Spinka Gabbai Sent To Jail For Refusing To Testify Against Fellow Jewish Crooks

Rabbi Moshe Zigelman, a 64-year-old Spinka hasid, was ordered to report to a federal detention center in Brooklyn after he again refused to testify against Jews who conspired with him to defraud the government. Until he chooses to testify, he will remain behind bars up to a maximum of 18 months, according to federal prosecutors.

Rabbi Moshe Zigelman

Originally published at 10:05 pm CDT Satuday, March 17.

Orthodox rabbi ordered jailed for refusing to testify
LA Times

An orthodox rabbi who refused to testify before a federal grand jury, saying his religious beliefs prohibit informing on fellow Jews, was ordered jailed Friday by a District Court judge for contempt of court.

Moshe Zigelman, a 64-year-old Hasidic rabbi, was ordered to report Wednesday to a federal detention center in Brooklyn. Until he chooses to testify, he will remain behind bars up to a maximum of 18 months, according to federal prosecutors

Zigelman has previously pleaded guilty and served a prison sentence for his role in a tax-evasion scheme by his Brooklyn-based orthodox sect, Spinka. After his release, he was subpoenaed to testify before a Los Angeles grand jury continuing its probe into the scheme.

Citing an ancient Jewish principle, Zigelman refused to testify, telling a federal judge forcefully during a contempt hearing through a Yiddish interpreter: "Because the transgression of mesira is so dire, my mind won’t change until I die.”

In December, in an order that was sealed because grand jury matters are confidential, U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Morrow held the rabbi in civil contempt.

Zigelman’s attorneys, who have maintained that no amount of earthly sanctions will compel the rabbi to change his steadfast beliefs and that his 1st Amendment right to religious freedom was being violated, appealed unsuccessfully to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The rabbi had asked that he be allowed to enter custody after observing Passover, in April. Prosecutors objected, saying March will mark one year since Zigelman was first called to testify and additional delays will require extensions to the grand jury’s term of service.

Morrow ordered him to surrender to the prison March 21.

"The government doesn’t want to be in a position of remanding somebody into custody, what the government is trying to seek is to have truthful testimony in court proceedings," Asst. U.S. Atty. Daniel O’Brien said Friday. "All people who are percipient witnesses to facts that are relevant to criminal matters have a duty to testify when called to do so before a grand jury."

An attorney for the rabbi could not be reached for comment.

Comments

[netflix]

Citing an ancient Jewish principle, Zigelman refused to testify, telling a federal judge forcefully during a contempt hearing through a Yiddish interpreter: "Because the transgression of mesira is so dire, my mind won’t change until I die.”

Who knew, the mafia was Jewish.

[FreiGirl]

http://www.zazzle.com/snitches_get_stitches_tshirt-235477578685597507

duh.

[SkepticalYid]

@Netflix:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/73370.Tough_Jews

[Yechiel]

I admire this man. The corrupt US government officials who are as criminal as the criminals they pursue and prosecute should learn a lesson in righteous behavior. I believe that the only time one should help those lowlife creeps is during investigations of a homicide or bodily harm.
Being a stool is a trait associated only with an unscrupulous being.

[Rebitzman]

righteous behavior

Covering for felons is righteous behavior?

I think we're studying different texts.

[seymour]

Posted by: Yechiel | March 17, 2012 at 10:21 PM

this has to be the logic only a chusid think of chusid who thinks it is ok to scam the government

amazing how on frum sites they think this is a kiddush gasem

goes to tell you how out of touch with reality many frum people are

[Litvish]

Let this scum rot in jail.

He is a traitor to the United States of America and represents everything disgusting about the Rabbinic Judaism cult.

[A. Nuran]

As long as he obstructs justice let him stay in jail.

[Steven]

Wonder why they are so makpid about mesira and not dina d'machusa dina.

[Betzalel]

The judge is in contempt, not Zigelman. Zigelman is a righteous man.

[David]

These pagans are so much out of touch with reality that they have no idea how bad their behaviour looks to either Jews or the non-Jewish community at large.

Can you imagine the outrage if it were a mafioso in court saying the same thing and the heavy sentence that would be applied?

This clown can be out in 18 months! Meanwhile his co-conspirators whom he refuses to testify against will probably continue to commit their crimes.

[David]

I admire this man.

Posted by: Yechiel | March 17, 2012 at 10:21 PM

I first thought this was a frumma parody but now I am not so sure.

[David]

Anf forget about him being given a special kosher l'pesach diet. He can make do with whatever he can get from basic prison food. Give him disposable utensils (at his expense) and he can eat vegetables he prepares himself.

[1232]

true kiddush hashem.
nobody gives a crap what you idiots say on here

[dh]

Well then, to quote my bff Jeff, "why are you here? "

[Hiilel HaShem]

Here is a man who stands on principle. Defraud the US government and stick by your friends. He seems to get the ancient principles. Why doesn't he seem to have any other principles?

[Yechiel]

Desperate people do desperate things.
Had he defrauded the government for personal benefits, that is one thing. This is not the case here.
I pity you rotten miserable self hating sour puss creeps, for that dina demalchuta thingy is your only weapon against the frum community. Dina demalchuta is only a halakha cited by the very talmudists you despise and mock.
I know right from wrong and don't condone cheating the government. However, people who run large organizations may at times be faced with a challenging situation; close my doors and leave all my employees jobless or resort to doing what these guys have done. It's a tough decision to make.

THE BANKS AND THEIR OVERPAYED PRESIDENTS GOT AWAY WITH IT; no one said boo.

THIS IS SO TYPICAL OF OUR CORRUPT GOVERNMENT; always going after the little guy.
Your hatred toward religion and everything religious blinds your vision and clouds your brains from functioning properly.
Snitching is reserved for punks on the street who have zero decency. An upstanding citizen should tell the law to go spit. As I stated previously, providing information to the corrupt officers of the law should be done only to help with a homicide or severe bodily harm.

[David]

Posted by: Yechiel | March 18, 2012 at 01:45 AM

You sir, are a disgrace, and you and your kind are dragging the Jewish people into the sewer with you.

[detroit]

This phoney is no tzaddik. He is scared shittless from the thugs who if he snitches on will come after him and kill him. Trust me if it was a modern orthodox guy he would have no problem snitching on him.

[SkepticalYid]

Funny how stools of the same ilk as Yechiel call this country a medina shel chesed until they're caught stealing. Then it's a corrupt country and they supprt the contemptuous behavior of their associates.

[David]

I know right from wrong and don't condone cheating the government.

Posted by: Yechiel | March 18, 2012 at 01:45 AM

Lieing parasite!

[Just Curious]

Any idea just how many people the government is asking him to testify against?

[Rebitzman]

THE BANKS AND THEIR OVERPAYED PRESIDENTS GOT AWAY WITH IT; no one said boo.

Perhaps if you owned a TV you might ave heard us saying "boo" and a bit more......

[Isa]

Sitting in some comfy jail, free health care etc etc

Too bad they can't stick this goof in a Texas prison farm cleaning out the pig barn

[Achdus]

Any idea just how many people the government is asking him to testify against?

Posted by: Just Curious | March 18, 2012 at 06:20 AM

Interesting point. To quote Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" and in a similar vein Jeremy Bentham said "It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong."

[jancsibacsi]

Achdus-Shame on you watching theese tv programms like star trek quoting leonard nimoy what kind of jew are you.

[seymour]

true kiddush hashem.
nobody gives a crap what you idiots say on here

Posted by: 1232 | March 17, 2012 at 11:27 PM

amazing how frum people do not know their own teaching religion/

genava ok
chilul hasem ok

Yechiel he did not do this to save lops he did this so some rich guys could avoid paying taxes

bty if he did this for yeshiva
then all the learning that was done their because it inly happened because of a scam

mizhva abo avara

[seymour]

Wonder why they are so makpid about mesira and not dina d'machusa dina.

Posted by: Steven | March 17, 2012 at 11:00 PM

simple who makers the rules the leaders or the rebbies

who are the corrupt ones the rebbies

they are just protecting their own hide

[Achdus]

Achdus-Shame on you watching theese tv programms like star trek quoting leonard nimoy what kind of jew are you.

Posted by: jancsibacsi | March 18, 2012 at 08:26 AM

Its ok, Leonard Nimoy is a Jew!

I remember missing many a mishmar sessions because in my yeshivah mishmar was Thursday night conflicting with the airing of Star Trek!

Live long and prosper!

[seymour]

I am amazed how many people call he a tzaddik on the frum web sites

they simply do not think that financial fraud is a blemish on a person

[Yechiel]

David
Parasite?
Unlike many of you on this blog, I earn an honest living and pay my taxes in full.

Skeptical
USA is no longer the medina shel chessed it used to be. It is getting involved in too many matters it should stay out of . (I am not referring solely to haredi matters...) Yes, for now we appreciate certain freedoms; they are slowly diminshing, all in the name of national security which is one big hoax.

Rebitzman
I stand to be corrected. However, they got away with it; the government protected them.

[SkepticalYid]

Yechiel : Agreed, it is one big hoax and it has been ongoing since the end of World War 2.

[Yechiel]

Skeptical
Stool is short for stoolie or stool pigeon. If you prefer snitch, rat or canary, help yourself.
From your response I conclude that you do not know the meaning of this word.

[SkepticalYid]

Yechiel, it has multiple meanings. It was a pun. Look up the word.

[Jeff]

I first thought this was a frumma parody but now I am not so sure.

Posted by: David | March 17, 2012 at 11:14 PM

Tragically, he's no parody. He and the other brainwashed fanatics who comment here truly believe the nonsense they regurgitate.

The only parody around here is W4M, and he ceased being amusing a long time ago (and I never found him so).

[Jeff]

Well then, to quote my bff Jeff, "why are you here? "

Posted by: dh | March 17, 2012 at 11:29 PM

;-)

[Yosef ben Matitya]

what a hero!
he probably decided to take the step l'iluy nishmas of the besh't who would be proud of his spinke offshoot!

[Yechiel]

Skeptical
I have to look into my lineage. I may have some Hungarian blood, I sometimes 'don't get the joke'...

[SkepticalYid]

Yep, Hungarians can be very literal.

[Yechiel]

Jeff
I am a free thinker; I see things from a different. Perhaps YOU are brainwashed by the haters of religion.
I hope that you have the mental capacity to understand what I just said.

[Yechiel]

Oops:
Jeff I am a free thinker. I just see things from a different angle. Perhaps YOU are brainwashed by the haters of religion. I hope that you have the mental capacity to understand what I just said.

[SkepticalYid]

However, I wonder if the defenders of this rabbi would be supportive of a man who refused to testify against a gentile who committed tax fraud. Somehow I doubt it.

[Fleishike Kishke]

The Zigelman follies.

[Jeff]

Jeff I am a free thinker.

Yes, I'm sure.

[John Nagle, Silicon Valley, CA]

Hey, he's a stand-up guy. A man of respect. He's not a snitch, and he's doing his time, like a good button man. You have to respect that.

[jancsibacsi]

Achdus-Looks like we are of similar age i loved it in the 60 s star treck till today was my favorite sf series but i cant beleive that a grownup like you cant understand science especially about mbp

[seymour]

Hey, he's a stand-up guy. A man of respect. He's not a snitch, and he's doing his time, like a good button man. You have to respect that.

Posted by: John Nagle, Silicon Valley, CA | March 18, 2012 at 12:45 PM

good let him just say that and not bring religion into the picture and shame the Jewish religion which he has

of course the frum people think he is beatifying the religion by his actions

[Achdus]

Achdus-Looks like we are of similar age i loved it in the 60 s star treck till today was my favorite sf series but i cant beleive that a grownup like you cant understand science especially about mbp

Posted by: jancsibacsi | March 18, 2012 at 01:04 PM

I loved Star Trek so much that I thought that it was sacrilegious when the other variants came out and refused to watch them. Then Netflix came and I decided to check out Star Trek Next Generation and proceeded to watch the entire series and followed by all the others, Voyager, Enterprise, Deep Space Nine. All excellent (especially Next Generation) but none can touch the original. I must admit though that the latest Star Trek movie was excellent!

As to understanding the science of MBP, I understand, I have a graduate degree from an ivy league university in one of the sciences. I am just having some fun here. Most posts are boring and is simply a case of Shmarya posting and then a chorus of "that right". Need to mix it up!

[Deremes]

Just shows what it really means to be an observant Jew.
A frum Jew is willing to go to prison for someone else.What a kiddish hashem he is making.
The Torah is not bankrupt.
Its a huge win for the Torah and for those who follow it.
A sad day for the farfoilte yungen who love it when people reject the Torah.
People are willing to suffer then to snitch.Yeah,hes protecting criminals and dina d'malchuta dina we all heard all of it.
More of people like this we need.

[Yechiel]

Deremes
Dina demalchuta is the halakhic item the FM community upholds and loves dearly.
They flaunt it at every possible occasion.

[Yechiel]

Oops:
Deremes
Dina demalchuta is the ONLY halakhic item the FM community upholds and loves dearly. They flaunt it at every possible occasion.

[Deremes]

Yechiel,
Similar to the antisemith where the ONLY halacha they uphold is the halacha bi-yedoa im sure you know what im referring to.

[jancsibacsi]

oy gevalt nuh a mentally defective idiot, there are too many among the hassidim shame

[jancsibacsi]

Deremes -To be aN observant jew means to wipe youre behind with youre hand that is not the tefilin hand and to screw the government at every turn or every which way you can imagine
this retard is making a mockery of himself and all reasonable jew on this planet mit dainem toireh deremes di kenst vishen dain tohes and be proud of it youre beyond the pale.

[who knows]

So many defenders of a rabbi-thief, so little Torah.

[White Green]

He looked in shilchun Urich and there it's said you are not allowed to get another Jew arrested to get free btw the other guy they wanted him to testify against is not even chasidish but he is keeping to the law of Torah not to be over on the Isir of mesirah and because you guys try to get closer to secular law even against the shilchun Urich that's why we suffer I think it's time to make a new split like 150 years ago in europe that we the Torah binding Jews shouldn't have to defend our selfs against false interpretation of the Torah shame on all of you

[Rebitzman]

I am a free thinker

Agreed. Please keep it that way.

[andre]

This guy is not too smart. He forgot that "The law of the land is the law"

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

You gotta finish the Spock quote: "...or the one."
Remember, Leonard nimoy's first language was Yiddish.

[Jeff]

I am a free thinker

Agreed. Please keep it that way.

Posted by: Rebitzman | March 18, 2012 at 10:00 PM

Rebitzman, are you serious? He only knows two things: "Frum good! Frei bad!"

You could buy a parrot and teach it the frummies' entire repertoire in about ten minutes.

[Redleg]

If mesira is assur at all, it is assur to be masser to a tax collector. I seem to recall that the gemora's discussion on the topic of mesira specifically delt with turning someone in to the tax authorities. I don't know how far this guy takes the issur of mesira, but personally, I would turn in a child molester or a even a drunk drive in a heartbeat but to masser someone to the IRS, not a chance, Jew or Gentile.

[Redleg]

P.S. as far as he being a "stand-up guy", the stand-up thing to do would be for the fellow whom they want evidence against to turn himself in and plead out.

[Jeff]

P.S. as far as he being a "stand-up guy", the stand-up thing to do would be for the fellow whom they want evidence against to turn himself in and plead out.

It's like the Mafia; this guy's taking the fall "for the good of the family".

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

Put him on the rack. He'll talk.

[hassid]

This guy is a true hero. I am jealous of his olam habah.
I hope if the time comes we will all prove as strong and not ch'v rat out our fellow yidden, which is a worse sin than any other.

[Jeff]

Posted by: hassid | March 19, 2012 at 02:45 PM

Oh, this has got to be a joke.

I'm sick of you guys coming around here with this shit, thinking you're amusing. You aren't.