Asarah B'teves, The Ninth Of Teves, And The Pope by Rav Shloime Pollak

The first Slichah that we say on the fast day of Asarah B'teves is.....

  "אזכרה מצוק אשר קראני, "בשלוש" מכות בחודש זה הכאני". 

The "three" tragedies, are elaborated in the Slichah.... and the source of two of them is from a Megilas Taanis that is quoted in the Shulchan Aruch Arach Chaim (580).

In understanding the Shulchan Aruch, it becomes clear, that in fact there are FOUR tragedies.... and one is missing??....

For questions and comments please email salmahshleima@gmail.com

Tamar Epstein's Heter: The battle against the heter has been won according to unconfirmed reports

I received an email this morning which said that according to unconfirmed reports from reliable sources - Rav Nota Greenblatt has told Tamar and Adam that they need to separate. Baruch HaShem!!!

Given the worldwide outrage from gedolim from diverse sectors as well as the shocked reaction of the common man - and yeshiva students - the only question is why it took so long for R Greenblatt to wake up to the reality that he had made  an incredible blunder?

An indication of the severity of damage to the rabbinic credentials of Rabbis Greenblatt and Kaminetsky - is the praise that they have received from non-Orthodox and feminist sources. The Times of Israel reported a Conservative rabbi who refers to Rav Shmuel as his colleague! 

However the issues is not completely resolved - even if the report is true - because they have not publicly retracted the heter. Without a public acknowledgment of the irresponsible manner they went about giving the "heter" it will be repeated again and again by rabbis saying "annulment for psychological irritation based on a note from a psychologist - even if he never met the husband - is accepted by gedolim". Furthermore it has become clear that the heter of Rav Moshe has been misused and abused to justify many annulments in situations that Rav Moshe would never have permitted - not just this case. A heter that Rav Moshe meant for very rare and severe conditions has become a "cure" for every ache and discomfort in the hands of certain Orthodox rabbis.

The crisis has also revealed the corruption of a number of Orthodox rabbis in giving not only annulments but also in allowing cohanim to marry divorcees and other transgressions. It is not the Open Orthodox that is the main danger to Orthodoxy - but some of our very own poskim and rabbinic leaders. "We have met the enemy and it is us!"

Hopefully this crisis will be used to clean house and provide a mechanism of oversight for the divorce process. Hopefully it will also motivate the rabbonim to work harder to ameliorate the conditions of not only abused wives (agunas) but also husbands that are being publicly accused of all sorts of lies by wives who are being coached by rabbis, lawyers and other women to game the system. Time will tell whether the proper lessons have been learned or whether this is just the beginning of a new era of rabbinic corruption.

Rav Nota Greenblatt's relying on a psychiatrist's report based solely on severely biased testimony is not comparable to the evidence that Rav Moshe Feinstein used

There has been some complaints that I have been unfair in criticizing Rav Greenblatt's relying on a psychiatric report that he did not understand. A report  which was largely based on Tamar's hostile comments without the psychiarist meeting Aharon or giving him a chance to explain the truth of the assertions or even the context. It has been claimed that Rav Moshe Feinstein also relied on such expert testimony to decide if the marriage was a mistake and that the evidence he used was also hearsay.

However it is obviously that the Rav Moshe was not relying solely on the biased and subjective reports from an alleged victim. He dealt with cases where it was possible to objectively ascertain the truth of the problem. Furthermore the evidence was not contested as it is in the present case. 

Below is one of Rav Moshe's teshuvos describing the evidence he based himself to decide that the husband was mentally ill and to annul the marriage. This is clearly not the type of evidence that Rav Greenblatt used.

שו"ת אגרות משה אבן העזר חלק א סימן פ
בדבר שוטה אם הוא מום גדול לבטל הקידושין אם לא ידעה כשא"א להשיג גט פטורין כ"ז ניסן תשט"ו. מע"כ ידידי הרה"ג מהר"ר זאב דרייזין שליט"א וכל ידידי הרבנים הגדולים והחשובים חברי ועד הרבנים בבאלטימאר /בלטימור/ שליט"א.

בדבר האשה שניסת לאחד ואחרי עבור איזה שבועות נעלם ממנה ועתה הוא בבית אביו וא"א להשיג גט פטורין באשר שאביו אינו מניח שום איש אליו משום שהוא חולה במחלת שטות שירא מאנשים וחושש אביו שיחלה ביותר עד שלא יוכלו להחזיקו בבית והיא עגונה זה כי"ד שנים ותובעת מהרבנים שישתדלו לתקנתה ונסעו שלשה רבנים לבית החולים של הצבא בפערי פוינט והשיגו רשיון לעיין בכל הנירות הנמצאים שם אודות חולה זה ששהה שם איזה חדשים והוריו הוציאו אותו משם למרות דעת הרופאים בהבטחתם שהם ישגיחו עליו בביתם ואמרו הרופאים להם כי הוא משוגע ממש לכל דבר. ובנירות נמצא כתב מרופא מומחה שנכתב בשנת ל"ח למספרם כי הוא משוגע גמור וגם היה הולך ערום ומאבד מה שנותנים לו וכדומה. ומכתב מפורט בחתימת ארבעה רופאים מומחים משנת מ"ד למספרם אשר ג"כ אומרים שהמחלה הותחלה בשנת ל"ח למספרם. ומשמע דעת הרופאים שאף בזמן שלא היה ניכר עליו עניני השטות שהרי בשנת מ"א למספרם היה חמשה חדשים בצבא ואחרי שנשתחרר מפני שנותיו נשא אחרי עבור שלשים את האשה הזאת וא"כ לא היה ניכר עליו סימני שטות דאם היה ניכר בו סימני שטות לא היו מקבלין אותו בצבא ולא היתה ניסת לו וגם אחרי שברח פתאם מביתו התנדב שוב לעבוד בצבא והיה שם ערך שתי שנים עד שראו שהוא משוגע והכניסוהו לבית החולים בפערי פוינט, מ"מ דעת הרופאים שמחלת השטות היתה בו בעצם בכל העת מפעם הראשון שנחלה בשנת ל"ח שהיה כשלש שנים קודם הנישואין. והאשה לא ידעה שהיה חולה בשנת ל"ח על מחלת שטות, לבד שמסתבר כן שהרי לא ידעו מזה אנשים אחרים כי הוריו הסתירו זה, ראו הרבנים שם בבית החולים מכתב אמו שמפרטת מצבו של בנה מיום הולדו הוזכר שם גם שכלתה היא אשתו של החולה לא ידעה מאומה ממחלתו הקודמת. ולכן מסתפקים כתר"ה אם יש להתירה מצד בטול הקידושין דאם היתה יודעת שהיה משגע לא היתה מתקדשת לו וכ"ש שהיה גם אז משגע כעדות הרופאים שודאי לא היתה מתקדשת לו. ומחמת שהוא ענין עגונה ששקדו חז"ל לתקנתה נזדקקתי לעיין בזה אף כי מה אני להורות בדבר חמור כזה והשי"ת יעזרנו שלא נכשל ח"ו ויורנו אמת להלכה ולמעשה.

Conservative Movement annuls marriages not only by mekach ta'us but also if their rabbis think it is a good idea - what do they think about this in Philadelphia and Memphis?

Times of Israel

Tamar Epstein became an agunah — a woman tragically chained to a defunct marriage — when her husband, Aharon Friedman, unscrupulously and vindictively refused to grant her a get, a Jewish religious divorce. 

The case — similar to a scandalously large number of similar situations involving “chained” women and recalcitrant husbands — received intense public scrutiny in part because Mr. Friedman was a staff aide to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rabbinic suasion and public excoriation nevertheless failed to move this particular recalcitrant to fulfill his religious obligation and terminate his marriage in accordance with Jewish law and morality. The couple’s marriage had already been dissolved in civil court.

Ms. Epstein recently has entered upon a new marriage in a ceremony solemnized by a prominent Orthodox rabbi. Her marriage to Friedman was annulled — or, more accurately, declared to have been invalid ab initio — by (as of the publication of an article on the case in the Forward) an as-yet-to-be-identified Orthodox rabbi in Philadelphia. I wish Ms. Epstein and her bridegroom, Adam Fleischer, much happiness and mazal tov — and I wish to express profound admiration and support for my anonymous Philadelphia colleague. As the Almighty promised His covenant partner, Abraham: “Your reward will be very great” (Genesis 15:1). [...]

In its recent article, the Forward quoted Rabbi Aharon Feldman of Baltimore’s Ner Israel Yeshiva as calling for the former agunah (whose original marriage, and therefore whose status as an agunah, he deems to remain intact) to leave her new husband. Rabbi Feldman declares any future children born to the Fleischers to be mamzerim — “bastards”— themselves forever debarred from marriage to “legitimate” Jews. Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn similarly is quoted as describing the dissolution of Ms. Epstein’s first marriage as “a sad joke based on a clear corruption and misuse of halachic principles,” and declaring Ms. Epstein an “adulteress.” An organized effort (likely to exceed in volume and vitriol even the considerable campaign to persuade Mr. Friedman to grant a get in the first place) is underway to reject the Philadelphia-based annulment, to discourage like-minded rabbis from similar findings of law, and to deny the legitimacy of any such rabbinic actions that might be taken in the future. [...]

In addition to the principle of “mekach ta’ut,” the Talmud also asserts the far more controversial power of the rabbis to annul marriage (with cause) as an exercise of sheer authority. This extraordinary power is based on the premise that every Jewish marriage is contracted on rabbinic authority, and that the rabbis retain the concomitant prerogative to undo the marital bond unilaterally. The Forward quotes an anonymous Orthodox source as stating that this rabbinic power “has never been used in modern times.” This is untrue.

While the exercise of such sweeping rabbinic authority should be used rarely, only as a last resort, and with the utmost discretion, the Joint Bet Din of the Conservative movement does just that. Rabbinic authorities who not only delegitimize this mechanism of marital dissolution but who reject those who rightfully and courageously wield this power, on the basis of partisan religious politics alone, are complicit in creating agunot. They abet recalcitrant husbands in chaining their wives.

As a Conservative rabbi, it pains me to say it, but the efforts of the Joint Bet Din to free more agunot are impeded not only by the partisan attacks of our detractors, but by the religious laxity of some among our supporters and constituents. There are traditional, knowledgeable, pious Jewish women — including some affiliated with Orthodoxy — who would come to Conservative rabbis for relief from their status as agunot. They are dissuaded from doing so, however, by the fact that those authorities serve a constituency often lacking a fundamental commitment to Jewish law and observance. This leads observant agunot to neglect an invaluable (perhaps exclusive) resource for legitimate halachic relief. Conservative Jews who champion egalitarianism and pay lip service to the religious enfranchisement of Jewish women — yet whose personal halachic disengagement undermines the stature of their rabbis as religious decisors — thus are complicit in creating agunot. They abet recalcitrant husbands in chaining their wives. [...]

Mendel Epstein's torture for Get gang: Sentences for all members

Department of Justice press release

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of New Jersey

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Sentenced To Eight Years In Prison For Conspiring To Kidnap Jewish Husbands, Force Them To Consent To Religious Divorces

TRENTON, N.J. - An Orthodox Jewish Rabbi was sentenced today to 96 months in prison for conspiring to kidnap Jewish men in an effort to force them to give their wives religious divorces, referred to as “gets,” U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Jay Goldstein a/k/a “Yaakov,” 61, of Brooklyn, New York, was previously convicted by a federal jury of Count One and Count Five of an indictment charging him with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping. Jay Goldstein was convicted following an eight-week trial before U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson, who imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

On Dec. 1, 2009, in Lakewood, an Orthodox Jewish man, Israel Markowitz, was assaulted, placed in a van, tied up, beaten and shocked with a stun-gun until he agreed to give his wife a get.

On Oct. 16, 2010, in Lakewood, another Orthodox Jewish man, Ysrael Bryskman, was assaulted, tied up and beaten until he agreed to give his wife a get.

On Aug. 22, 2011, in Brooklyn, another Orthodox Jewish man, Usher Chaimowitz, and his roommate, Menachem Teitlebaum, were assaulted, tied up and beaten until Chaimowitz agreed to give his wife a get.

Based upon these incidents, the FBI began an undercover operation in August 2013 in which two FBI agents posed as a wife who was seeking a get from her recalcitrant husband, and her brother, who was trying to help her obtain the get. Over the next several weeks, the undercover agents had multiple recorded phone calls and in-person meetings with Mendel Epstein, 70, Lakewood, New Jersey. In those meetings, Epstein arranged to have his team kidnap the husband at a warehouse in exchange for $60,000.

On Oct. 9, 2013, Jay Goldstein, his sons Moshe Goldstein, 32, and Avrohom Goldstein, 36, and others – including Binyamin Stimler, 40, Simcha Bulmash, 32, David Hellman, 33, Sholom Shuchat, 31, all of Brooklyn, and Ariel Potash, 42, of Monsey, New York – traveled from New York to a warehouse in Middlesex County, New Jersey, to execute the planned kidnapping of the husband to force him to give the get.

They arrived at the warehouse in two dark minivans shortly after 8:00 p.m. Some of the kidnap team members put on masks and entered the warehouse office with the undercover agent posing as the brother. The remaining kidnappers walked around the outside with flashlights. Over the next 15 minutes, members of the kidnap team went in and out of the warehouse office wearing disguises, including ski masks, Halloween masks and bandanas. They discussed their plan for kidnapping and assaulting the husband, how they planned to grab him, pull him down, tie him up, and take his phone. Members of the kidnap team brought with them to the warehouse a 30-foot nylon rope, a blindfold, vodka, license plates they had switched out, and items used to ceremonially record the get. At 8:23 p.m., law enforcement moved into the warehouse office and arrested the eight men.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Wolfson sentenced Jay Goldstein to five years of supervised release.

Avrohom Goldstein, Potash, Shuchat, Moshe Goldstein, Hellman, and Bulmash have all pleaded guilty to one count of traveling in interstate commerce to commit extortion. Avrohom Goldstein and Potash were sentenced Nov. 19, 2015 to 45 and 14 months in prison, respectively. Shuchat was sentenced to time served on Nov. 19, 2015. Moshe Goldstein was sentenced Nov. 16, 2015 to 48 months in prison. Hellman and Bulmash were sentenced Nov. 17, 2015 to 44 and 48 months in prison, respectively. Martin Wolmark, 57, of Monsey, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to commit extortion and was sentenced Dec. 14, 2015 to 38 months in prison.

Epstein and Stimler were also previously convicted at trial of Count One of the indictment charging them with conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Stimler was additionally convicted on Count Five of the indictment, attempted kidnapping. Epstein and Stimler were sentenced yesterday to 120 and 39 months in prison, respectively.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Richard M. Frankel in Newark, and the Lakewood Police Department with the investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys R. Joseph Gribko and Sarah M. Wolfe of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Trenton.

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USAO - New Jersey

Violent Crimes

Is There Any Valid Reason For The Posek In Our Case To Rely Entirely On What He Was Told?

Guest Post by Ploni

I believe that there are several solid reasons why in our case there is absolutely no צד whatsoever to allow a Posek to rely on what he was told. My hope is that this comment will be מעורר Talmidei Chachomim to be מעיין בדין זה עד שיצא לאורה. At the end of the comment, please see several מקורות on which this comment is based

לפענ"ד the whole question of being able to rely on what a שואל relates to a Posek without fact checking would ע"פ דינא דשו"ע not apply here for several reasons:

1) The נידון here is at the very least one of דיני ממונות (assuming RMF's comparison to מקח טעות). The possible exclusion from due diligence is only by איסורים. This would mandate that the Psak should be בפני בעל דין, meaning AF.

2) The נידון here is a question of being פוגם בכבודו ובכבוד אבותיו of AF. The possible exclusion from due diligence even by איסורים is only when nobody's כבוד is נפגם. This would also mandate that the Psak should be בפני בעל דין, meaning AF.

3) the נידון here is one of a דין מרומה - There were and remain now many "red flags" about the involvement of certain people, the fact that the diagnosis wasn't brought up earlier, contradictions to TE's testimony and diary notes, etc. The possible exclusion from due diligence even by איסורים like עגונה is only when there is no חשש דין מרומה. This also mandates that the Psak should be בפני בעל דין, meaning AF. Additionally, this would mandate דרישה וחקירה, and according to many (and perhaps most) Poskim "pleading the fifth" or saying "I don't know" (which is happening בנידון דידן) would of itself be a reason לבטל הדין.

4) Furthermore, if we take the stance of those Rabbonim who believe that the הפקעת קידושין is in error, but that AF nevertheless has a חיוב לגרש (like the YU Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshivos and many in Silver Spring), there seems to be a fourth issue here: the נידון here is one of לאסור אשה לבעלה, since by virtue of this Psak TE is now אסורה לבעלה. The possible exclusion from due diligence even by איסורים is only where there is no question לאוסרה על בעלה, which according to most Poskim would require both בפני בעל דין and also דרישה וחקירה, as mention in paragraph. #3.

The aforementioned is לפענ"ד in large measure the result of a single but terrible mistake arising from a mistaken belief in the VALIDITY of psychological diagnosis.

Everyone here agrees that the linchpin of נידון דידן depends on a DSM diagnosis, and the defense of the מתירים is (as RNG said) the belief that the psychologist's report is exactly like any matter where medical professionals have נאמנות. Under this assumption, psychology is like other areas of medicine, where certain illnesses can be diagnosed without ever meeting the patient. Had this belief been correct, many of the aforementioned problems might possibly not have applied.

It has, however, become abundantly clear from the very most authoritative sources in psychology, including from the architect of the DSM themselves, that forensic evaluations are extremely subjective and therefore require a whole slew of safeguards in order to be acceptable. THERE ARE ABSOLUTELY NO DISSENTERS TO THIS FACT IN THE UPPER ECHELONS OF THE FIELD , although clinicians vey often ignore it. See, for example the posts at: http://daattorah.blogspot.com/...

and 

http://daattorah.blogspot.com/...

Especially enlightening is the four published papers (links at the "secular evaluations post) regarding the six most important question in psychology, in which TWENTY FIVE of the top experts in the field participated, and not a single one attempted to equate psychology to objective medicine.

Therefore, ANY possible היתר to continue without קבלת עדות לפני הבעל דין and without דרישה וחקירה are extremely questionable, to say the least.

מקורות - כמובן רק מעט מזעיר ....

א) בדין קבלת עדות בדיני ממונות שלא בפני בע"ד, ע' חו"מ ס' כ"ח סט"ו, שאם קבלו אין דנים על פיו לדעת הב"י בשם רבי מנחם וכן הוא במהרש"ל, אמנם לדעת ר"י ומרדכי כשר בדיעבד. ולפי הכרעת המהרא"י דוקא בגבר אלם שא"א בענין אחר מקבלין, ופשוט שטעם זה אין שייך כאן בנד"ד. (וודאי יהי' כאלו שירצו לתרץ מטעם מש"כ ברמ"א שבקטטות ומריבות מותר כדי להשקיט המריבה, אבל כבר דן בזה המהרש"ל בנידון הדומה לשלנו שעושים ההיפוך ומרבים מחלוקות, ובין כך אין היתר לפגום בכבוד אדם משום זה כמבואר לקמן, ואכמ"ל).

ב) לענין פגם בכבודו ובכבוד אבותיו ע' בשו"ת המהרש"ל סי"א בנידון הדומה הרבה לשלנו ר"ל שכ' המהרש"ל שגביית עדות לפסול איש מחזקת כשרותו ופוגם בכבודו וכבוד אבותיו .. פשיטא ופשיטא שאף בדיעבד אינו כשר והעדים והבית דין עברו משום לא תשא שמע שוא וכו

ע' מש"כ בשו"ת המהרש"ל סי"א במעשה שהי' שם הדומה קצת לנידון דידן שבי"ד גבו עדות שלא בפני בעל דין "להורידו מחזקת כשרות בעידי כיעור", וז"ל:

אבל גביית עדות לפסול איש מחזקת כשרותו לפגום בכבודו וכבוד אבותיו ... פשיטא ופשיטא שאף בדיעבד אינו כשר והעדים והבית דין עברו משום לא תשא שמע שוא וקרינן בי' לא תשיא וראוים להשליך לכלבים כדאיתא במסכת שבועות והסמ"ג הביאו (הגמ' בשבועות לא מנין לדיין שלא ישמע דברי בעל דין (חבירו) קודם שיבא בעל דין חבירו ת''ל מדבר שקר תרחק מנין לבעל דין שלא יטעים דבריו לדיין קודם שיבא בעל דין חבירו ת''ל מדבר שקר תרחק רב כהנא מתני {שמות כ-ז} מלא תשא לא תשיא): וראה נא ראה עד כמה חשו עמודי עולם על כגון דא

ג) לגבי דין מרומה ומקום שיש לחוש לערמה, הנה אפי' לענין להתיר עגונה מבואר באהע"ז סי"ז סכ"א ברמ"א בשם רי"ו שצריך דרישה וחקירה , ולענין דיני ממונות מבואר בחו"מ ס"ל ס"א וגם בס'' ט"ו ס"ג, ולאסור אשה על בעלה מבואר באהע"ז סי"א ס"ד.

ולגבי גדר דרישה וחקירה, עמש"כ ברמ"א סט"ו ס"ג בשם ריב"ש דאף דדין מרומה צריך דו"ח כדיני נפשות אינו ממש כדיני נפשות, שאם אמר אחד "איני יודע" מכ"מ אין הדין בטל , אבל בפתחי תשובה אהע"ז סק"צ הביא מהר"ב אשכנזי בשם כמה וכמה ראשונים, דהיינו רמב"ם, רמ"ה, ר"י, ור"ן שדין מרומה הוא ממש כדיני נפשות ואם אמר אחד איני יודע הדין בטל, ומצטט שם לדברי הש"ך בחו"מ ס' ל"ג סקט"ז שמסביר שהיות שכל הטעם שלא בעי דו"ח הוא מטעם כדי שלא תנעול דלת, ממילא במקום שיש חשש דין מרומה אוקמוה שוב אדאורייתא, וצריך עדות שיכול להזימו וממילא אם אמר איני יודע כל הדין בטל.

ובכלל יש לע' שאפי' בדיני ממונות הרי הטעם שביטלו חז"ל דין דרישה וחקירה רק כדי שלא תנעול דלת לפני לוים, וכ"כ הסמ"ע בס"ל סק"א זה דוקא בדיני ממונות השכיחים אבל לדון בחבלות דלא שכיחי ולית בהו חסרון כיס אפשר שצריך דו"ח, ובנידון דידן הוצאת הלעז דומה לחבלות שאין בהן חסרון כיס ואף שאיסורם גדול מאוד שמבואר חומרם בחו"מ ס"א ס"ו, סכ"ז ס"ב, ס' רכ"ח ס"א, ס' ת"כ סל"ח וסל"ט. ואם אמרו שצריך בהם דו"ח לדון בהוצאת שם רע כדי להוצאי ממון וודאי פשוט שכש"כ שמוטל על בי"ד גופא שכדי שיהיו מותרים הם גופא לבייש יהי' מקודם דו"ח. וחוץ מזה עמש"כ בח"ח הל' רכילות רפ"ט בבמ"ח שכמו שגרמא בניזקין אסור אע"ג דפטור מתשלומין, כן הוא בהוצאת שם רע, הרי היו צריכין ליזהר בזה הרבה.

ד) לאסור אשה לבעלה:, ע' בב"ש אהע"ז סי"א סקט"ז בשם מהרשל סי"א דלאסור אשת איש לכו"ע לא מהני עדות שלא בפני בעל דין אף בדיעבד, ובפ"ת שם כמה דעות דכדי להפריש מאיסור אפשר דמותר שלא בפני בע"ד משום דזכות הוא להפריש ישראל מאיסור, ונמצא לפי"ז בנד"ד שעשו גם בזה היפוך הדין, כי לאסור על בעלה הראשון לא נמצא היתר לקבל שלא בפניו כשאינו אלם וכו', משא"כ כדי לאסור על בעלה השני מותר לת' הרמ"א בשם מהר"ר הירץ מבריסק ולדעת המאירי.

Mendel Epstein sentenced to 10 years in jail for forcing men to give a Get

NJ.COM    A prominent Lakewood rabbi convicted of helping to arrange the kidnapping of Orthodox Jewish men who refused to grant their wives religious divorces was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday.

The sentence for Rabbi Mendel Epstein, 70, is less than what the federal government had requested for a man prosecutors said was the head of a well-organized operation that kidnapped and beat men. But it also was more than what his defense attorney argued was deserving of a man who devoted his life to good deeds and charitable acts.

The sentence was one, though, that U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson said was necessary to deter others in the Orthodox Jewish community from continuing what federal prosecutors called "paid vigilantism."

"No one is permitted to commit acts of violence against another," Wolfson said during the three-hour sentencing proceeding in Trenton. "It is not the law of our society and what we live under."

R Shmuel Kaminetsky to attend AJOP Convention in Baltimore January 24-26

R Shalom Kaminetsky rumored to be coming to Jerusalem soon for a student's chasuna

Just received a call that R Shalom Kaminetsky is coming to Jerusalem and that there is talk about demonstrations against him. Don't have any more information now - will post it as it comes in.

Mendel Epstein trial: Tamar's lawyer Ephraim Goldfein ordered to testify and it won't be held against him

Mendel Epstein Torture for Get ring: Martin Wolmark sentenced to 38 months in jail

ABC New

An Orthodox rabbi was sentenced Monday to more than three years in prison for his role in a ring of Jewish men who used brutal methods and tools, including handcuffs and electric cattle prods, to torture unwilling husbands into granting their wives religious divorces.

Martin Wolmark, 57, of Monsey, New York, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion. Ten men in all were convicted for their roles in the plot.

Rabbi Nota Greenblatt will be in Silver Spring today to do conversions

 Just received this email

Rabbi Greenblatt will be in Silver Spring today to officiate over conversions.  (Guess that Barry Freundel is not available today.)  The mikvah is at 8901 Georgia Avenue.  He will be leaving from BWI airport at 3:15.  I was told that there will be protestors at airport at that time and was asked to help publicize