Chabad Rabbi Receives Death Threats

Written in what appeared to be a felt-tipped black marker, the letter said in Hebrew, "BEWARE FOR YOUR LIVES! If Yaakov does not step down from the position that he has taken at Chen 19, WE WILL TAKE HIM DOWN. With thanks, The S.O.S. Society." Oddly, the letters “S.O.S.” were carefully printed in English.

 

Death Threat Sent to Chabad Rabbi
An ominous death threat was carefully dropped last week into the family mail box of Arad's Chabad Lubavitch emissary, Rabbi Yaakov Mendelzohn, by an unknown perpetrator. Full story
By Rachel Y. • Chabad.info

An ominous death threat was carefully dropped last week into the family mail box of Arad's Chabad Lubavitch emissary, Rabbi Yaakov Mendelzohn, by an unknown perpetrator.

Written in what appeared to be a felt-tipped black marker, the letter said in Hebrew, "BEWARE FOR YOUR LIVES! If Yaakov does not step down from the position that he has taken at Chen 19, WE WILL TAKE HIM DOWN. With thanks, The S.O.S. Society." Oddly, the letters “S.O.S.” were carefully printed in English.

Chen 19 is the address of the city's Ashkenazi Central Synagogue, where Rabbi Mendelzohn serves as spiritual leader following the death of his father-in-law, former Arad Chief Rabbi Ben Tzion Lipsker z'l, a year ago.

For more than a year, dozens of local Gerer Chassidim have been working hard to intimidate worshipers in an effort to force them from the synagogue, thus enabling the Gerer community to take over the building, as it has done with
others in the city.

There has been violence on a number of occasions, and police are regular visitors to the synagogue due to the constant attempts by Gerer Chassidim to disrupt services both during the week and on the Sabbath.

It is not clear whether the perpetrator(s) of the above death threat have any connection to this group, or not. An investigation is under way.

Comments

[yidandahalf]

What's with the knight's templar type on it? In any case, it looks like a put up job by Chabad itself. It doesn't look genuine.

[rivka]

this is a police case . they can easily found out who wrote the threat letter .

yaakov mendelzohn should not be intimidated or scared , and should continue to serve as a leader there.

it sounds to me that some other chabad wants the position .

[Teddy]

S.O.S.?

Sorry, but that amount of text can not be used to identify a languague, except for the fact that it is one of the gazillions using the Latin alphabet. It can stand for something in French or Turkish just as well.

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

Hurry and check those mezuzahs!

[david gross]

The gerrers learned this tactic from Chabad itself. Chabad in Crown Heights intimidated every synagogue owned privately by a rabbi to give the synagogue to Chabad.Chabad forced the takeover of all the small syanagogues in Crown Heghts in the 70's.
They also do this all over the country where they find a synagogue with few members.
Finally someone else is doing it to them,

[sidney]

david gross,
............ you are absolutely right .

when rabbi paltiel came to port washington 20 years ago . he stole 90% of the conservative port washington shul members . he was laughing about it .

they all flocked to paltiel shul, because it was free and chabad served food and drinks to attract more people . paltiel , in order to keep the new free members use different ways to praise each member , honoring them on shabbat for their birthdays , offering a free kidush . or just making a speech about a member for
his position or job .... stuff like that ...

paltiel threw parties for no reason .
the holidays, like hannukah or purim were
very fancy parties to 'keep them in '.

the rabbi of the conservative shul wrote many articles about it,expressing his anger . nothing was done about it .

[Rebitzman]

David and Sydney

Chabad is everything you describe - as underhanded as it comes with their tactics.

But this is wrong - nothing justifies a death threat.

[sam]

So Chabad's tactics of free parties, honoring members and celebrations at the drop of the hat are sneaky unethical means to gain membership? Really? Then I suggest every Rabbi out there with a 90% empty shul engage in those same tactic - if they work fantastic!

[A E ANDERSON]

"Chabad in Crown Heights intimidated every synagogue owned privately by a rabbi to give the synagogue to Chabad.Chabad forced the takeover of all the small syanagogues in Crown Heghts in the 70's."

1. There is no legal personality known as "Chabad." As such, it cannot and does not own property, transfer property, or act in any legal capacity.

2. Chabad is at most -- despite the occasional protests to the contrary from Agudas Chasidei Chabad hierarchs -- an agglomeration of sympathetic groups, organisations and individuals who share a common belief system that centers around the teachings of the Seven Lubavitcher Rebbes.

3. As such, Chabad does not conspire to steal, extort, or even legitimately purchase property, in Crown Heights or elsewhere. Individual Chabadskers may well do this, but on their own and not as part of a the common, movement-wide consensus.

4. "Chabad" does not own any synagogues in Crown Heights. Rather, the synagogues (or land under them) are owned by a motley assortment of religious organisations, community organisations, and individuals.

5. For the historically challenged, be aware that much of Crown Heights' Jewish population fled when the neighbourhood was "blockbusted" in the 1960s and 1970s. As the dying remnants of a Jewish population kicked the bucket and moved to nursing homes or Florida, many individual Lubavitchers stepped in the gap and made a point of praying at local shuls to prevent their closure. The late Rebbe actually encouraged this: חיזוק השכונה, and is in large part to be credited for saving the several dozen shuls that remain. (Many of which do not daaven Nusach Ari, and despite the largely Lubavitcher prayer quorums of today, maintain their original names and in some cases a kesher to members long since relocated).

6. The indigenous Lubavitchers of Crown Heights have always been respectful to the highest degree of shuls and rabbis of other Orthodox denominations located in Crown Heights. In my own 35 years of living in and visiting Crown Heights, I have seen nothing but respect shown in this regard.

[the usual chaim]

sidney-

do you no see a difference between threats of physical violence and simply providing a more attractive product? if 90% of a rabbi's shul defect that is a problem with the rabbi him or herself, not with the shul to which they defect. if he was offering something so bland and lifeless that so many people left then his anger should be self-directed. Why was he such a lame rabbi? why didnt he do the job he was hired to do? that, as a rabbi, he seemingly devoted his life to? Chabad would get no foothold at all if other groups did their jobs right and inspired jews. Instead, they stick to the same practices that have been utterly meaningless to several generations of jews, contributing to the highest levels of voluntary assimilation ever in jewish history. Stop using chabad as a way of externalizing and concealing your own inadequacy, it will only give you more reason to continue to do so.

that being said, anderson is partially correct, but there were also more hostile takeovers too. also, outside of crown heights chabad rabbis have attempted to take over shuls in a less than collegial manner.

[yidandahalf]

Again, please consider the dynamic, if you will, of this ad. Its content and presentation - then ask yourselves if it is a Gerrer or inside Chabad production. It actually seems the latter.

[yidandahalf]

I haven't had my breakfast yet. I meant threat poster and not ad.

[jersey shore]

the gerer chassidim should kidnap mendelzohn and beat the hell out of him .

chassidim are so violent among themselves . they fight like cats and dogs .

when you see them , they are the perfect picture of piety . their appearance is so deceiving .

[Mikal W. Grass]

In Hollywood, FL, chabad can't compete against Young Israel. The chabad on stirling provides a place for those who don't want or can't walk to Young Israel a mile away.

The other chabad on 46th and sheridan doesn't compete against the Young Israel either, as it is over a mile away and serves a much different segment of the population.

Rumor has it that the stirling road rabbi is the son or relative of a VIP, so he was given the shul so close to the other chabad on sheridan. Stirling chabad started a day care, hebrew school, etc. that drew from the sheridan chabad. This caused a big stink in the community.

I have no dog in this fight even though I belonged to Young Israel and am friendly with both Chabad rabbis in Hollywood. Still, it is funny to see politics play out and to see how people react when they are hungry for the same piece of pie.

[david gross]

I was at the young israel last year for a few days. it is true that it is a great and a dynamic shul.
Chabad is a business where each person has a terrority or franchiase and have to raise their own money to make a living.
The lubvitcher rebbe was a brilliant marketeer who sent his people all over the world and created jobs for his peope. look at he franchise he created.

[Chernigover rav]

Mr. Anderson - When Chabad was in the business of taking over shuls in CH, the Rebbe was alive and well, the community was small may I say very small and the Rebbe knew exactly what was going on like the events involving his next door neighbor the Bostoner Rebbe Grand rabbi Moshe Horowitz. He also knew about the Dombrow situation. Frankly he was even active in situations of shuls in East Flatbush.
Perhaps you have a point in the post rebbe time period,maybe no one speaks for Chabad, but as the Rebbe himself remarked in the 1980's he was Chabad and few in CH did things that openly , without the knowledge that the Rebbe was backing them silenlty or otherwise.And when they did like R. David Fisher they were run out of town...
There are rabbis and people alive and well who remember the Luabvitch tactics against other shuls in CH in the mid 1960's so please stop this baloney. The Rebbe felt the ends justified the means in keeping CH Jewish and if people needed to take a financial loss in the process so be it...
Lubavitch remains in the business of attempting to take over dying shuls all over the USA. In my shul in NYC a Lubavitcher suggested changing the nusach , then changing the name to Lubavitch (of course that would signify ownership) suggested the rabbi retire and other tactics .They tried to sign up new members who lived in you guessed it in Crown Heights ! they all back fired. Its not that shuls are not willing to cooperate with Chabad rabbis in activities on behalf of the Torah way of life,, but that Chabad rabbis want complete and total control, no board of any meaningful sort, no other rabbis, just the shliach and oops I almost forgot his family --- immediate and extended !
As shlichus jobs dry up, taking over local shuls is another manner of getting a franchise or a stake.

[the usual chaim]

"In Hollywood, FL, chabad can't compete against Young Israel. The chabad on stirling provides a place for those who don't want or can't walk to Young Israel a mile away. "

again, my point - dynamic shul/rabbi = nothing to worry about from chabad.

if people dont like chabad or what chabad does then they should get their own cards in order. chabad specifically addresses itself to jews/communities in need of judaism. no need = no activity, or, at least, very little. thus while there are chabad rabbis in monsey or burrough park, they cater to other chabadnicks and their own mosdot, not outreach or the mosdot of others.

[paige]

i can't wait for the arrest .

the thrrrillll

[chabadhousedaener]

sidney
consevatives are considered as Another religion, they don't keep Shabbos
therefore, this Rabbi in Port Washington did a good job, saving these neshamos,bringing them them to real yddishkait

[Isa]

I have seen a wonderful Sephardi rabbi breath life to a synagogue as well as a wonderful Conservative rabbi bring life to his congregation...

I have also seen old uninspiring rabbis cause their congregation to die after they have died too. Faaar too many rabbis expect to be worshiped as tin gods and yet not do anything

[Shlomo Abrin]

As much as I dislike Lubavitch, I have to defend them on this one account. Nobody within 'Chabad' pushed other Orthodox Jews out from around the Crown Heights area. There was, due to the influx of a different 'demographic', a mass exodus of Jews from Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Crown Heights. Anyone who could afford to leave went to Boro Park or Williamsburg.

Not only did Lubavitch NOT engage in 'shul-busting', but quite the opposite. Lubavitchers came to revive old minyans, provide baalei kriyah, provide seudos, maintain mikvas, etc. in many of the old shuls around the area without asking or receiving a dime for their efforts.

[Jeffrey Dube, Montreak Canada]

you wonder why this moron is receiving death threats, watch this video of him spewing racist hate towards christians. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MgGtIWJoPc
After seeing this I will not hold back from saying Down with Israel and The Z.O.G machine