One of the first Gittin
cases I dealt with was about a man whose wife ran away with his child and lived
far away from him. Strangely, many rabbis demonized the husband and ignored
evil things done by the wife. I fought for the husband not because I like men
over women, but because the halacha was clearly on his side. He and his wife
signed over their difficulties to the prominent Baltimore Beth Din and they
backed the husband not the wife. The wife was guided by rabbis who did
incredibly dishonest things until these rabbis were thoroughly lambasted by the
greatest rabbis in the world. But still, many rabbis retained their demonizing
of the husband and encouraged the wife, with all of her foibles. We have various
news articles about the “rabbis” who signed a document attacking the husband,
with lies. Some of the rabbis who signed the document savaging the husband were
found out to belong to a gang of people who kidnap husbands and torture them
until they give a GET to the wife. A forced GET is invalid and the wife who
remarries with a forced GET which is invalid has children that are probably
mamzerim. We are grateful for the Baltimore Beth Din for its support of Aharon
Friedman, and we are fighting tooth and nail with the Washington rabbis who
support the wife, despite the fact that she ran away with their child and
eventually, with the support of these wicked “rabbis” remarried with no GET at
all. If she has a baby it is surely a mamzer.
From the New York Times
U.S. Accuses 2 Rabbis of
Kidnapping Husbands for a Fee
In
Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, Mendel Epstein made a name for
himself as the rabbi to see for women struggling to divorce their husbands.
Among the Orthodox, a divorce requires the husband’s permission, known as a
“get,” and tales abound of women whose husbands refuse to consent.
While it’s
common for rabbis to take action against defiant husbands, such as barring them
from synagogue life, Rabbi Epstein, 68, took matters much further, according to
the authorities.
For hefty
fees, he orchestrated the kidnapping and torture of reluctant husbands,
charging their wives as much as $10,000 for a rabbinical decree permitting
violence and $50,000 to hire others to carry out the deed, according to federal
charges unsealed on Thursday morning.
Rabbi
Epstein, along with another rabbi, Martin Wolmark, who is the head of a
yeshiva, as well as several men in what the authorities called the “kidnap
team,” appeared in Federal District Court in Trenton after a sting operation in
which an undercover federal agent posed as an Orthodox Jewish woman soliciting
Rabbi Epstein’s services.
Paul Fishman,
the United States attorney for New Jersey, said in an interview that
investigators have “uncovered evidence” of about a couple dozen victims. Many
are men from Brooklyn who were taken to New Jersey as part of the kidnappings.
In court,
the lead prosecutor in the case, R. Joseph Gribko, explained how the abductions
were carried out. “They beat them up, tied them up, shocked them with Tasers
and stun guns until they got what they want,” Mr. Gribko, an assistant United
States attorney, said.
Mr. Gribko
said the defendants had been motivated by money, not faith. While the case
might surprise some New Yorkers, accounts of such kidnappings have percolated
through the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn for years. In 1996, for
instance, a rabbinic council in Williamsburg issued a statement denouncing the
rogue men who subjected husbands to such beatings, according to a news report.
Rabbi
Epstein was sued in the late 1990s by another Brooklyn rabbi, Abraham Rubin,
who claimed that a group of men shoved him into a van as he left synagogue,
hooded him, and applied electric shocks to his genitals in an effort to force
him to provide a get to his wife. The lawsuit was dismissed.
According
to newspaper accounts from the late 90s, other men, too, have come forward with
similar tales of curbside abductions and mistreatment.
How such
violent practices, if proved, would have been able to persist for so long may
be an indicator of the challenges that local law enforcement agencies face in
trying conduct nvestigations of insular religious groups including the
ultra-Orthodox.
Agents with the F.B.I. served a search warrant at a house in Kensington,
Brooklyn, on Thursday in the investigation of Mendel Epstein. Credit Michael Nagle for The New York Times
Rabbi
Epstein seemed confident that local authorities wouldn’t investigate too
closely. In a recorded meeting with the female undercover F.B.I. agent, Rabbi
Epstein explained that his preferred torture techniques, like electric shocks,
offered little physical evidence of abuse, according to the complaint. Without
obvious visible injuries, Rabbi Epstein said, the police were unlikely to
inquire too deeply if any victims came forward.
“Basically the reaction of the police is, if
the guy does not have a mark on him then, uh, is there some Jewish crazy affair
here, they don’t want to get involved,” Rabbi Epstein explained, according to
the criminal complaint.
Rabbi
Epstein made his living appearing before the rabbinical courts, known as beit
din, where he advocated on behalf of a spouse seeking an exit, another rabbi
said. He took a special interest in the constraints that wives faced, speaking
about the rights of women in terms not often heard in his deeply conservative
community.
###
New York Today
When two
undercover F.B.I. agents — one posing as a woman seeking a divorce, the other
as her brother — asked a rabbi for help, the rabbi explained how Rabbi Epstein
might be able to assist them.
“You need
special rabbis who are going to take this thing and see it through to the end,”
Rabbi Martin Wolmark, a respected figure who presides over a yeshiva in Monsey,
N.Y., said in a recorded telephone call on Aug. 7. He described Rabbi Epstein
as “a hired hand” who could help, according to the criminal complaint in the
case.
When the undercover
agents met with Rabbi Epstein a week later, he said that he was confident he
could secure a get once his “tough guys” had made their threats.
“I
guarantee you that if you’re in the van, you’d give a get to your wife,” he
said to the male undercover agent posing as the brother. “You probably love
your wife, but you’d give a get when they finish with you.”
The
undercover female F.B.I. agent told Rabbi Epstein that she wanted to divorce
her husband, described as a businessman in South America, who refused to grant
her request. Rabbi Epstein urged her to lure the man to New Jersey, which she
pledged to do.
Next Rabbi
Epstein and Rabbi Wolmark convened their own rabbinical court, complete with
legalisms and formalities, to issue a religious edict “authorizing the use of
violence to obtain a forced get,” according to court records. The undercover
agent offered testimony before the two rabbis, who were joined by other
religious figures.
Told that
the husband was arriving in New Jersey, eight of Rabbi Epstein’s associates met
at a New Jersey warehouse to finalize the kidnapping plan, according to court
documents. At that point F.B.I. agents moved in to arrest the group. The agents
seized masks, ropes, scalpels and feather quills and ink bottles used for recording
the get they anticipated.
On
Thursday, the 10 defendants were denied bail after appearing in court in
Trenton on the kidnapping conspiracy charges.
Juda J.
Epstein, the lawyer for Rabbi Epstein, declined to comment.
A neighbor,
Rose Davis, who lives opposite his home in the Kensington section of Brooklyn
described him as a respected figure. Ms. Davis said she was skeptical of the
charges, and suggested they might be the concoctions of enemies he had made as
an expert in divorce work: “There’s always a loser,” she said, referring to
divorce cases.
Jon Hurdle and Alex Vadukul
contributed reporting. Susan Beachy and Jack Begg contributed research.
A
version of this article appears in print on October 11, 2013, on Page A18 of
the New York edition with the headline: U.S.
###
Rabbi sentenced to jail in
extortion-for-divorce case
on December 14, 2015 at 4:45 PM, updated December 16, 2015 at 4:38 PM
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman spoke to reporters outside the
Clarkson S. Fisher Federal Courthouse in Trenton after the initial appearance
Oct 10, 2013 for 10 Orthodox Jews charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
(Tony Kurdzuk | The Star-Ledger)Tim Darragh | NJ Advance
Media for NJ.com
U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson on Monday sentenced
Martin Wolmark, 56, who pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit
extortion in January.
In addition to the prison term, Wolfson ordered Wolmark
to serve two years of supervised release and pay a $50,000 fine.
He had faced up to five years in prison.
Wolmark is one of several rabbis and individuals who will
be before federal judges this week in connection with the case.
The case started with a conversation in August 2013,
during which a woman and her brother asked Wolmark about obtaining the divorce
from her husband.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Wolmark said it
could be done, possibly by violence. He recommended that they speak to his
colleague, Rabbi Mendel Epstein of Brooklyn, whom he said had previously
forcibly coerced divorces from recalcitrant husbands.
On Oct. 13, 2013, Wolmark had masked co-conspirators meet
at an Edison warehouse where they intended to force the husband to grant a
"get," or religious divorce.
Brooklyn rabbi found
guilty in divorce case. Epstein,
a prominent rabbi who specializes in divorce proceedings, was accused of
orchestrating the kidnapping and beating of Orthodox Jewish men to force them
to grant their wives religious divorces.
But Wolmark and the co-conspirators didn't know that the
woman who had come to him for helping in securing the grant for divorce was an
undercover FBI agent. So was her "brother."
According to prosecutors, Wolmark told them it would cost
$30,000 to get the job done.
He said some "tough guys" would use cattle
prods and karate on the handcuffed husband.
Joining him at the warehouse, prosecutors said, were Jay
Goldstein, 61, Moshe Goldstein, 32, Avrohom Goldstein, 36, Simcha Bulmash, 32,
Binyamin Stimler, 40, David Hellman, 33, and Sholom Shuchat, 31, all of
Brooklyn, and Ariel Potash, 42, of Monsey, N.Y.
Avrohom Goldstein, Potash, Shuchat, Moshe Goldstein,
Hellman, and Bulmash pleaded guilty to one count of traveling in interstate
commerce to commit extortion, the office said. Avrohom Goldstein and Potash
were sentenced Nov. 19, to 45 and 14 months in prison, respectively, the U.S.
Attorney's Ofiice said.
Shuchat was sentenced to time served on Nov. 19. Moshe
Goldstein was sentenced Nov. 16, to 48 months in prison. Hellman and Bulmash
were sentenced Nov. 17, to 44 and 48 months in prison, respective.
Epstein, Jay Goldstein and Stimler were convicted at
trial April 21, the office said. Epstein, who was convicted of conspiracy to
commit kidnapping, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. Stimler, convicted of
conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping also is scheduled to
be sentenced Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Jay Goldstein, also convicted of conspiracy
to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping, is scheduled to be sentenced.
###
Rabbi pleads guilty in violent
plot to coerce divorce
James O'Rourke, The (Westchester County, N.Y.)
Journal News 7:50 a.m. ET Jan. 15, 2015
An administrator at Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Monsey, N.Y., asks the media
to leave the school’s parking lot the morning after an FBI raid at the school.(Photo: Peter Carr, The
(Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — An Orthodox
Jewish rabbi admitted Wednesday to traveling interstate to use threats of
violence to force a man
to give his wife a religious divorce.
Martin "Mordechai"
Wolmark — along with Rabbi Mendel Epstein, a prominent ultra-Orthodox divorce
mediator from Brooklyn — had been accused of heading a gang of eight thugs who
used cattle prods and other devices to torture men into giving their wives a
get, a document a woman must obtain from her husband should she seek a divorce
under Jewish law.
On Wednesday, Wolmark, 56, appeared in a federal courtroom in Trenton,
N.J., and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to
commit extortion, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a statement.
[FBI arrests N.Y. rabbis in Jewish
divorce-gang probe]
Citing court documents, Fishman presented
a timeline of the Monsey, N.Y., rabbi's involvement in the plot.
On Aug. 7, 2013, Wolmark, then head of Yeshiva Shaarei Torah on
West Carlton Road in Suffern, met with a Jewish woman and her brother about
obtaining a get from the woman's husband. The rabbi told the pair, who were
working undercover with the FBI, that they should meet Epstein. Wolmark then
set up a conference call between the undercover agents and Epstein.
On Oct. 2, 2013, Wolmark, with Epstein present, convened a beth
din, or a rabbinical court, in his Suffern office to determine whether there
were grounds under Jewish law to coerce the husband into giving a get. Epstein,
unaware the female agent was recording the meeting, openly discussed the plan
to kidnap and assault the husband to obtain the document, Fishman said.
A week later, on Oct. 9, the muscle of the
gang, including Ariel Potash of Monsey, traveled from New York to a warehouse
in Edison, N.J., intent on using violent force to coerce the get, Fishman said.
Instead, the men were arrested. Authorities seized several items, including
masks, rope, surgical blades, plastic bags and a screwdriver. Raids also were
conducted at the West Carlton Road yeshiva and at Epstein's Brooklyn home.
Wolmark, who is scheduled to be sentenced on May 18, faces up to five years
in federal prison, along with a $250,000 fine.
In a statement Wednesday, Benjamin
Brafman, Wolmark's defense lawyer, called his client an "extraordinary
man" who is dedicated to assisting others.
"Rabbi Martin Wolmark has agreed to
accept responsibility for his limited participation in a conspiracy,"
Brafman said.
A man who answered the telephone at Wolmark's
home in Monsey quickly hung up Wednesday after learning that a reporter was
seeking comment on the guilty plea. Subsequent calls were not answered.
Fishman said six others, most of whom hail
from Brooklyn, have already pleaded guilty to various charges in connection
with the plot.
Rabbi
Eidensohn comments here: Below we find a document of some rabbis attacking Mr.
Aharon Friedman for not giving his wife a GET. One signer, Herschel Schachter,
is known to encourage beatings for husbands who don’t want to give their wives
a GET. He has been known to tell people to kill those who disagree with his
philosophy. One such person was a very senior Israeli politician who wanted to
make peace with the Arabs. These “rabbis” have a very interesting “Torah”. End
comment.
(translation
from original)
On
the 26th of Sivan 5771 the Beth Din of the Union of
Orthodox Rabbis
of
the United States and Canada issued a "Final Warning" to Mr.
Aharon
Friedman
wherein the history of the matter between him and his wife Tamar
Epstein
was summarized and particular reference was made to his
continued
and repeated refusal to give her a get in accordance with Jewish
law.
He was requested to appear before the Beth Din for a final
adjudication
on
the matter of his refusal as well as other matters but he refused to even
respond
to their request.
Several
Gedolei Yisroel have spoken to him about this matter and he has
previously
received subpoenas to a Beth Din, letters, and other requests
both
formal
and informal but to the dismay of the Beth Din he has ignored
them
all
and turned a deaf ear to their pleas.
The
Beth Din is therefore left with no other alternative but to declare him in
"Contempt
of Beth Din" and to regard him as "One who does not heed
Jewish
law"
– as such status is described in Shulchan Aruch etc.
Any
person who has the ability or opportunity to influence him to free Tamar
Epstein
from the chains of her agunah status is obligated to do so and
doing so will
indeed
be the fulfillment of a great mitzvah. Tamar Epstein is hereby
granted
permission
to take whatever appropriate steps are necessary to extricate herself
from
the chains of this agunah status.
Accordingly
we have affixed our signatures this 9th day of Elul 5771
s/
Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag
s/
Rabbi Yisroel Belsky
s/
Rabbi Mordechai Wolmark
s/
Rabbi Gavriel Stern
s/
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky
The
words of the revered rabbis, signatories above, do not need any further
endorsement,
and certainly the entire community should urge the husband to
give
his wife a Jewish divorce.
s/ Rabbi Hershel Schachter END QUOTE OF DOCUMENT
SIGNED ABOVE
Comment by Rabbi Dovid E.
Eidensohn – Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky is involved
with the wife of Aharon Friedman and he and his son arranged for the lies about
Aharon that he was hopelessly remote from marriage and therefore his marriage to
Tamar was invalid. The greatest rabbis in the world wrote signed papers that
the claims of the Kaminetsys were ridiculous. Aharon has an excellent job and
reputation in Congress. Rabbis Wolmark and Ralbag were involved with the
Trenton Beth Din that sent many rabbis and others to jail for kidnapping and
torturing husbands who would not give a GET to their wives. Ralbag was forced
to testify with his knowledge of these criminal actions. Wolmark went to jail. Herschel
Schachter has a statement on tape calling for beating husbands who don’t give a
GET and possibly worse.
These were rabbis with
prominent positions in the community. Wolmark was the head of a Yeshiva in
Monsey. Ralbag was the Chief Rabbi of a European country. Shmuel Kaminetsky is
the head of the Philadelphia Yeshiva. Herschel Schachter is the Rosh Yeshiva of
Yeshiva University and the head of the Kashruse Division of the OU. And yet all
of them signed a paper to attack Aharon Friedman in defiance of the Beth Din of
Baltimore who has the case after Aharon and his wife signed for them to control
their marital dispute. Why did these other people get involved? Obviously, they
are people who think they can do whatever they please. And this must stop.
The rest of us who are
still in shock at the sight of so many senior rabbis in jail, must realize that
times have changed. A lot of people who are the worst criminals are now
prominent rabbis, head of Yeshivas, etc. The few of us who are not going to
tolerate this, must plan how to deal with it.
The last few weeks I have
received phone calls from prominent rabbis about terrible travesties being done
in their communities to violate the Torah.
We can ignore it, or we
can fight back. “MI LAHASHEM AILEI!”
The Chofetz Chaim once
said to a Rov badly outnumbered by his secular community, “HaShem is the
strongest.” If we trust in Him and honor his Torah, there is hope, definitely
so.
End
comment by Rabbi Eidensohn.
###
