Illegal Hostels Linked To Chabad Continue To Operate

According to NYC code enforcement officials, the hostels have many fire, safety and heath code violations. The buildings are all owned by the same Chabad-affiliated family that controls the non-existent MacDougal Street Synagogue. The synagogue's "rabbi" is the Chabad shaliach (emissary) to Wall Street. And the synagogue claims the hostels should be exempt fom health, fire, and building safety codes because it is a religious organization.

The MacDougal Street "Synagogue" operates a series of illegal hostels in NYC, hostel's the city calls "firetraps":

“The reason they’re problematic is they’re firetraps,” said Marc La Vorgna, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, of the city’s illegal hotels. “These are residential properties and are zoned as such, and there’s a reason they are zoned as such. There’s a real safety issue.”

The Galpern family – Robert Galpern and Tamara Zelcer; Robert’s brother Louis Galpern and his wife, Eva – owns the MacDougal Street "Synagogue" hostel buildings and founded the "synagogue." The "synagogue" "operates" these hostels using Galpern staff. Nicole Galpern, Robert and Tamara’s daughter, is involved in the "synagogue," as well.

According to the Forward, the Galperns are linked to a Chabad synagogue in Brooklyn Heights.

The rabbi they found to head the "synagogue" is Shmaya Katz, Chabad's shaliach to Wall Street:

Meanwhile, the purported synagogue’s former rabbi has distanced himself from the project.

Rabbi Shmaya Katz of Chabad of Wall Street swore to a lengthy October 2010 affidavit laying out the synagogue’s argument in its case against New York City.

In his affidavit, Katz testified that he was the synagogue’s spiritual leader and president, and that it was his idea that the synagogue should focus on teaching tolerance to visitors to New York.

But in an e-mail exchange and an interview at the sparse downtown office of Chabad of Wall Street, Katz painted a different picture. Though the door of his Chabad office bears two placards — one reading, “Chabad of Wall Street,” another reading, “MacDougal Street Synagogue” — Katz said his involvement in the synagogue was minimal.

The rabbi, who spoke on the record on the condition he not be quoted directly, said he was to be the rabbi of the synagogues that MacDougal Street Synagogue would build, but that those synagogues never materialized. He maintained that he didn’t know what the MacDougal Street Synagogue was actually doing, though he said that he had been assured it was legal. And he said that he agreed to put his name on the lawsuit because he was told that he was the only officer of the synagogue available at the time.

Katz said that he was asked to become involved in the synagogue by the landlord of 139 Fulton Street, the building where Chabad of Wall Street has its office. That building is owned by the Galperns.

In an e-mail to the Forward, Katz said that he was no longer associated with the synagogue.

“I was deeply disturbed to discover that the project was indeed in operation, but in a completely different direction than what I had signed on for, and I immediately resigned. It was a mistake to lend my support to this project and I do regret it,” Katz wrote. He would not elaborate on what he discovered, nor would he specify when he resigned.

Squire maintained that Katz and the synagogue parted ways due to a disagreement over notions of tolerance that Squire attributed to Katz’s affiliation with Chabad.

What the Forward doesn't know is this:

When the Huffington Post broke this story in May, I posted it and emphasized the Chabad connection.

Almost immediately I got a series of emails from Katz's wife, pleading with me to remove her husband's name and the name of their Chabad House from my post.

She stressed the good work they do as she reminded me there are "two sides" to every story and warned me about lashon hora. Then she said she and her husband are "nice people" and invited me for Shabbos.

My consistent response was that I would clarify my post if her husband would talk to me and explain his side of the story and/or if she could provide any exculpatory information.

She gave me her husband's cellphone number. I called. He didn't answer or call me back.

She again asked me to remove his name.

I told her her husband had not answered or returned my call.

She asked again.

I told her again that her husband had not answered or returned my call, and that many hours had passed.

During this exchange, she insisted her husband had only been involved in the "Spiritual Torah Department," meaning that he didn't run the business, he just taught Torah and handled religious matters.

The next day I received another email from her that said in part:

[S]hmaya left the office today!  My Husband as always was only involved in the spiritual department. Please remove  his name.Thank You.

I understood "[S]hmaya left the office today!" to mean she was claiming he had resigned.

But her husband never returned my call or emailed me.

What Katz knew and did not know is open to interpretation, although the Forward's telling of events and my experience leans heavily toward much more involvement in the apparent scam than he has so far admitted.

The Forward notes that part of alleged scheme is to teach brief "tolerance classes" to the travelers who rent beds. But the "synagogue" turned down a request to allow the Forward to observe those classes, known as "tea groups":

[S]aying that a journalist for the Forward could attend a “tea group” meeting only as a participant and not as a reporter, and that the journalist could not interview anyone in the building — terms that were not acceptable to the Forward

Travelers for most part appear to have no idea these hostels are synagogue-affiliated when they book rooms, or that they are saying in rooms that present very real fire, health and safety concerns. And the Forward notes:

[A] May 19 filing by lawyers for New York City raised questions about the sincerity of the synagogue’s mission. “Plantiffs’ vague assertions that they teach tolerance to those who rent out beds in the converted rooms are a sham, as there is no indication whatsoever of any educational activity being part and parcel of renting those rooms,” the lawyers wrote.

Elsewhere in the document, the lawyers refer to the plaintiffs’ “rant about teaching tolerance to the tourists who come to New York to see the sights.”

And the lawyers expressed concern about safety in the synagogue’s buildings, writing in the same filing, “Their misuse of these premises creates significant construction and fire safety issues for the transient guests who are unwittingly staying in an illegal accommodation….”

Related Post: Synagogue Cited For Running Illegal Hotels Linked To Chabad.

The Forward's article.

Comments

[MonseyLuke]

Hey, why follow the law? Sad.

[seymour]

And the synagogue claims the hostels should be exempt fom health, fire, and building safety codes because it is a religious organization.

what, so a religious building can be a death trap

interesting

[A Yid]

Its hard to see how R. Katz could have had any major involvement in
MacDougal Street Synagogue
just look on their web site the newsletters, recommended books are not Chabad not even religious for that matter , the word Chabad appears nowhere on the site even the rabbi name is not mentioned:
http://www.macdougalstreetsynagogue.com
the word Torah appears nowhere on the whole site the only rabbi mentioned anywhere is Yuval Cherlow an Israeli religious Zionist posek:
Google search results for the word "rabbi" inside the MacDougal Street Synagogue website
The sites whois registry info also has no mention of R. Katz.

[rebeljew]

If Rabbi Katz is the link to Chabad, it is a very weak link. It looks like like he was roped into being the Rabbi and then jumped ship when it was clear that things were fishy.

I have had some association with Rabbi Katz in the past and it is consistent that he would not want to be involved in shady matters. It would be nice if he were to speak to you directly, but maybe he doesn't trust you. ;)