Rabbis And Orthodox Community Leaders Support Abramoff

The judge in disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff's Florida trial received dozens of letters from Orthodox rabbis and community leaders in support of Abramoff, pleading for the most lenient sentence allowable by law. The judge complied. The Forward has excerpts from some of these letters. Most interesting is this quote from "noted" constitutional expert and Rubashkin attorney Nathan Lewin:

Nathan Lewin, a prominent Washington attorney, wrote that he was impressed that Abramoff supported the money-losing kosher eatery "at great financial sacrifice just so that Jews would have a place where they could dine in comfort."

Lewin recently claimed that Rubashkin had done no wrong, no animal cruelty took place at AgriProcessors, and that the USDA only acted because of incitement from PETA, who Lewin had previously tried to link to Nazis. In calling for leniency, Lewin focuses on Abramoff's glatt kosher deli.

Abramoff defrauded Indian tribes of millions of dollars. His emails depict Indians as stupid, almost subhuman.

Abramoff stole money from people who have little and gave it to people who have much. Abramoff is an anti-Robin Hood. Sadly, Nathan Lewin and Abramoff's rabbis are his band of Merry Men.

Comments

[Avtalion]

I bet it was no different in Mayer Lansky's time. Of course Milliken was also defended as a special neshome, so with "diamond in the rough" Boesky's tshuva.
I can't help humming in my mind Chabad's tune for:
Ata bechartanu mikol haamim, ahavta otanu veratzita banu, veromamtanu mikol haleshonos .....

[Shyster Watch]

The Forward doesn't mention this, but a Rabbi Herzl Kranz, interviewed by D.C. area newspapers has taken to publicly defending Abramoff. Kranz admits that Abramoff bankrolled the school he runs.

The background on this shmuck Kranz. He runs a Silver Springs hashgocha that the frummer crowd there doesn't trust. Kranz is a mechutan of super-ganav Rabbi Leib Pinter. Pinter, of Bnei Torah lunch program infamy, who is also known for a suspicious "heist" at a jewelry business he owned, was last seen under indictment this past year again for fraud when federal & state agencies forced the shut down of Olympia Mortgage corp that he ran with his brother Shmelka.

[The Editor]

First of all, Milkin was guilty of technical violations and wasn't the gonif that Boesky was. Milkin's philanthropy has done a tremendous amount of good for the Jewish community. He also personally voluteered teaching math to minority high school kids. He paid his fine and went on with his life. As a Jew, you either believe in tshuvah or you don't.

More to the point, the idea that the tribes that Abramoff ripped off are poor and impoverished is ludicrous. He lobbied on behalf of tribes that earned hundreds of millions of dollars a year from their casinos. That's how come they had millions available for him to rip off. They are hardly saints themselves. The leaders of one of the tribes here in Michigan that Abramoff worked for have been busy trying to kick their political opponents out of the tribe (and deny them profit sharing from the casinos). There has also been state and federal investigations into tribal management. There are no noble savages here. Abramoff was a gonif working for other g'navim.