. The beth din may then issue “psak kefiah,” or contempt orders authorizing sanctions, which include, but are not limited to, the use of force against a husband to secure a get. To assist an agunah to obtain a get is a “mitzvah,” or religious commandment of the Orthodox Jewish faith. Starting in at least 2009, Stimler, Epstein, and Goldstein participated in the beth din process to help agunot obtain gittin. They worked with “tough guys” or “muscle men” in exchange for money to kidnap and torture husbands in order to coerce them to sign the gittin.”
Shmuel Kamenetsky, in exchange for money, claims that Tamar’s marriage to Aharon is nullified and Tamar can marry her lover without a get from Aharon.
Bad rabbis today include: Binyamin Stimler, Jay Goldstein, Mendel Epstein and Shmuel Kamenetsky.
I wonder how many of the "stars" portrayed in the book, considered themselves "orthodox" Jews?
ReplyDeleteIn 100 years from now, someone might create a book based on the yellow newspapers of TODAY, and paint our entire generation with the same type of brush.
ReplyDelete