The Boymelgreen - Leviev Divorce

The partnership between Chabad oligarch Lev Leviev and Chabad real estate developer Shaya Boylmelgreen appears to be over. Nathaniel Popper of the Forward chronicles the breakup:

…Despite what has become of the relationship, there were good reasons to think that Leviev and Boymelgreen could make it together. Both are religious men active in the Chabad Lubavitch movement — Chabad sources say their initial introduction was made by Moshe Kotlarsky, one of Chabad’s top-ranking rabbis — and both have made their mark by pursuing non-Jewish projects in some of the most Jewish cities around the world.

Leviev grew up in Uzbekistan with a father who helped bring Judaism into the secular Soviet Union through the underground channels of the Chabad Lubavitch movement. After moving to Israel as a teenager, Leviev opened a diamond-polishing plant that he used to win contracts to mines in Russia and Angola. He has since leveraged that money and become the main Jewish philanthropist in Russia, funding the Chabad-run Federation of Jewish Communities. Both the federation and Leviev are said to be close with President Vladimir Putin.

Boymelgreen grew up in Israel and moved to the United States to continue his religious studies. He started Eichler’s, the largest Judaica store in the world, and has since branched out into real estate, particularly in Brooklyn. He has set himself apart by spotting up-and-coming areas for development. The latest is the sewage-steeped Gowanus Canal area.…

Despite his knowing take on the secular world, Boymelgreen has kept his feet firmly planted in the Orthodox world. He sports a beard and has houses in Israel and in the Chabad-heavy Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights, according to people in the community.…

Curiously, the Forward fails to mention Boymelgreen's questionable business practices which are said to include theft from workers, defrauding people who purchased co-ops (condominiums) from him, and other deceitful and illegal practices.

Photographs: Lev Leviev, top right; Shaya Boymelgreen, bottom left.