And A Felon Shall Lead Them, Part 2 – Less Than A Year After Walking Out Of Fort Dix Federal Prison, Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin Elected Chairman Of The Gov't-Funded Chabad-Lubavitch Controlled Crown Heights Community Council

As FailedMessiah.com reported several weeks ago, the government-funded Chabad-Lubavitch Crown Heights Community Council's newly-elected leader is convicted felon Moshe Rubashkin.

New York Newsday has added some additional information to our brief report:

Felon picked as leader
No rules prevent convict from heading government-funded Crown Heights group; he won't 'handle checks'
BY GLENN THRUSH
STAFF WRITER

March 10, 2005

Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin, new chairman of the politically wired Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, is famous for inviting his neighbors to a lavish annual Purim party.

But Rubashkin spent his 2003 Purim in the pokey - serving out a 15-month federal plea deal for passing $325,000 in bad checks on behalf of his troubled textile business.

On Jan. 31, 2005 - less than a year after walking out of Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey - Rubashkin was elected chairman of the council, which receives $1.9 million a year in city and state social services and housing contracts.

While no laws prevent a felon from running a government-funded group, Rubashkin has vowed "not to handle any of the checks" for the council, said a source close to him. Rubashkin, 46, refused to comment through a spokesman.

Rubashkin unseated chairman Chanina Sperlin, garnering about 800 of 1,200 votes in a bitter election that divided many in the Lubavitcher Hasidic community. Women weren't allowed to vote.

The council's leaders often play a role in citywide politics. In 1997, Bruce Teitelbaum, chief of staff to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, reportedly worked to oust the council's then-chairman Rabbi Joseph Spielman.

Sperlin, who owns a property management company, was a Giuliani supporter who backed ex-Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, a Democrat, for mayor in 2001.

To celebrate his victory, Rubashkin has invited elected officials, including Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Councilwoman Leticia James (D-Crown Heights) to his house for sabbath dinner tomorrow.

Markowitz rejected the offer, citing prior commitments; James accepted but is reconsidering after learning of Rubashkin's criminal past, a spokeswoman said. "She will meet with community leaders and consider her options," her chief of staff, Janella Meeks, said.

In 1999, Rubashkin wrote three checks from his nearly empty bank account to Montex, a Pennsylvania-based textile company. When an associate warned Rubashkin that he needed to cover the checks or face prosecution, he replied, "So, I will go to jail," according to documents released by federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania.

When he passed the checks, he was being investigated for reporting irregularities in payroll taxes, a law enforcement source said on condition of anonymity. He was hit with a $278,194 federal tax lien in 1997, according to city records. It's not clear whether he ever paid it off.

Rubashkin, who was released from prison on Feb. 23, must report to a probation officer for the next four years.

Of course, the meat served at that "sabbath dinner" will come from his brother's slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa. (Make sure to scroll down the entire page to see all the posts.)

Comments

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

By the grace of G-d
Shalom uBrocha!
Do you personaly know Rabbi Moishe Rubashkin beyond those newspaper articles? Probably not. Is it at all possible that a person who bounced a huge check paid restitution on it and spent time in Federal Prison because of it be a good Jew now? Can it be that he helps many people and community institutions with his time and money? Ah of course you know that but you cut it out of the picture of the poster by "friends of Moishe Rubashkin" encouraging to elect him that you partialy reproduced on this site. This is in quality of the FailedBlog.com unbiased reporting:
1)Pick a target.
2)Quote things that make the target look totaly evil.
3)Ignore evidence pointing that target is a complex personality that has much good in it.
4)Sit back in your room and gloat in the spirit of "Oh, Moska how strong it must be that it barks at an elephant"(free translation of a quote from Russian poem).
A genuine challenge can Shmarya reproduce the complete election poster of Rabbi Moshe Rubashkin and find articles that mention some of the good things that he does to negate the impression that he is a total nutcase and thus thinks that Crown Hiegths residents elect their communal leaders based solely on criminal record.
With respect and blessing:
Ariel Sokolovsky
Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

By the grace of G-d
Shalom uBrocha!
This just in:
Shmarya Rothenberg the infamous webmaster of FailedBlog.com condemns Crown Hieghts Jews for electing a man with some criminal record and offers full and unconditional support to those in the Land of Yisrael who are supporting a goverment of thieves:

1. In many respects, the land of Israel is a unified entity belonging to the entire Jewish people. Any person or entity, including a Jew or Jewish group, who takes or gives away any part of the land, commits an act of thievery against the entire Jewish people, and the Torah does not grant the act any validity.

http://chabad.info/bm/index.php?magazine=ee_&status=goto_id&id=492

When asked by the reporter if he sees any inconsistency in this Shmarya replied in the spirit of Bishop Tortelian it sure looks inconsistent much like the imaculate conception of Jesus but everything mentioned in FailedMessiah.com ultimatly comes out of the mouth of G-d revealed to us by Shmarya thefore we must believe it even if it makes no sense at all according to our logic.

Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!

[Shmarya]

1. Moshe Rubashkin INTENTIONALLY bounced THREE huge checks and was convicted of bank fraud.
2. This was not his first criminal offence.
3. His family has been closely associated with criminal fraud – see, for example, the behavior of Moshe Rubashkin's brother-in-law, Rabbi Milton Balkany (a.k.a. the Brooklyn Bundler), or his father's and brothers' hiring of undocumented illegal aliens as workers in Postville.
4. I do not have the entire poster. All I have is that excerpt. That Moshe Rubashkin is kind and generous may very well be true. His family is known to be. That does not change his criminal history or his family's business practices.
5. A task for you, poor Ariel: Find your brain. Try to use it.

[Isa]

Look at all the sisies that cry "Oh so bad that Shmarya says this or that"
The proper reeponse would be" So what! We need a Heridi wheeler-dealer that can go against any other wheeler-dealer and stay on top, the more crooked the better!"
a good example would be Rabbi Meir Kahane that spent time in prisons both in the the USA and Israel. His followers certainly wouldn't want to follow some sissy that says "We must not raise our voices it only makes things worse" (I actaully heard this drivel from a Reform rabbi concerning Soviet Jews before that become popular to protest for)

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

B"H
Shalom uBrocha!
I read his criminal record online linked from Jewish whistleblower 1st time he was arested many years ago for preventing cops from driving a Jew to the police station on Shabbos few other arrests for something similar and if I'm not mistaken some things similar to bouncing those checks.
He wasn't elected as "head of the Bais Din" or a Rosh Yeshivah he was elected as head of JCC he is qualified to hold that position he had the most apealing platform (for example he sugested building of a community center with swimming pool etc. for people of all factions to be able to come and relax and meet in a "non politicized" enviroment (Mashichistim non-Mashichistim etc.) . Most people voted for him.I think that his Avavas Yisroel is high enough not to do anything in office that would embarass those who voted for him.I hope I'm right.

Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!

[Nice Jewish Boy]

It is because of people like THE RUBASHKIN FAMILY that there is anti-semitism.

[Yussel]

Rabbi Moshe, his love of Torah, and his love of fellow Jews unconditionally helped me get through the most difficult time of my life. It is amazing how forgiving the Gentile world is and how unforgiving some Jews can be.

[Shmarya]

What I find amazing is Moshe was indicted and pleaded guilty to another federal crime, a large fraud – committed just at the time you want us to have forgiven him.

He's due to be sentenced in early September, I think, along with his son.

But don't let any facts sway your judgment, Yussel.