BREAKING! Chabad of Miami Beach Faces Foreclosure

Yeshiva, dorms, Chabad House, apartments all may be seized.

Lubavitch Education Center faces foreclosure
South Florida Business Journal - by Brian Bandell

The Lubavitch Education Center’s 84,020-square-foot, seven-story building on seven acres, along with two other properties, is named in the $8 million foreclosure lawsuit filed on June 23 by the Birmingham, Ala-based bank in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.

The nonprofit center is affiliated with the Chabad Lubavitch, an orthodox Jewish movement that has temples and education centers throughout the world.

The foreclosure names the nonprofit Friends of Lubavitch of Florida and the for-profit 17330 NW 7 LLC. Rabbi Bentzion Korf, who is listed on the Lubavitch Education Center’s Web site as the director, manages both entities, which took an $8 million loan from the bank in 2004.

Korf didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

The center was founded in 1973 as the first rabbinical college, or yeshiva, in the southeastern U.S. Orthodox Jews from throughout South Florida send their children there for religious education.

In addition to the main campus, which is located near Golden Glades, the foreclosure targets the 30,750-square-foot education center at 1114 Alton Road in Miami Beach and a 3,363-square-foot apartment building at 1231 13th St. in Miami Beach.

Miami-based attorney Elizabeth Dombovary, who represents Regions Bank in the lawsuit, didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

[Hat Tip: Joel Katz.]

Comments

[itchiemayer]

Any relation to Rabbi Pinchas Korf, who was the target of an assault by a group of Satmers many years ago?

[sage]

It is relieving that this financial institution is taking serious legal action.

Who knows how many other "Chabad Houses" are in a similar situation?

Is the RCF paradigm, of being a veritable financial "Black Hole", common or not among other Chabad operations?

[yidandahalf]

But this is terrible, where will the fressers gather for their brisket farbrengens? Straight from the Rubbishcan freezer with nowhere to go. A great tragedy.

[sage]

Maybe there's enough Rubbish-Meat in their freezer that can be sold off to avoid foreclosure.

But then they would have to go meatless, a horrible fate, indeed.

[michael ben drosai]

"Maybe there's enough Rubbish-Meat in their freezer that can be sold off to avoid foreclosure.

But then they would have to go meatless, a horrible fate, indeed. "

Not nearly as bad as having to spend an eternity reading your detritus. Assuming you are in fact Jewish, are you aware that there is a principle called "being dan l'kaf z'chus"? Absent any information to the contrary wide would you rush to judgment (okay, okay I know why) as opposed to thinking that perhaps as in so many cases the institution's finances are exposed to the same stresses that most not for profits are exposed to in these tight economic times. Perhaps hard-working parents are unable to afford full tuition and perhaps one or more major donors are likewise victims of the trickle-down theory of economics.

[sage]

You are obviously someone with no healthy sense of humor, like Yidandahalf and me.

How sad.

[michael ben drosai]

B'H my sense of humor is quite healthy indeed.

As is Yidandahalf's and even YL, the idiot savant parodist.

Were I to consider you too an idiot savant, I'd only be half right.

[sage]

+++ B'H my sense of humor is quite healthy indeed. +++

Really?

Someone who takes uncalled-for pot shots at one who speaks his mind on this blog site lacks a good sense of humor and proper respect for the views of others, whether or not he agrees with them or not.

As I told you before, if you don't like my posts, ignore them.

If you keep this up, you might find the webmaster banning you.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Just got home, and am making a pitcher of martinis. I am pouring one for each of you guys. Please, please, have a drink on me!

Put aside the quarreling, just for a few minutes, and pick up a glass. I will also have a tray of sushi to whet your appetites and thirst.

And don't forget to make a blessing!

[Ahavah]

It was only a matter of time - there are simply too few gainfully employed adults at market rates to support UO and Chereidi communities. We've known this was coming for a couple of years now, but they didn't listen. Now we'll start seeing shuls, dayschools, federations and charities of all kinds start losing their property. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

[Minneapolis]

Regardless of weather you believe with the teachings of Chabad, which i don't, this is very sad.

[sage]

Hi WSC,

I'm going to have two stiff shots of George Dickel Tennessee Whisky.

There's no point at all, to this quarreling, as you say.

MBD, hopefully, from now on, will concentrate his efforts, along with the rest of us, in the battle of slowly removing the utter corruption that has infested the Orthodox Jewish Leadership at all levels, instead of trying to intimidate me.

Again, many thanks.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Sage, L'Chaim!

Michael, please, take a sip...

[esty]

Hey guys, can you stop your childish behaviour please, I come here to learn the truth about orthodoxy not to learn how to berate each other over a blog. You see, some of us didnt have the luxury of growing up in the States or even being in a frum community now.

Living the other side of the world its hard to grasp what happening without having to decipher and pull out your caustic remarks

[sage]

Hi Esty,

Thanks!!!

It's all up to MBD, now.

If he continues to take pot shots at me, simply because he diagrees with or has some other grudge(s) against me, I'm going to very respectfully ask the webmaster to consider banning him.

[Dark Side of The Moon]

I'm not Jew, just asking a question. Why has there been no "Breaking News" about Madoff going to jail for life??? Nice Jewish fellow, he was. Even his darling wife Ruth turned on him before sunset yesterday. She knows nothing????

[Shmarya]

Because everyone knows all about it. You don't need me to know he got 150 years.

On the other hand, you did need me to show YU's connection to Madoff and other things I reported earlier.

[nachos]

Maybe they can siphon some money off from the Rubashkin defense fund to pay the mortgage on this property.

[sage]

It would be very kind of the RCF to do this, but don't count on it.

The long historical evidence of this crime families' methods, includes screwing everyone possible to get their way, including their fellow Lubovs.

Also, with one Iowa, two Federal trials and a Bank trial on the near horizen, as well as possible additional trials on Iowa and Federal labor law violations, the RCF Defense Fund could eventually be sorely lacking.

It may come to, eventually, for AR to have to take money from his offshore and foreign bank accounts to keep things moving.

And we have not yet considered the ramifications, if the Feds file RICO Charges.

[Proton Soup]

maybe they were foolish enough to take a variable-rate loan?

there's really nothing to see here. is itchie hinting at some conspiracy? lots of religious groups over-extended themselves in previous years and took out loans they now cannot afford to pay back.

[Dr. Dave]

This actually is a sad story that is being repeated throughout the spectrum of jewish life from orthodox to reform to chabad.

There is an economic downturn and many supporter's monies are drying up. Many wealthy donors are no longer wealthy thanks to Wall Street, Bernie Madoff, and yes - even the INS in the case of the Rubashkins who did to their merit donate tzedakah

[True Messiah]

He should quickly go to the Kever to get a dollar from the Rebbe and tell the bank its worth millions, that should stop the foreclosure quickly.

[itchiemayer]

esty - To learn the truth about orthodoxy would take a lot more than merely reading this blog. This site accentuates the dark side of Torah Judaism, which unfortunately does exist. Nevertheless, and in my humble opinion, Torah Judaism is the most wonderful thing ever created. It's the people who can mess it up. Anyhow, this site is not all-encompassing. It serves a purpose, but please don't believe this is all there is.

[The sane one]

Sounds like sage should ignore also. Relax man, it's just a blog.

[mordecai]

It was at this very institution that a particular Rabbi told me that there were no Jewish prayers for my recently deceased non-Jewish wife.

G-D is not happy and his hand is swift and mighty.

[mordecai]

"Maybe there's enough Rubbish-Meat in their freezer that can be sold off to avoid foreclosure."

I have personally seen Rubashkin meat trucks deliver meat to this building

[sage]

+++ Sounds like sage should ignore also. Relax man, it's just a blog.

Posted by: The sane one | July 01, 2009 at 12:25 AM +++

Thanks, The sane one,

On the advice of WoolSilkCotton, I had two stiff shots of George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey last evening. Worked great!!!

But, if MBD continues to try to intimidate me, I'll respectfully ask the webmaster to consider banning him.

[sage]

Mordechai,

Again, my condolences for your tragic loss.

As they say, "What goes around comes around".

[michael ben drosai]

"MBD, hopefully, from now on, will concentrate his efforts, along with the rest of us, in the battle of slowly removing the utter corruption that has infested the Orthodox Jewish Leadership at all levels, instead of trying to intimidate me."

Relax JD - no one is trying to intimidate you - I just wish you'd be more forthcoming about your radical animal rights agenda through the JVNA which you clothe as an effort to rid "orthodoxy of corruption" (puhleez)
(and I'm sure that the "ba'al haBlog" is quite capable of making any determinations he pleases as to the suitability of my posts without your urging). You remind me of the sixth-graders whose battle cry was "I'm gonna tell the teacher on you".

Just be who you really are -- nothing more, nothing less. In other words, don't talk about truth and corruption while concealing their own agenda.

[michael ben drosai]

"It may come to, eventually, for AR to have to take money from his offshore and foreign bank accounts to keep things moving."

By the way, do you have direct knowledge of offshore or foreign bank accounts, or is this merely another "IMHO" hypothesis?

Can you spell L I B E L?

[sage]

There are others, besides me, who have stated that AR MIGHT have his money in offshore or foreign bank accounts. This is not libel.

As for my agenda on this blog, it's nothing more that the agenda of others, confronting and working to eliminate corruption in our Orthodox Jewish Leadership.

That I am a vegan, has nothing to do with my work on this blog.

There are many others, both vegan and meat-eaters on this blog, whom I am very close to.

If this does not answer your concerns, I'm very sorry for you.

[Isa]

mordecai:

Would not it be 'funny' if the rabbi in question instead of making unwise choices was found to have 'lined' his pockets.

The big question should be...
What was the 8 million use for?

For us ignoramuses...
I wish Sage and michael ben droisa EACH state their position and the other guys position

[sage]

Hi Isa,

Thanks for your comment.

I've tried to take care in stating my positions on this blog, and take pains to be consistent.

As for MBD's position on the issues we have to confront, I simply don't know what they are.

Maybe, he'll be kind enough to enlighten us.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Few people doubt that the Rubashkins have a ton of money hidden away in foreign locations.

You can be sure those lawyers aren't working pro bono or just for the publicity. They are getting paid monthly and in full. Otherwise they would not remain as the RCF's attorneys.

I don't recall Sage, or anyone else here in a long time, actively promoting any radical 'animal rights' position.

[sage]

Many Thanks, WSC!!!!!!

[Shmarya]

Chabad has a fund that is paying Rubashkin's attorneys. (Of course, Rubashkin could be funneling money through it – who knows.)

[Althelion]

I hope that the Rabbis don't try to spin this into some kind of anti-semitic financial pogrom perpetuated by the hateful goyim. Their followers just love to eat that stuff up. No, this is just the result of hard economic times and bad financial management.

[sage]

Just a simple thought:

Generally, Banks do not want to foreclose on Religious Institutions, as this might create some negative publicity.

But the fallout from the RCF Scandals and indictments, has given, IMHO, impetus for Banks beginning to consider doing this.

A second Bank in Iowa is now suing the RCF for money owed, not a dime if which has been paid.

Then we hear of the Florida Bank forclosing on a Chabad House.

A pattern may emerge.

As it sinks in that Big Chabad is criminally oriented, former reluctance on Banks to foreclose, may change to a more aggresive approach.

In the future, we might see more Chabad Houses facing the same fate as the one in Florida.

[Dr. Dave]

Unfortunately we have some very ill prepared chabad shluchim suddenly managing large sums of money. Some of the more intelligent ones enlist help from the accountants, money managers, aned business men in their shuls and manage well.

Others, mostly for reason of ego, decide to manage their money themselves and run into financial difficulty.

Although many claim to have a simple lifestyle, they do tend to purchase full price air tickets to NYC several times a year to visit the Rebbe in his grave. They fly to Israel frequently.

Some have lavish tastes combined with nonexistent financial accumen and host fundraisers that cost far more than they bring in.

Still others will borrow heavily against any property that they own and get into trouble with interest payments.

Combine the lack of financial knowledge with the entitlement mentality frequently found among chareidim and the didain for the "goyish" taxation system and you have a recipe for disaster.

[sage]

Words that Big Chabad might want to consider

In 1935, then Senator Harry Truman gave a speech on the floor of the Senate that said, in part:

"One of the difficulties, as I see it, is, that we worship money instead of honor.

A billionare, in our estimation, is worth much more in the eyes of the people, than the public servant who works for the public good.

We worship Mammon.

Until we get back to the Giver of the Tables of the Law and His teachings, these problems are going to remain with us."

[yidandahalf]

"It's just a blog...". NO, it is NOT JUST A BLOG. It is alot more than just a blog for many reasons and on many levels. The work done by Shmarya and others and the "agendas" some of us espouse, ensure we take this spot in the cybersphere really quite seriously. At the end of the day we look at ourselves, we answer to our consciences, we think about how we can best continue on and will our attempts at "making a difference" be futile or will they bear fruit. So it is not just a blog for the majority of us.
And sage, my friend, I know you do not like to use profanity so I will. Just ignore the douchebags. They are not worthy of your replies.

[sage]

Again,

MANY THANKS AGAIN, MY FRIEND!!!!!!!!!

[Dark Side of The Moon]

What about Bernie and Ruthie Madoff?????????????

[Yosef ben Matitya]

ken yovdu kol oyveikho hashem!

[nachos]

"G-D is not happy and his hand is swift and mighty."

Mordechi:

Amen to your comment. Your wife had more merit in her little finger than this whole shul had. May G-d grant you peace and comfort during your time of mourning.

[Ben]

The biggest businness of Haredim for last few decades was to sell product called "legitimacy" to non-believing but sentimental Jewish public. Most of money that kept Haredi explosion going was coming from secular wealthy Jews with the sense of guilt and nostalgia. Haredi used their money but abused their progeny.
Now Haredim decided that they are big enough to extort from the public through political system and spit on the very type of people that supported their movement for the last 60 years.

In my opinion, financial capability of Haredim is being destroyed by Israeli rabbinate's racist stand on conversions, which opens many eyes to their true nature.

[A E ANDERSON]

The action against Florida Friends of Lubavitch/Landow Yeshiva is pretty amazing, because they were for years kept solvent by Crescent Heights, a real estate development firm headed by flamboyant Israeli yored Sonny Kahn and Russell Galbut, a physican and member of a well-connected political family in Miami Beach.

Kahn, who has given testimonials to the Machne Israel Development Fund (Habad's club for significant millionaraire donors), used to spin a yarn about how he came to America with $35 in his pocket, drove a taxi and met the rebbe, who gave him a blessing and encouraged him to give, give, give.

An astute businessman, he reportedly began in California (from whence he took the name "Crescent Heights"), and later made big in Miami Beach doing condo conversions, whereby he would by aging waterfront apartment buildings, gussy up the lobbies with marble, and market the units as condos on late night TV in the US and Latin America. They since graduated to much larger projects in New York and elsewhere.

The action is significant because Miami, since Schneerson's death, has come to contain a large concentration of "Anash" ("Anshei Shlomainu," a term Habadniks use to refer to themselves), in South Beach, but more significantly in the 41st Steet area, Bal Harbour, and North Miami Beach/Aventura.

Rabbi Benjy Korf (son of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch regional director Rabbi Abraham Korf, nephew of Penny Korf, grandson of late Tanya commentator Yushe Kork) made significant strides taking Lubavitch out of South Beach, opening a school at the centrally-located Golden Glades Interchange (the property being the subject of the reported forclosure).

Their school, opened in the 1960s as an outreach project, now caters mostly to Habad children, and they struggle each year trying to squeeze maximum tuition payments from large, already over-extended families.

Becase South Florida is probably the second largest center of Habad concentration in the US after Crown Heights, one can be sure that the movement will come to the rescue at some level.

On the other hand, the financial trouble may be an opportunity for erstwhile Korf family rival, Rabbi Scholem Ber Lipskar, to regain the school he once lost to the Korfs in another financial crisis in the late 1970s. At the time, Lipskar -- who was principal of Landow Yeshiva -- lost his major donor, Mel Landow, when Landow's once-ubiquitious Kennedy and Cohen retail appliance business went belly up. Reportedly, the Landow Yeshiva building on Alton Road in Miami Beach is a copy of Landow's former corporate headquarters building.

Lipskar moved on, after some heart problems, to found the fabulously successful Shul of Bal Harbour, and a related program for Jewish prisioners, the Aleph Institute.

Lipskar, along with members of the Fellig family, who have in the past been in the Lipskar camp in disputes with Regional Director Korf, have expanded "The Shul" name elsewhere as another brand of Habad front organization.

Another point: the Yeshiva Gedolah Rabbinical College (of which I am an alumnus) is operated as an adjunct of Landow Yeshiva. It's rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Schapiro, is probably the closest thing that Lubavitch has to a real rosh yeshiva (he presented one of the mesichtas for Dial-a-Daf, and is well regarded outside Habad circles).

[skeptic jew]

failedmessiah.com is having multiple orgasms over these news!

[A E ANDERSON]

See "Lubavitch Center Faces Foreclosure,"
http://www.shturem.org/index.php?section=news&id=37096 (Shterm)

U-TUBE/CBS4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHk2fbUrkCw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.crownheights.info%2F&feature=player_embedded

[s]

couldn't some of the money made gettingdocumentsfor hundredsof chineseto come to the U.S. to "work at Agriprocessors" beused to pay someof their unsecured creditors now?

[Neo-Conservaguy]

This site accentuates the dark side of Torah Judaism, which unfortunately does exist.

As I've pointed numerous times already, there is no such thing as "Torah Judaism". Rather, we practice a faith defined and redefined over time by the rabbis, the successors of the effective "victors" of the great Pharisee vs. Sadducee political (and real) battles. The closest thing to "Torah Judaism" - practiced by the remaining Karaites (neo-Sadducees) and one might argue the Samaritans. Without the changes brought about by the rabbinic sages, we would most likely not be arguing on this site and would instead be bickering about the Pope's latest proclamation or about whether leadership should have passed directly to Ali following Muhammad's death.

[michoel]

I don't get why people here hate chabad so much???

[omg]

Because, michoel, and I speak only for myself, there are many people who have been "screwed", both literaly and figuratively, by chabad. Manipulated, lied to, stalled, cheated, victimized sexually, wait....I know there are other wondrful verbs that would further illustrate why chabad is hated, although hate is a strong word--lets just say that, for myself only, I don't trust chabad at all, even the really nice rabbis, they are never "up front", in all my dealings, I have come to know that what exists behind the scenes, unbeknownst to me, is what's really going on with chabad.
In the obvious ways, of spreading yiddishkeit, of offering prayers to those who wouldn't, for sparking off nostalgia in the hearts of jews, for offering challah and wine, feeding the jews, that's on the surface, but behind the scenes, they are making fun of the other jews, the ones they supposedly serve, they consider them to be "tumei", meaning unclean, like you have to wash your hands coming from a cemetery, because its tumei, same with working with jews who aren't quite so pure", as they are, consider them to be tumei, unclean. Now how about that!!
Have I answered your question, michoel??

[L.Krawitz]

Finding this website was like a breath of fresh air!
I am currently working on my Ph.D. about messianic movements that survived the death of their messiahs, and have been picking up flack for including Chabad.
I have also struggled to find info on Chabad, (-especially since the rebbes death), where I stay (i.e., South Africa); and my uni library, (and most other SA academic libraries) has zip info as it is a nice Christian institute.
Also stuggle to find articles on Haaretz website, what is their problem? any suggestions on how to overcome this.
Would welcome info, and source source material, besides David Berger, etc, that can be used in paper.

With thanks, L.Krawitz.

[Chana]

mordechai,
condolences on your loss,
my grandparents are non jewish and we are chabad and told by a more understanding person of great stature , that there is a gan eden for non jews who are rightious and the high form of acknowledging her speciallness would be to light a candle on her date of death and to donate money to a worthy place of learning or place where they feed the hunfgry and homeless.
Learning or doing acts of kindness on that day will give her soul comfort .
sincerely,Chana