Rabbi Sholom M. Rubashkin's Very Excellent New York Vacation Redo
Court allows Rubashkin to go to New York City for the Jewish New Year to pray at grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - A judge has granted the request of a former top manager at a kosher slaughterhouse to travel from Iowa to New York and pray at the grave of a famous Orthodox Jewish leader.
U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade says Sholom Rubashkin can be driven from Postville to a Queens, N.Y., cemetery for the Jewish New Year. He's expected to visit the grave of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson on Wednesday.
Rubashkin was a top manager at the Agriprocessors, Inc., slaughterhouse in Postville, the site of a massive immigration raid in May 2008.
Rubashkin faces immigration, bank fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud charges. His trial is set for Oct. 13.
He has been under supervised release since February. He spent more than three months in jail because of flight risk concerns.
Rabbi Sholom M. Rubashkin's Very Excellent Summer Vacation: Part 1, Part 2.
oy this must have ruined any chance of failed messiah had of having a good year
Posted by: joe | September 15, 2009 at 05:08 PM
All together now ...
I'm leaving
on a jet plane
don't know when I'll be back again...
Posted by: state of disgust | September 15, 2009 at 05:58 PM
Praying isn't going to help him.
Posted by: effie | September 15, 2009 at 06:21 PM
ומפני זה. אמרו. (. קידושין פב א. ) טוב
שבטבחים שותפו של עמלק ...
this one excells as Amaleq's partner!
Posted by: Yosef ben Matitya | September 15, 2009 at 07:43 PM
Guess the judge this not see this video,
Steve Karmen's 'I Love New York'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO7s02PvG2U
Maybe he is picking up the cash from Monsey.
Posted by: FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican | September 15, 2009 at 08:12 PM
Again, I see no problem here. He hasn't been convicted yet, as the article says "His trial is set for Oct. 13"
Posted by: harold | September 15, 2009 at 08:48 PM
By requesting special treatment, that those of other faiths rarely, if ever, ask for, SMR is not doing himself a favor.
Judge Reade has granted these requests, IMHO, to be sure that she is bending over backwards in giving SMR fair treatment, making it more difficult for any appeals court to overturn a conviction.
Posted by: sage | September 16, 2009 at 05:36 AM
There is nothing wrong with the visit so long as he is supervised to prevent flight.
Posted by: Dr. Dave | September 16, 2009 at 06:46 AM
Perhaps while visiting the Schneerson grave, he will come to terms with what he has been involved amidst. What are the chances he will come to see his hope for eternal salvation rests on penance for his shameful ways?
Posted by: AGRI-vated Angel | September 16, 2009 at 06:48 AM
In other words . . . If Sholom returns to Iowa and admits to his guilt, the trip will have been a success. If not, well then according to the teachings 'across the board', the visitation will not have helped him spiritually.
Posted by: AGRI-vated Angel | September 16, 2009 at 07:10 AM
Slim to none.
Posted by: sage | September 16, 2009 at 07:15 AM
BTW -
The presence of G_d is in Postville as well. No need to travel. Think about it.
Posted by: AGRI-vated Angel | September 16, 2009 at 07:17 AM
Perhaps he will flee from United States soil; thereby, exiling himself from this country (. . . and, thankfully, Postville).
Posted by: AGRI-vated Angel | September 16, 2009 at 07:30 AM
If SMR is stupid enough to flee, he will seal his own doom to a life behind bars.
There's no doubt in my mind, that he would be apprehended, put in jail, and additional charges would be added to the existing ones, etc.
Judge Reade appears to be a very smart cookie, much smarter than SMR and his Legal Staff might have judged.
They had the right to ask for a change of venue out of state, which Judge Reade gave them, but made a tactical error is asking for specific cities (St. Louis or Chicago)
It certainly, IMHO, was not lost on Judge Reade, that Chabad has strong presence in these two cities, which would permit the RCF Enforcement Arm to taint the jury, using pressure in much in the same way that it did, forcing Uri L'Tzedek to cancel their boycott of Agriprocessors.
Instead, Judge Reade made the "Checkmate Move" in changing the venue to Souix Falls, insuring a fair and impartial jury, and there's nothing that SMR and his Legal Staff can do about it.
Posted by: sage | September 16, 2009 at 08:09 AM
I thought he needed thousands to pay his lawyers because he was broke? While there, I would guess he would be expected to make generous contributions to this and that as well. Which clandestine account did he siphon off vacation money from?
Posted by: Hometown Postville | September 17, 2009 at 07:12 AM