Who Is The Rabbi Behind The "Kidnapping" Of Isaac Hersh?

Rabbi Aron Schechter, the rosh yeshiva of Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, that's who. He's the guy that didn't like the wig store posters and organized a boycott of the store. He's signed various bans, including the one against Lipa Schmeltzer.

And one more thing.

He is also…

…a guy who refused to go to any beit din when summoned, including Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's. Despite this act, Rabbi Schechter was promoted by Agudath Israel of America to its Council of Torah Sages:

Please click images to enlarge.

Translation of Rabbi Feinstein's summons:

February 1, 1982

To the honorable Rabbi Aaron Moshe Schechter, head of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and Kollel Gur Aryeh and Reb Avrohom Chaim Fruchthandler, President of the Board of Directors:

Peace and Blessings!

Upon the claim of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach [not the famous singer], we are summoning you to stand in judgment before the Bais Din of Agudas Harabonim within the next two weeks from today. Please respond by return mail as to your readiness to stand before us in judgment.

In the interim, Rabbi Carlebach retains his rights to his position as Mashgiach and spiritual leader of Mesivta Rabbi Chaim Berlin and Kollel Gur Aryeh, and it is therefore forbidden for anyone to assume this position and it is further forbidden for anyone to rise to his position. You are also obligated to continue paying him his full salary as before.

With much respect,

Bais Din of Agudas Harabonim

[Rabbi] Moshe Feinstein, Head

[Rabbi] Tzvi Meir Ginzberg, Dean

And what's up with Yeshivas Chaim Berlin?

This:

STOX FRAUD WON'T FLY Ranch 1 owners used yeshiva in scheme
BY GREG B. SMITH DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, April 24th 2001, 2:21AM
A mob-controlled owner of the popular Ranch 1 fast-food chain cooked up a unique recipe for laundering cash - he used a Brooklyn yeshiva to hide the origin of bribes paid in a multimillion-dollar Mafia stock fraud scheme, according to FBI tapes.
James Chickara, co-owner of the Ranch 1 chain, has been captured on the undercover recordings saying he used the Mesivta Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin on Coney Island Ave. to launder bribes paid to brokers in the stock scams.
Chickara and Sebastian Rametta, who the FBI says are associates of the Colombo crime family, were co-owners of Ranch 1 when they were arrested in June in a mammoth "mob on Wall Street" bust.
Both men quietly pleaded guilty to stock fraud in Manhattan Federal Court three weeks ago. Rametta faces up to a year in jail, Chickara up to 16 months.
The school is run by Abraham Fruchthandler, a politically connected real estate developer.
An assistant of Fruchthandler, who has donated more than $22,000 to political candidates in the last four years, said he would not comment.
In their March 29 plea before Judge William Pauley, Rametta and Chickara admitted hiding an inflated commission paid to a broker to hype stock of their food retailer, Manhattan Soup Man, which they modeled on "The Soup Nazi" character of the TV sitcom "Seinfeld."
In talks secretly taped by the FBI, Chickara said that he twice wrote checks to the Brooklyn yeshiva and that school president Fruchthandler tapped into yeshiva bank accounts to give cash back.
The yeshiva got a fee for its services, and Chickara and Rametta were able to claim a tax deduction for charitable giving, according to a talk secretly recorded Dec. 14, 1999, between Chickara and an informant named Jeffrey Pokross.
"We donated money to his yeshiva," Chickara said. "Let's say we gave him a $100,000 check. ... Out of the yeshiva, he gave me back $75,000 or $80,000, actually $80,000 in cash."
Pokross: "And you get the tax deduction?"
Chickara: "Exactly."
Pokross: "And it's reliable?"
Chickara: "Yeah."
Before their arrest, Rametta was listed as Ranch 1's CEO and Chickara as its vice chairman. Since then, they have been removed from the executive suite, though Rametta continues working as a Ranch 1 consultant and both still own stock in the firm.
The company owns 60 restaurants, including 23 in New York City, selling what it terms healthy fast food such as flame-broiled chicken sandwiches. Current CEO George Naddaff said the company had no knowledge of any wrongdoing by Rametta and Chickara.
Rametta's lawyer, Edward Little, noted that in accepting his client's plea, prosecutors agreed to drop the mob-related racketeering charges.
Little also questioned whether Chickara actually laundered money through the yeshiva, though he couldn't say it didn't happen.
Chickara's lawyer, Robert Gage, did not return calls seeking comment.
The guilty pleas tarnished the image of respectability the men have carefully maintained in cobbling together several multimillion-dollar business deals over the last decade.
The two sold Arnie's Bagelicious Bagels to Quaker Oats in 1994, took the profits and started Ranch 1 in 1996. They brought in several big-name investors, including John Sculley, former CEO of Apple Computers.
At the same time, according to tapes made by the FBI, they were hanging around gangsters from the Brooklyn neighborhood where they grew up.
In a Jan. 26, 2000, taped conversation, Chickara said he and Rametta had "been around" Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso, the homicidal ex-underboss of the Luchese crime family.
After Casso was arrested, Chickara said on the tape, he and Rametta became associated with William (Wild Bill) Cutolo, a Colombo capo who disappeared in 1999.
By last year, Rametta and Chickara were working with Bonanno crime family capo Robert (Little Robert) Lino to take Ranch 1 and Manhattan Soup Man public in a mob-orchestrated pump-and-dump scheme, according to court papers.
On tape, Chickara said the mob would do well in the deal. He noted that his Mafia handlers got a $500,000 payment when they sold Arnie's Bagels to Quaker Oats and said the Colombo crime family stood to profit from Ranch 1 and Manhattan Soup Man as well.
"They'll make money with Ranch 1, they'll make money with soup," Chickara said. "Basically, anything we do, we try to give them something. And always to stay on good terms."
Sidebar:
In describing how he laundered cash as part of a Mafia stock fraud scheme, a former Ranch 1 executive said he used a religious school as the conduit and netted a hefty tax break in the process. Here's how he said the scheme worked:
1 Write a check for a charitable donation to a yeshiva called Mesivta Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin on Coney Island Ave. in Brooklyn. The yeshiva is run by a friend.
2 The friend gives back 80% of the check in cash. The yeshiva keeps 20% as a fee.
3 Pay off brokers and stock promoters with the cash. Brokers hype worthless stock until its value crests, then insiders sell off, sending the stock crashing. This is called pump and dump.
4 The Ranch 1 executive claims a tax break for the charitable donation to the yeshiva.

Previous post on Isaac Hersh "kidnapping."
[A special hat tip to UOJ who culled all of this information together and posted it on his website. Kol HaKavod!]

Comments

[Anon]

--Rabbi Aron Schechter, the rosh yeshiva of Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, that's who.--

Any evidence of that? As far as I can tell those are baseless accusations based on the father being a former student of CB.

--[A special hat tip to UOJ who culled all of this information together and posted it on his website. Kol HaKavod!]--

Both UOJ and you have been asleep at the switch this time. This information has been general knowledge and widely available for years.

[Archie Bunker]

You missed the latest letter UOJ put up that has never been published before. Rabbi Bick from Boro Park also issued summons that were ignored.

It seems that the Jewish Press had a hand in covering up the story too.

[Archie Bunker]

There is still one more letter that has not been publicized (or at least not on the internet). Fruchthandler allegedly spread a rumor in last few years that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein withdrew the excommunication. Rabbi Carlebach's son then obtained a letter from Rabbi Dovid Feinstein that that is a lie.

[jimmy]

what about that hersh's attorney is the president of Young israel

[Archie Bunker]

The Exec-VP of Young Israel has a close relationship with Avi Shafran and they often coordinate together.

Don't get me started with Young Israel corruption. Just for starters Spitzer nailed them for what looked like embezzlement when he was AG but only pursued them for lesser crimes.

[Anon]

--Fruchthandler allegedly spread a rumor in last few years that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein withdrew the excommunication.--

Rabbi Feinstein never execommunicated them. (Though that may be due to Rabbi Feinstein's reluctance to execommunicate anyone and not because they were not deserving.)

[Jake]

What corruption at Yonug Israel? Gevalt that leaves me with Jewish Renewal, but they have Gafni, oh well Santaria here I come.

[Open Letter]

NEWSFLASH - 3:08 P.M. EST!!!!!!!!

UOJ Exclusive

St. Elizabeth, Jamaica:

A private jet carrying medical and legal professionals arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica yesterday where they were met by officials from the United States Embassy who escorted them to the Tranquility Bay compound.

Once there they demanded and were granted access to Isaac Hersh.

Isaac was taken to the Embassy where he confirmed on the record that he had been abused by his father, Michael Hersh while living at home and was currently being tortured and deprived of basic necessities in Tranquility Bay.

At the insistence of Michael Hersh who currently has legal custody of Isaac, Steve Mostofsky who is Michael’s attorney and Rabbi Aaron Schechter who is Michael’s spiritual advisor, Isaac was returned to the Tranquility Bay compound.

Affidavits , together with the first hand testimony of the medical and legal professionals is being presented to a Federal Judge in New York - NOW- who is being asked to

[meyer]

scotty,

tell me dude, being a ceo of hatzola requires at least a minimum amount of intelligence, right? why would anyone with that intelligence want his son to remain in tranquility bay?

[steve]

You can be intelligent, yet sadistic at the same time. Some say that Hitler was also brilliant.

[David]

Hi. I am writing about the story about Isaac Hersh.

The story is a fabrication to the highest degree. I grew up with them and know them since I was a little kid.
The parents never abused anyone and I would know since my own family took in 10 foster children from abusive homes over the years.

[Archie Bunker]

David, why don't you buzz off back to Fruchthandler's office or wherever you are based.

Even if the kids are making up that their father abused them, which is unlikely, the parents still have no business letting their son be tortured in that gulag.

[R]

I have been noticing the randomers claiming they know the family and how amazing they are. Sorry, but you are not amazing or wonderful if you let your child go through hell. Infact one would call that an abusive parent.

[Lev]

Post-Modernist Story: zek of the Archipelag BT/BT Archipelago sends his own son to the real GULAG

[Chaim]

"An attorney for the Hersh family, Shlomo Mostofsky, who became involved in the case at the request of Agudath Israel of America, maintained in an interview that “the
child was in a number of different places. Every single place he was at sent him home. At times he was suicidal. He would attack his siblings in the house. “Someone who knows [the
parents] since childhood is prepared to testify that he saw the kid go after his mother with a broom,” Mostofsky said, adding that psychiatric evaluations impacted the family’s decision to take drastic action. Friends of the Hershes, who know the family well, called The Jewish Star on Monday, eager to vouch for the parents, saying that they had witnessed Isaac’s behavioral problems and observed firsthand his strained relationship with the family. Isaac’s mother survived cancer a number of years ago while the family lived in Israel. That may have led to problems at home for Isaac and his twin brother, Sol, who also does not live with his parents today. Mr. Mostofsky said that according to his client, “Rav Aharon knew the place wasn’t kosher, that there was no Judaism there, and the feeling was that he needed a place like this or he wasn’t necessarily going to get through life –– that it was pikuach nefesh.”

[billy]

who was on the airplane?

[HERSHEL]

AN OPEN LETTER TO LIPA

BS"D

Dear Lipa, ly"t

Its time we all woke up and smelled the coffee. After reading the new ban regarding your performance it seems that in Shomayim they are NOT happy enough with the Derech, you have chosen. It does not matter which of the Rabonim signed on the new Kol Korah banning the event, and who not. If you count the amount of signatures you will come up with about SIXTY signatures. I believe that this is only the beginning stages of the Kol Korah. It's a clear and strong message from Hashem and the Rabonim who are the leaders of our times that something smells terribly wrong over here. Never in the past decade has there been a gathering of Rabonim to condemn an individual in such a strong way!!! I am not out to hurt you Lipa, I am simply suggesting that you should examine your performance closely, could we believe it's done 100% Al Taharas HaKodesh?

In history of Klall Yisroel we almost never had ALL the Gedolim unite and sign on the same topic. If you LIPA are a true Chosid, like you proclaim to be with your outer Levush (dress code,) you are obligated to adhere to the Chasidishe Rabonim and maybe that's why the majority of the Ban is signed by Chasidishe Gedolim and not Litvish. In general the Litvish are any way more modern compared to the Chasidim, and they always allowed for Kalus Rosh in a lax manner compared to the Frum Chadishe Olam.

If one examines the Ban you will find that it does not only pertain to the event - the concert, it's far and beyond that, it includes many of your great and exciting ideas that many have to compliment you on.

Lipa you are an extremely talented individual who has inspired thousands upon thousands in Klall Yisroel. If some how you can take a turn and use your influence in a Torah way, you will be able to be Mekarev a huge part of Klall Yisroel to our father in heaven and have a Zchus to speed up the arrival of Moshiach. Take an example from Uri Zohar and see how he turned around and was able to teach hundreds of thousands of Jews Hashems Torah. BTW if you believe you are powerful and have the ability to attract many, show us that you are a true Ben Torah a Tzdik "an Erlicha Yid" as you have been referred to by some leaders, please prove your strengths in Yidishkite to all of us and most of all listen and follow the advise and direction of the Chasidishe Rabonim of todays times...

Lipa I want to tell you something that can not be denied, I personally spoke to the Rosh Yeshiva Reb Shmuel Kaminetzsky Shlita and the Novermintzsker Rebbeh Shlita this week and they both said that I may quote them and publicize in their name that: in no way shape or form are they backing your activities they are NOT vouching for you and they never ENDORSED you. So when many people are suggesting that the Litvish Rabonim are behind the event, that's not so at all. The Ban was only signed by those who have a Yeshiva for the younger generation, not by Rabonim who have a Bais Medresh Shull or a Kehillah etc. Rabbi Belsky Shlita the Rosh Yeshiva of Torah Vadath was asked on this matter, he too replied that he has never given his approval on "the event" or your music and entertainment.

By the way do you realize that Manhattan is not a clean place to say the least. There is ZERO Kedushah in NYC and you ran an ad on a Jewish site saying that you are offering 400 Free tickets to any boy under 18 who learns a Perek of Mishnayis. Why would you even dream to do something so hurtful like this.-- Shlepping our innocent Kinderlich to NYC, are you by chance looking to corrupt those clean Neshomos who are UNDER 18 CHAS V'ESHOLOM???? I don't believe you are that bad yet, it must have just slipped by you without noticing the domino effect of this performance. Perhaps you are having a very difficult time selling tickets, because we all remember that the Kol Koreah banning the "big event" (prohibiting your performance) . Were you just desperate to fill up seats, which we understand that’s done totally LeKovod Hashem Yisboruch so the full proceeds could go to Tzodoka and feed the hungry and poor in Israel.

I want to end off with a Brocha and wish you and your helpers that Hashem opens up your hearts and helps you to return to him seeing the true light of Kedusha and Taharah. May we all be Zoche to true Yiddishkiet with out being confused with goyishkeit
Amen.

A concerned Himesher Yid.

[a]

hershel well put with dignity and class.