Protesting At A Rubashkin Prayer Rally / Fundraising Event

A large prayer rally / fundraising event was held last week in Melbourne, Australia, and a FailedMessiah.com reader decided to protest. Here is his account of what happened.

A Protester At A Rubashkin Prayer Rally / Fundraiser
A FailedMessiah.com reader protested at a recent Rubashkin prayer rally / fundraising in Australia. I asked him to write a brief account of what he saw there. He sent in the following account, which combines the information he handed out there and an account of what happened, and is cross posted to Galaus Australis:

A prayer event and fundraising rally was held in Melbourne for Sholom Morderchai Rubashkin. It is extremely embarrassing that the COSV (Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria) publicized this event and advocated that people attend the event.

Who is SMR?

SMR is a convicted criminal who has been sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for various forms of fraud. While this may sound like an excessive punishment to us in Victoria, it is actually withing the lower end of the sentencing guidelines for the crimes of which he was convicted. He received 25 years for the counts of fraud; sentencing guidelines call for 22-30 years. He additionally received another two years for lying under oath in court. He can still be tried for many other crimes, but the federal government and the state of Iowa do not want to allocate resources to more trials when it is impossible for SMR to reoffend from behind bars. Sholom was the CEO of Agriprocessors, the largest glatt kosher abattoir in America.
What was wrong with Agriprocessors?

Agriprocessors was mired in scandal from 2004 when animal cruelty became public, where even strong defenders of kosher slaughter such as Temple Grandin were sickened. Agriprocessors was routinely fined for polluting and for unsafe handling of meat and was involved in helping illegal aliens get fake papers to work at the plant. The undocumented workers, including young children, worked long days in dangerous conditions, and were paid under the minimum wage with no overtime. The dangerous conditions for children in the meatpacking plant are reminiscent of Uptain Sinclair’s The Jungle which was the impetus for child labour and food safety laws. When workers tried to unionize, the company tried to claim that the votes didn’t count because the workers were illegal aliens. Agriprocessors was the target of the largest immigration raid in American history.

This is only the tip of the iceberg in the legal, moral and ethical and halakhic lapses of SMR and the running of the company under his tenure.
Is Rubashkin sorry for his crimes?

No! Rubashkin turned down a plea deal and has to the best of my knowledge never said he is sorry for the harm he caused hundreds of victims of his crimes. His courtroom apology was an apology to his family and the [Jewish/Chabad] community for embarrassing them and dragging them through his ordeal, not an apology to the victims of his various crimes. He aids and abets the attempts to make him into a holy man without having to admit guilt and he writes spiritual letters from prison to school children.
So why are we supposed to be praying for him and giving money?

In reality I am not sure but let me give a few reasons that the rabbis who talked gave:

Rubashkin is the victim of an “alilas dam” a blood libel. In other words he did nothing wrong and is merely the victim of an antisemetic prosecutor, judge, jury etc. without attempting to refute the mounds of publicly available evidence of guilt.

Rubashkin is a holy saint. It is true that Rubashkin gave much money to charities and to political campaigns and did help some Jews in need. However he did that by swindling others and mistreating them. Would the organizers of this prayer rally also defend Hamas’s human rights record on the basis of the terrortists' building of hospitals and other charities?

Rubashkin is a Jew. Plain and simple as that: “When a sheep is feeling pain in one part of its body the whole body feels the pain, so too is bnei yisroel.” The irony of using an image of animal cruelty to enlist help for somebody who grossly violated prohibitions of "tz'a'ar ba'alei chayim" (cruelty to animals) flew right over the head of this rabbi.

I would probably have heard more, but was too sickened by the goings-on to stay and listen.

The “pidyon shuvim” fund which is the name of the fund to help SMR is a term usually used to describe the redemption of those captured for being Jewish and imprisoned for no good reason except to extract a ransom from the Jewish community.

What is wrong with us supporting Rubashkin publicly?

The most obvious fact is that supporting an unrepentant criminal unconditionally sends a message to our community and children that it is ok to commit fraud and other crimes as long as you still keep external signs of piety and donate to the community.

It is a chilul hashem and embarrassment to the Jewish community that we look like we support criminals. It looks especially bad that the Jewish community is trying to deny crimes by screaming antisemitism and that, considering that currently SMR has "only" been convicted of white collar crimes, we are playing into the nexus of Jews supporting white collar criminals.

Rubashkin is never going to be repentant when he feels that he has the communal backing, financially and spiritually, even while he denies wrongdoing.

One last important reason which only was shown fully after the event is how it assists Rubashkin’s legal case. The lawyers in SMR’s oral appeal before a tribunal of judges stated:” the Jewish religiously observant community would never have supported Sholom Rubashkin during his trial and his appeal if Rubashkin was a real criminal.”

This is why I decided I must protest and show that the Orthodox community in Melbourne as a whole is not behind an unrepentant criminal. I felt that I must at least try based on the gemara that if one can prevent others in the community from doing wrong and doesn’t then one is just as guilty as the perpetrators. (Shabbat 54b כל מי שאפשר למחות לאנשי ביתו ולא מיחה נתפס על אנשי ביתו באנשי עירו נתפס על אנשי עירו בכל העולם כולו נתפס על כל העולם כולו )

I printed fliers with information about the Rubashkin case and I was handing them out to some people while listening. When I could take no more of the words coming from the stage I waited for a pause between speakers and shouted: "Let it not be said that in Melbourne the Jewish community made a criminal into a saint without protest" and by the time that was out of my mouth a man grabbed me so I just threw the leaflets in the air in the way I am sure you have seen protestors do.
The few responses I got from those who talked to me outside were:

That he is a Jew and he only harmed non-Jews but was good to Jews.
That we have to be “dan lkaf zchus”(judge him favourably) and that child labour on a dangerous meat packing plant is not so bad.

Twenty-seven years is too long. Which I agree with, but it is a problem with the American justice system and is not related to how guilty SMR is. Also when you take into account that SMR was only found tried and found guilty of a portion of the alleged crimes, he can be thankful he has only received 27 years.
I personally know someone that when he was under 18 threatened someone with a fake gun with a friend stole a bike from someone that way. No one was hurt in the incident, the gun was fake and the bike was recovered.  He has no prior offenses of any kind and was under 18. The DA is pushing strongly for a 15 year sentence. I do think sentencing does need to be looked at, but it doesn't make SMR a victim of antisemitism or make him more innocent.

Through writing this and protesting at the event I am less embarrassed to be an orthodox Jew in Melbourne and hope that others have the courage to protest things they don’t agree with done in their name.

Comments

[chief doofis]

I'm not qualified to render a decision on Rubashkin's guilt or innocence, nor on the severity of his sentence. Similarly I lack the qualifications to render a decision on the guilt of the three geniuses arrested by the Japanese for smuggling drugs into their country.

I am qualified, however, to render decision on the innocence of Gilad Shalit, and other prisoners of the Hamas scum. Why then, are all the Haredi organizations, more concerned with the first two, and not the last? How many groups in Boro Park, Williamsburg, Crown Heights, and Australia, even make a Mi-shebayrach,for these poor kids who are captives FOR DEFENDING OUR NATIONAL HOME?

Just asking?

[Adam Neira]

Mar Samuel stated in his interpretation of Jeremiah's prophecies that we are commanded to "Seek the welfare of the nation you dwell in !'. i.e. The better the patriot the better the Jew.

Jonathon Pollard broke very serious laws in his home nation.

Sholom Rubashkin broke serious laws in his home nation.

Gilad Shalit in service of his country was kidnapped.

In matters of jurisprudence, the three cases are entirely different.

When the full Messianic Age is upon us no-one will be left to languish in prison. However, as we are in the early days of this unfolding certain laws have to be respected, and certain decisions must be adhered to.

[chaim36]

I agree 100 % with this letter. He should have shown REMORSE as I have said many times. None of the Chabad sites have ever printed my letters urging him to show REMORSE. The lack of remorse has caused this huge worldwide chilul hashem.The first step in feeling sorry is to admit to the wrongdoing.No wonder why the judge ruled as she did. Better late than never. Show remorse NOW !

[Garnel Ironheart]

The Chabad shaliach that used to come to my house once a week to learn with me stopped showing up after I told him my opinion of Rubashkin and the chilul HaShem he's caused(causing).
Bottom line: there is a "circle the wagons" reflex in some parts of the Orthodox community that trumps common sense and fealty to Torah. This is what we're witnessing now.

[Dave]

Very well said, Garnel.
We have to remember that we are commanded to be "a nation of priests and a holy people". So we must always do the right thing, regardless of whether those around us are doing so or not.

[Eli]

food for thought

http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson290.html

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Eli | June 20, 2011 at 10:06 AM

Idiot.

Cite a website of a well known fringe figre who sees conspiracies everywhere and who is widely considered to be insane.

You. That's "food for thought" – except it's food for thought about YOUR intelligence.

Past that, the article has many factual errors.

Pathetic.

[Eli]

"Idiot" - sticks and stones...well you know the rest.

"Cite a website of a well known fringe figre who sees conspiracies everywhere and who is widely considered to be insane." - that’s funny, I bet a lot of people say the same thing about your site...

"You. That's "food for thought" – except it's food for thought about YOUR intelligence." - personal attacks without any substance, i see you still maintain some of your chabbadyness.

Keep drinking the cool aid sheep, it taste good all the way down

[Shmarya]

No, rocket scientist. You're a fool.

Rockwell is a well-known fringe figure whose reputation for many years is exactly as I stated.

The article you linked to is filled with factual errors.

Those are two substantive points.

As for me, literally dozens of leading newspapers and other news outlets cite my work.

And you are either a fool, a troll or, most likely, both.

[Leah]

Does anyone have an idea as to how much money was raised at the event?

[Fed Up]

You made the point that pidyon shvuyim is meant for those imprisoned simply because of their Judaism. Did any of the speakers say a word about Gilad Shalit who actually falls into that category?

[Bassy the Haredi Slayer]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson290.html

I remember this web site, after 9/11 that web site and Raimondo at antiwar.com were pushing the theory that it was the Mossad who orchestrated the 9/11 and blamed the Jewish Establishment (from Neocons to Liberals) for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars

[Kurnitzer]

Yasher Koach,
I do wish to know from SMR supporters what the Teshuva is for a chilul Hashem ? And friends SMR's chilul hshem was massive

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

I note that Galus Australis labeled this a whistle-blowing post. What I am curious about is if the Australians who participated in putting on this fund raiser really believe Mr. Rubashkin was railroaded, or if they were fed a bill of goods by Rubashkin supporters in the USA. Maybe the Internet makes it a bit harder to do today, but in the past it was always easy to go overseas to rally support for a cause that was not legitimate. Just like in the early 70's when Dixon's in London claimed to be the world's largest camera store, while Willoughby's in NYC made the same exact claim.

The article states that the Council of Orthodox Synagogues of Victoria advocated attending the event. But where did the Council get their information about this case from? Rubashkin supporters or the archives of the Des Moines Register and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier? This case just did not get that much coverage from Reuters and the Associated Press.

I do wish the author was able to give more details about the person who grabbed him. It may have been some goon connected with the fund-raiser, or it could have been a bystander who was afraid our author "lost it" and was going batty.

Meanwhile, back at Galus Australis the usual trolls are posting comments with falsehoods to this crossposted article.

[ah-pee-chorus]

kudos to the protestor. i salute your bravery and integrity.

[Alex]

"[I]t is ok to commit fraud and other crimes as long as you still keep external signs of piety and donate to the community."
You mean it's not OK? I want my foreskin back!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to Squeeze:

They do it down in Otisville
They do it at Crown Heights
Lazing about the clink all day,
At night the guards are outta sight
Squinting faces at the sky
A Chabad Tanya paperback
Frummies pull their beards and schrei
And everybody wears a hat

Refrain:
Pray beside the Ohel
My holy day's complete
And I want a Mountain Dew
Reb Menachem, we can't be defeated
Pulling Rubashkin from the shelf 2x

Shrinking in the mikveh so cold
Beardless bochurim look away
A rabbi with gefilte fish
Smothers it with chrayn
You wish you had a good appeal
To pass around the New York bar
And when the judge goes off to bed
You hope it gets you very far
(Refrain)

(Musical break 58 seconds)

Two fat lawyers venue shop
Some kind of legal masterpiece
In for dismissal all the while
To pander for the jury's peace
The troll bloggers schrei gevalt
Excusing all kinds of crap
About the goyim, it's "Oy vey!"
It's down to anti-Semites, yup
(Refrain 2x)

[The Blind Leading the Blind]

FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican

The Melbourne community as a whole did NOT attend this event. It was squarely aimed at the Charedi community.

Note that the hall used was the Gutnick Adass Hall where the bulk of the Charedi community belong in a large awkward melting pot of Belz/ Satmar/ Viznitz chassidim.

Why was the event to held in the Werdiger Hall which is part of the Lubavitch center or Caulfield Shul (they are bigger and used more often for events aimed at the wider Jewish community)

The organizers knew who are the gullible ones in Melbourne in order to raise money. These are the people who live in 'Jew Land' where non-Jews and the government are out to get them, which excuses them from doing as they please in flaunting the laws of the land. All the organizers had to do was put up a picture of a 'charedi' man and the words 'Blood Libel', hide some inconvenient truths and watch the money roll in

The money did roll in to the tune of approx $AUS16,000- $AUS17,000

[neighbor girl]

Don't the Orthodox Jews remember the summer of 2008 after the raid? I was in Postville. Members of the Jewish community were not being paid for work at Agri. If I remember correctly, they were being paid with groceries from Rubashkin's store and meat from the Agri freezers. Then the store closed because of the money fraud investigation. I'm sorry I don't have time to look it up now, but I remember Jeff Abbas at the Postville Radio station sending out a plea in the hours before Shabbas because Jewish community members had no food. We locals talked about helping, but any food we had wasn't kosher. We couldn't even bake bread to give away. It seems the community had to wait until Monday for food to arrive from Minneapolis and Chicago. That day was a revelation to me. SMR s----d his own people.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Bottom line: there is a "circle the wagons" reflex in some parts of the Orthodox community that trumps common sense and fealty to Torah. This is what we're witnessing now.

not really: 'in some parts of the Orthodox community' reb Garnel, but rather in chabad.
besides, are they orthodox? i would say they often come across as rather unorthodox. another point, forgive me the remark and the question:
that shaliach, you are better off he no longer comes as you could probably study better on your own or with another more honest chavrusso.
often they are hardly talmidei chochomim teaching torah but opportunists using chevrussa's homes as locals to collect browny points and network !?.

[sage]

Strictly speaking, Chabad is a horrible heresy.

Teaching that the souls of gentiles are, according to their holy "Tanya", not much better than those of beasts, is a mockery of G-d and moreover, says that He lied when He wrtote in His Torah, that all of mankind were created in His image.

These heretics are fortunate that they are living in modern times and not in the days of Moses, where they would have suffered the same fate as Korach and his associates.

[Marvin Gardens]

A few months ago I called two of the organizations in NY that have been raising money for Rubashkin, and asked if there is any information as to how much money has been collected and how much and to whom has it been disbursed? Needless to say other than vague generalities of "to the lawyers" and "to help the family," the people I spoke to on the phone seemed very angry that anyone would ask these questions. The questions however remain.How much has gone for PR? What aboyt the halls and the caterers, the flyers, DVD's etc. This is a scam on top of a scam!! Aaron Rubashkin owns 20% of teh real estate in Postville and who knows how many other properties. Yet they put their hands out like beggers. This whole thing STINKS.

[yudel]

doofis with shalit...several of the highest ranking IDF retired generals have given orders to let Shalit rot.

the main perp is the general and i cannot remember his name who last week said we should go back to the '48 borders.

there is much chaos in Israel and the army at this time. Many former heroes are for some reason being villified.

[A. E. ANDERSON]

What bothers me is the apparent marriage of Rubashkin's defence to the Chabad cause. Sholom M. Rubashkin is a convicted criminal. He lied, forged, and stole, and caused others to do so on his behalf. He desecrated the divine name by his illegal and shoddy treatment of illegal immigrant labour. And then he had the unmitigated gall to appeal to his hasidic fervour and tmimut as his defence.

In other words, was SMR did was diametrically opposed to the teachings of Chabad, and the Tanya. Rather than a near-benoni refining himself by divine service, SMR was a proven rosha whose evil deeds led others into evildoing, and adversely impacted the name of Chabad and Judaism itself.

Granted SMR got caught because of a policy change in immigration enforcement, that targeted large employers in high profile raids. Without that policy change, it is entirely likely his company would have paid off its loans and his frauds would never have been detected. But he did get caught. And by then, it was too late. Years of stonewalling, being uncooperative with the civil regulatory authorities, his treatment of labour and animal rights groups, coupled with the constant drumbbeat of this blog, led authorities to treat him not like an ordinary criminal defendant, but like a crime boss, against whom the entire array of heavy prosecutorial machinery is brought to bear.

Looking at the number and diversity of Rubashkin enemies who post on this blog, it seems the man didn't have too great a history of winning friends and influencing people, especially when it came to former business associates and competitors. Indeed, it can be argued that Agriprocessors essentially piggybacked on the expanding Chabad movement to displace and replace existing kosher provisioners nationwide. Because Lubavitchers adhere to a near-universal rule that devotees eat only "Lubavitcher shechita," while ordinary keepers of kashrut will eat from most any Orthodox hekhsher, this had the effect of making Agriprocessors the preferred choice for butchers and supermarkets around the United States.

To say there was a "blood libel" in any sense of the word is absurd. Postville was the locus of substantial violations of law being reported to authorities. Authorities responded.

I used to agree with those who maintained that Rubashkin was "overprosecuted," that anti-Semitism led authorities to come down harder on SMR than they would on say a non-Jewish abattoir owner similarly situated. But the more I see the proof of his idiocy and that of his supporters with these kind of events, the less I care about poor SMR and his fate.

This means, I am sick and tired of seeing crap like SMR's Dvar Torah from prison. At least have the decency to do teshuvah for a few years like the Watergate criminals before making yourself out to be a holy roller.

[rachamonim bnei rachamonim]

Note to The Blind.
Yep it was held in the Adass Hall because the organisers know that when it comes to giving tzedaka it is the Adass people who stand out (and in this case also the Chabad community). If any tzedaka had to rely on people like that meshugener who wrote this post and the other Mizrachi and half and quarter religious types, they would get nothing.

And to you heartless writers who have no sympathy for a family of 10 children - including a handicapped child - you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.

When you and your children will be in deep trouble - it won't be Shamrya and his dreckishe commentators who'll be out there helping you. It will - as always - fall to Charedi Jews and Chabad shlichim who will go out of their way for another Jew.

Despite the almost total boycott of that evening by those outside of the the 2 communities, the totall raised has now reached close to $150,000 with more still to come - including some large pledges expected in Sydney

[Shmarya]

osted by: rachamonim bnei rachamonim | June 21, 2011 at 03:15 AM

We have this little rule about using more than one name to post under.

You also use xyz and another name.

If you post under any other name besides xyz (or your real name), I'll ban you.

Past that, the family in question are millionaires many times over and have done nothing to make restitution for Sholom's crimes.

Sholom himself took at least $1.5 million out of Agriprocessors for his own personal use just before and immediately after the raid.

Bankruptcy trustees have been working for almost three years to track down millions of dollars the Rubashkins apparently looted and hid.

Perhaps your fellow Aussies should know that.

[FirstGenerationBavarianAmerican]

Its kind of interesting for the heartless writers here to read the comments to this cross-posted article over at Galus Australis. One comment revealed there will be another fund raiser in Sydney on June 22nd.

Another comment brought up that old 1921 (US) Packers and Stockyards Act urban legend, only they got the date wrong (1930). Australians who don't know anything about the US Department of Agriculture or the (US) Packers and Stockyards Act will probably think no US livestock buyer ever received any sanctions since 1956 or 1930 or 1921 or whatever for not paying for cattle on time. In other words, selective prosecution. The truth is that the US Department of Agriculture (not the US Federal Court system) usually fines tardy payers and now even posts details of the judgements on the Internet. A post on this website documents this and even tells you where to find the information on the Internet. The Packers and Livestock act does permit the (US) Justice Department to prosecute cases as well, in place of the US Department of Agriculture. What is even more interesting is that the conviction did not add any jail time for Mr. Rubashkin. He was just ordered to pay back interest to the one cattle buyer (out of many) who proved economic loss due to late payment for cattle.

[neighbor girl]

http://chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=23602
weak rebuttal of protestor

[Yosef ben Matitya]

What bothers me is the apparent marriage of Rubashkin's defence to the Chabad cause.

AEA, I think Chabad jumps opportunistically @ such opportunities to raise funds. Party time. I don't think any honest account is kept or where the money goes. It's the worse fruit salad mess. Rubashkin = Thai Tsunami = Mumbai = Japanese Earthquake = Community Bar Mitzva celebrations etc...
As Marvin Gardens comments above:
"Needless to say other than vague generalities of "to the lawyers" and "to help the family," the people I spoke to on the phone seemed very angry that anyone would ask these questions. The questions however remain.How much has gone for PR? What aboyt the halls and the caterers, the flyers, DVD's etc. This is a scam on top of a scam!!" there is no transparency nor liability to anybody except their stomachs and their deceased deity!

[Seraphya]

They really can't stop themselves from lieing can they?
"Over 500 men from all sectors of the Melbourne Jewish Community" - http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=23528

take one look at the pictures and you know right away that that is false.

[Ben]

Seems like Kollel Bais HaTalmud also had representation there as well.