It's certainly not the first time that New York's been cursed by mob violence. But a current plague of beatdowns and intimidation is festering in a place you wouldn't expect: the orthodox Jewish community, a society that operates outside of the mainstream and lives by its own rules and laws.
One of those laws most controversial to outsiders? An orthodox woman can be granted a divorce only when her husband allows it. She has to convince him to sign a document called a "get" to release her from marital vows. A vindictive husband can use it to make life for his ex-wife miserable.
"Without a 'get,' she's a chained woman," said Robert Stahl, attorney for Rabbi Mendel Epstein. "She is not allowed in the orthodox community to date, to remarry. If she did, her children would be considered 'mamzers,' which means, basically, bastards."
Community pressure or a stern letter from a rabbi will usually get a husband to come around. When those tactics don't work, there are other solutions, and they come right out of the bloodiest books of the Old Testament.
It's called a "forced get," and it can range from simple scare tactics to heartless violence.
And there's one man who can arrange it all for you: Rabbi Mendel Epstein, a respected religious leader and advocate for women in Jewish courts. And he's more than happy to help a client whose sister has a deadbeat husband.
The good rabbi will provide another service, if you know what to ask for.
"You understand what we're talking about is some strategic planning, you know, using a nice word," Epstein says on a recording made by two undercover FBI agents.
First comes a formal sit-down in Epstein's office. But when Epstein talks about getting the divorce signed, he sounds less like a rabbi and more like a mob boss.
His "get" process is simple.
"I don't want to use secular terms, but what we're doing is basically kidnapping the guy for a couple of hours, beating him up and torturing him and then getting you the get," Epstein says on a recording.
"Now understand, you're lying with a plastic bag around your head, a minute ago you were standing like a normal person. That's fright," Epstein says on the recording. "For 80 percent of the guys, it's over right there. Now you do what we tell you, or it's gonna get worse."
At sentencing, Epstein tells the judge: "I guess I got caught up in my tough-guy image."
"Rabbi Epstein and his family are some of the most loyal, compassionate, smart, caring, community-minded individuals I have ever met," said attorney Robert Stahl. "He was coming from a position of what is good and what is right and what is noble and perhaps it went a little bit too far."
But prosecutors claim the rabbi earned his title as "The Prodfather."
"Rabbi Epstein and his family are some of the most loyal, compassionate, smart, caring, community-minded individuals I have ever met," said attorney Robert Stahl. "He was coming from a position of what is good and what is right and what is noble and perhaps it went a little bit too far."
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! He only fooled the women into thinking that this was a valid process. Of course, there are mamzeirim out there due his horrible actions. Additionally, he encouraged women not to negotiate. He gave them the opportunity to be vindictive. All that for a cool $50,000.
These guys are killers for risking other peoples lives and the amount of chillul hashem they cause is unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteYet, many fools in our communities are just happy with them.
But, they are smart too. Rav Brevda ZT'L used to say that the Lavans of the Torah are included to specifically teach us just how brilliant and creative the criminal mind can be.
ReplyDeleteSadly, a neveilah like Epstein convinced some useless idiots to join his greedy cause, probably under the guise of 'helping agunahs'. For each job, he and the menuval Wolmark walked off with mega bucks, and he gave his minions (goons, sofer, eidim) a few hundred or a thousand.
Too bad they all now have a few years in fed lockup to think how badly they were taken by this modern day Lavan.
There are some pictures in these videos of the beaten and terribly physically abused victims of the Epstein Gang that I don't think have been previously publicly seen.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting. Improtant for everyone to see and understand
ReplyDelete"Rabbi Epstein and his family are some of the most loyal, compassionate, smart, caring, community-minded individuals I have ever met," said attorney Robert Stahl. "He was coming from a position of what is good and what is right and what is noble and perhaps it went a little bit too far."
ReplyDeleteBut prosecutors claim the rabbi earned his title as "The Prodfather."
Do you think he would be just as loyal, compassionate, caring, community-minded individual without having been paid 60K a pop up front? He is a menuvel, swine, achzar shebeachzorim, novol shelo birshus haTorah, scum of the earth. Now that he ended up sitting in the can, he is not so smart after all. He took the bait hook line and stinker. For him and all his friends, their wives are entitled for a Kosher Get lemehadrin with no need to Prod them. Asher zudik aleihem. Is round matzos for them kosher or need square matzos by joining 2 X tlose karnise?
Why does he wear a firefighter hat down to his nose? Is he chametz be'ein or afilu hakelev eino mechapess achrov? Neveilo sheaflu lakelev ein mashlichin oso. In any case, good riddance.
The Daily Mail picked up this story:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3527591/Take-cattle-prod-certain-parts-body-Jewish-rabbi-known-Prodfather-admits-torturing-husbands-agreeing-divroce-wives-FBI-sting.html
Very true. The gittin he brought about in this way were posul.
ReplyDeleteWhere did the pictures of beaten men come from? In the sting, there was no actual beating, so where are these from?
ReplyDeleteAre the women who remarried after Mendel Epstein had her husband beaten into giving her a Get, and she later had children with her second marriage, are those children mamzeirim?
ReplyDeleteOnce the HETER FIASCO is complete, that is as soon as the pair unpair, it is time to tackle the issue of these Enablers aka goons. It is part and parcel of these terrorists encroaching on the peaceloving democratic society operating against Dinei demalchusse and dinei Torah haKdosha. The Bullyhorn Bully will be put out of business for good, and can continue looking for another shul again. Hoshivo shoftenu...
ReplyDeleteAnd for R Shlomo Miller, vehabrocho achas lecho, keep up the good work. Yesh schar lipeulosech. Uvchol asher tifneh, ta'aseh veTatzliach. Amen
The report says they were obtained from the FBI. Apparently the FBI compiled evidence from other victims of Epstein, to support their undercover case, that prosecutors presented in court to prove a pattern on the part of Epstein and his gangsters.
ReplyDeleteSee Rema Even HaEzer 2:5
ReplyDeleteThe REMA says not to reveal a mamzer is a mamzer if it is unknown. But if it is known the husband was a victim of being beaten into a Get, then it is know the wife is still married to him, since the Get is me'usa, and her future children from someone else are mamzeirim.
ReplyDeleteOnly when the original Pesul was not known is a family whose status is in doubt ("Mishpachah she'Nitme'ah") permitted to remain part of (and marry into) the Jewish people, b'Di'eved. If, however, the Pesul was known and they married into the Jewish people anyway (as in the case of Ben Tziyon), that family will be barred from entering the Jewish people in the future.
Although one should not reveal the identity of a "Mishpachah she'Nitme'ah," one is permitted -- and even encouraged ("Kasher ha'Davar," as the REMA writes) -- to give over such information to "Tzenu'in" (for the purpose of knowing which families to refrain from marrying). This may be inferred from the fact that the Chachamim used to reveal the identities of these families to their students at certain intervals in order to enable the "Tzenu'in" to refrain from marrying such families. This was not done in public, however, lest rumors circulate about the family's status as Pasul, since, in practice, marriage with them is permitted. (The reason given by the RAN, that "the Shechinah does not dwell" among such families, still applies.)
The only time a family's Pesul may not be revealed is after the family in question has married into Tahor families. If, however, no one from the Pasul family has married yet into a Tahor family, whoever has information about the family's Pesul is required to reveal it to others. This requirement is inferred from the Halachah of "once they have become mixed in, they have become mixed in," which implies that the family may remain married to a Tahor family only b'Di'eved (once they have already married), but l'Chatchilah such a family is not permitted to marry into a Tahor family. (See REMA EH 2:5.)
So shouldn't the Epstein wives whose children from their second marriage haven't yet married be revealed?
Understood, but the victims didn't have pictures of themselves in hoods. Did Epstein or his people save pictures of their work? I shudder to imagine.
ReplyDeleteAt the very minimum, compile a list of the woman who recieved a get from Epstein but haven's gotten married yet.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
ReplyDeleteEverytime Epstein had his victims assaulted over the years, the victim or a good samaritan would call 911 to report the assault to the local police. Often the police would take photographic evidence in hopes of building a case against the perpetrator, once they were apprehended. Years later when the FBI put the pieces together to build the case against Epstein and gang, when the FBI learnt of each previous victim they'd gather whatever evidence the local police had compiled at the time. This included there photos seen here.
ReplyDeleteThat would be my best understanding of how this was gathered.
“Mendel Epstein: Videos of evidence regarding torture to obtain Get.” The videos are a Kiddush Hashem. I quoted the Malbim in my recent op-ed Judaism on Arutz Sheva http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/18663#.VwLFIfl97IU
ReplyDelete“All the questions and research [of the philosophers] to stand and strengthen their conjectures come because of this [when the righteous have it bad and the wicked have it good]. Thus, he [King David] asks, “O God, if You would only slay the wicked.” Then we would not have wicked that have it good. Similar, “you murderers, away from me!” They [the wicked Amelek] will not continue to ambush the righteous and we would not have righteous have it bad.”
For example, I like how the video talks of the wives seeking to “break their marriage vows.” Really, that’s how Christians perform marriages, with each making marriage vows. In Torah ways, the man gives the ring to woman and the woman accepts knowing that’s she’s married “according to the ritual [Torah] of Moses and Israel.” In Torah the woman is in a sense a voluntary slave and can be freed only by death of the husband or by:
“She fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, and he writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house” (Deuteronomy 24:1).
The silence of Rav Dovid Feinstein’s beit din makes for desecration of His Name, while the rulings of the USA courts and FBI videos in Mendel Epstein et al make for sanctification of His Name. The Malbim says that wicked that prosper [get away with their wickedness] and righteous that suffer makes people say, see, there’s no Law and no Judge, chillul Hashem. A Kiddush Hashem comes when wicked are punished.
See the website: mamzeralert.com
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome to submit information...
“"Without a 'get,' she's a chained woman," said Robert Stahl, attorney for Rabbi Mendel Epstein. "She is not allowed in the orthodox community to date, to remarry. If she did, her children would be considered 'mamzers,' which means, basically, bastards."”
ReplyDeleteMore properly, the woman was married before witnesses with the mesader kiddushin reciting: “Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the universe Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and has commanded us regarding forbidden unions…Blessed are You, Hashem, Who sanctifies His people Israel through canopy and consecration.”
The uproar against the Wreckman beis din stopped their annihilation of holiness in marriage. We need a similar uproar against Greenblatt-Kaminestkys getless divorce and annihilation of holiness in marriage. What Robert Stahl, attorney for Rabbi Mendel Epstein, says is terrible. Without a get, she’s an אשת איש.
More likely an Eisov, shene'emar "Vehayodayim yedei". Neveilo srucho uTreifo, should be put to rest amongst klavim, lekayem ma shene'emar Lakelev tashlichin oso.
ReplyDeletethe correct website is http://mamzeralert.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteNow I see why National Council of Young Israel hired Mendel Epstein in my Din Torah.against them. Luckily I had a better toain. Just shows that crooked birds of a feather flock together.
ReplyDeleteImportant Questions:
ReplyDeleteHow can we identify "divorced" women who used the services of the evil mob boss Mendel Epstein (yemach shmo) to obtain their bogus "Gittin"?
Does anyone know if these women would have received any "patur" (or receipt) that claimed a Get was done?
Does anyone know what information would be written on such a "patur" or receipt?
If someone is willing to pay to download from the U.S. Court's PACER online system the full array of evidence, transcripts and video and audio evidence that prosecutors presented in court against Epstein and his co-defendents in Trenton last year, you'll surely find much more horrific photographs and other evidence, including court testimony, on the many victims of Epstein from over the decades.
ReplyDeleteThat site has only a tiny number of people listed. There are so many more. There's a need for a far more comprehensive online listing of adulterous wives having mamzeirim after receiving an invalid coerced divorce (Get Me'usa) through the services of Epstein and others who acted similarly. After decades of doing this, there should be a fairly long list of such women, as well as their bastardous offsprings, listed for the public to be aware to avoid marrying.
ReplyDeleteThat would not explain the ones that depict the victims hooded.
ReplyDeleteThese sadists snapped pictures of victory sent back to the Capo in real time to prove their work and mission accomplished or maybe just saved it for later. The law enforcement possibly retreived these pictures from their / Mendele's cell phones. Once victims are ready to compile a list even beilum shem ploni almoni and tell us the rest of the story, we will get even a better picture of these Anshei Olam haTachton SHARYA.
ReplyDeleteName of BD, Dayan or eidim that witnessed, date , place etc.
ReplyDelete“But a current plague of beatdowns and intimidation is festering in a place you wouldn't expect: the orthodox Jewish community”
ReplyDeleteAll this should help me. The NYS Court of Appeals assigned me motion number 2016-425 return date April 25, 2016, me v. Susan Aranoff. Any help? Any advice? This is the same Susan in:
(internet 2012):
“Supporters of Tamar Epstein, whose ex-husband, Aharon Friedman, refuses to give her a religious divorce, have been pressuring Friedman's boss, U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Michigan, to fire Friedman. They have protested in front of Camp's office, signed a petition at change.org, started a website (freetamar.org) and in February, bombarded Camp's official congressional Facebook page. But Susan Aranoff, director of Agunah International, which supports Jewish women seeking divorces, said social media has little effect because many husbands still are resistant after all the bullets have been fired."
Gerald, I suggest you go to the site https://scholar.google.com/ .
ReplyDeleteSelect case law and the correct court, and search for NYS court decisions in cases similar to your own. Try to identify successful legal arguments in similar cases in NYS Courts. Also try to understand the legal theory and reasoning processes used by the courts.
If you have to do your own oral argument, write up the arguments in a short, concise, script and practice until it comes out very smooth. Remember that the judges might cut you off at any time so bring out your arguments in decreasing priority. Be matzliach!
"Rabbi Epstein and his family are some of the most loyal, compassionate, smart, caring, community-minded individuals I have ever met," said attorney Robert Stahl. "He was coming from a position of what is good and what is right and what is noble and perhaps it went a little bit too far."
ReplyDeleteMendel Epstein et al must pay for the devastation they caused. The Greenblatt-Kaminetskys Heter is an offense against the Divine Command proclaimed at Sinai, and constitutes the annihilation of holiness in marriage. Am I being too hard?
“Community pressure or a stern letter from a rabbi will usually get a husband to come around. When those tactics don't work, there are other solutions, and they come right out of the bloodiest books of the Old Testament.”
ReplyDeleteThis is Chillul Hashem. See, nonbelievers say Mendel Epstein et al solutions “come right out of the bloodiest books of the Old Testament.” Rabbis in Israel always distant themselves from Mendel Epstein et al solutions while rabbis in the USA became radical feminist supporters. Rabbis in Israel make for Kiddush Hashem. Rabbis in USA, sorry to say, make for Chillul Hashem when they support radical feminists.
Rabbi Goren was convinced of the wickedness of the “a non-Jewish Polish man named Borokovsky married a 16-year-old Jewish girl. Her parents pushed the man to convert, and so he did.” Rabbi Goren ruled, as head of the beit din, the Polish man a רשע and his conversion a fake, a sham. Incidently Susan keeps saying in court papers that the get I gave her 2/17/1993 was a fake a sham. Strong words. If I never gave her a get, then I abandoned the house etc.
Rabbi Goren was a brilliant thinker. I heard a summary at shalosh shudis of Rabbi Goren’s insightful analysis of all the Passover’s recorded throughout the Tanack: Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, etc.
In the Greenblatt-Kaminestkys heter, does anyone argue, seriously, today, that Aaron Friedman is a רשע ?? Why the silence in the USA??? Days Rav Dovid Feinstein's Beis Din has considered Heter now 65 !!! What’s going on in the USA ??
I see on Pacer:
ReplyDelete“I do find that the criminal conduct for which Epstein was convicted was heinous, regardless whether the act was committed in a religious context. More importantly, Epstein engaged in kidnappings, for the purposes of forced gittin, years before he was arrested; this was hardly a one-time, aberrational act on Epstein’s part.”
“ORDERED that Epstein and Stimler shall voluntarily surrender on May 2, 2016.”
What’s new with the Greenblatt-Kamenistkys heter? Days Rav Dovid Feinstein's Beis Din has considered Heter now 67.
Further, I see on Pacer:
ReplyDelete“argument Stimler raises is the fact that his criminal conduct was aberrational, particularly since Stimler has no prior criminal history. On this point, Stimler stands on a different footing than Epstein. While Epstein was arguably the criminal mastermind in the kidnapping schemes, Stimler’s role as a scribe was surely limited. Thus, on this factor, I find that Stimler’s conduct in this regard was indeed aberrational, and that Stimler would lead an exemplary life on bail pending the resolution of his appeal.”
Yes, “Epstein was arguably the criminal mastermind in the kidnapping schemes” Who is the criminal mastermind in the Greenblatt-Kamenistkys heter? It was Susan, my ex-wife whom I divorced on her initiative 2/17/1993, thank God:
(internet 2012):
“Supporters of Tamar Epstein, whose ex-husband, Aharon Friedman, refuses to give her a religious divorce, have been pressuring Friedman's boss, U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Michigan, to fire Friedman. They have protested in front of Camp's office, signed a petition at change.org, started a website (freetamar.org) and in February, bombarded Camp's official congressional Facebook page. But Susan Aranoff, director of Agunah International, which supports Jewish women seeking divorces, said social media has little effect because many husbands still are resistant after all the bullets have been fired."
Further in Pacer:
ReplyDelete“Those factors include: …(6) whether the defendant was "unusually" cooperative with the government….Finally, I do not find that Epstein was “unusually” cooperative with the Government.”
Surely Epstein would merit early parole and reduced sentence by showing true remorse for his criminal heinous conduct and by cooperating with the Government. I quote internet on Epstein, Haut and Professor Susan:
“I always knew he is a vigilante operating in system similar to the Wild West,” said Rivka Haut, a longtime activist on behalf of agunot who has known the rabbi for years, but said she had no direct knowledge of any abductions. However, she said that women in such situations frequently asked her advice about pursuing such extreme measures. Haut, a co-founder of the advocacy group Agunah, Inc., says she has always counseled people to steer clear of violence or illegal schemes…
Haut, an Orthodox activist who is working on an upcoming book, “The Agunah Chronicles,” with Susan Aranoff, with whom she cofounded Agunah, Inc., said she was “surprised to see the headlines” about the FBI sting but “not surprised" to see the content.
Sounds like those claiming, they never heard about the ovens, and I don't mean for Matzos. Rather the jewish blood that allegedly went into the matzos, H' Y' D'. Why else would they have paid 60K a pop.
ReplyDeleteB'H', finally they have been caught with the smoking gun red handed after all the bullets... . No more beatings, no more bogus Heteirim. They all can do the Seder beTsavsa in the can, bein Yoshvin ubein mesubin. Good riddance. We will go back to the Torah way, and if she doesn't comply, teishev ad shetalbin sa'aros roisho.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to mamzeirus, their status still remains an Eishes ish and kivan shenitmeo nitmeo beloshon tumah still exists and upon them. This FIASCO is far from over, it only opened up a Kupa shel shrotzim, a can of worms beL"a'az, a meuves asher lo yuchal letaken.
ReplyDelete