Exclusive: The Life And Suspicious Death Of Howard Frank

Author, photo collector and Jewish beggar Howard Frank dies a suspicious death in murky water off Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Howard Frank at the main Chabad synagogue, 770 Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York

Originally published at 9:31 pm CDT Thursday, 7-5-2012. Last updated at 10:42 am CDT Friday, 7-6-2012.

The Life And Death Of Howard Frank
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Last Thursday morning, June 28th, the body of Howard “Chaim” Frank was pulled from the Gowanus Canal in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He was clothed, including tzitzit. His wallet was in his pocket. Water was in his lungs, meaning he entered the water – probably in Sunset Park, I’m told – alive.

Howard Frank was moderately mentally ill. He had a unique and exceedingly valuable collection of entertainment industry photographs and had coauthored a book on the 1960s sitcom, "I Dream of Jeanie."

Howard Frank was also a beggar, and he was last seen alive leaving Landau’s shul on E. 9th near Avenue L in Brooklyn, a favorite begging spot, at about 10:30 pm Wednesday, June 27th.

Frank usually stayed much later, until the last evening minyan, to maximize his collecting. But not last Wednesday night. He was leaving early and he was leaving scared. He was going to meet someone he did not want to meet, to a meeting he did not want to attend.

“They’re going to kill me,” Howard Frank told people as he left, “I’m a dead man.” It was talk none of them had heard from Frank until then.

He owed, I’m told, $80,000 to one man, and possibly more to others – some of whom may be far from savory people. Loans were due, he had to pay back, and he didn’t have the money. He was, according to one account, recently coerced into signing a will that left a portion of his valuable photo collection to one of those lenders on the event of Frank’s death.

He had been nervous for days, pacing, often frantic. He spent the Shabbos before his death at a rabbi’s house in Brooklyn. He had known this rabbi for a long time, and considered him a friend. Throughout Shabbos, Frank paced up and down, unable to sit still, unable to turn off the fear.

“The rabbis said they’d help me [with money], but they didn’t, and now I’m a dead man,” Frank told people in the hours before he died.

Years before, Frank became homeless after an eviction. He begged rabbis to find a Jewish family who would take him in. It didn’t happen.

Instead, Frank – who refused all government assistance – was taken in by a non-Jewish man he had recently met at a flea market, a man with very extreme right wing political views and survivalist tendencies.

I was shown a picture of Howard Frank standing in that man’s house next to an Eastern Orthodox cross and other iconography. The picture was titled, “Chaim’s Home.” He meant to have it sent to various haredi and Orthodox Jews as a plea for help.

Frank owned what appears to be the largest known collection of still photographs from television shows and other entertainment venues, having at least one picture – and often many more – from every television show broadcast from 1948 through 1990 – more than one million photographs in all. He had begun collecting them as a boy, writing away to television production companies and networks to ask for pictures. As an adult, he leased these pictures to magazines, book publishers and movie and television production companies.

The photo collection’s value may easily exceed $1 million.

Many Orthodox rabbis knew about Frank's photo collection and its value.

Frank’s ability to run his business deteriorated after his eviction, and his new friend who gave him shelter began to assume control of it.

When his body was pulled from the water last Thursday, cops and the coroner saw his tzitzit. One of them or someone at the medical examiner’s office allegedly called Misaskim, the haredi organization that blocks autopsies and helps arrange (and sometimes pay for) funerals and shiva minyans.

Misaskim was in contact with at least one of the rabbis who knew about the photos and their value, and other knew Howard Frank was dead. Misaskim allegedly made sure that no autopsy was done, even though Frank's death was suspicious. Instead, Misaskim saw to it that Frank’s body was released by the M.E. in time for a Sunday burial.

Frank’s brother, an Orthodox Jew, was not consulted and was not allowed to have any say in the funeral planning. No one even told him his brother died.

By late Friday afternoon, Frank's brother was very worried. Howard, the only immediate blood relative he had, was missing. He started calling people, looking for him. Just before 5:00 pm, he called the cell phone of a rosh yeshiva in Brooklyn whose yeshiva both he and Howard had once worked for, and both were still in regular contact with.

"We know where your brother is, he's in the morgue," the rabbi said. "Misaskim is looking for you."

Frank's brother is listed in phone directories, and many rabbis – including the one that had just told him Howard Frank was dead – knew him and knew how to reach him. But none did. No one in Howard Frank's extended family had any idea Howard Frank was dead until after the autopsy was already blocked, and the funeral was arranged without any input from Howard Frank's brother. All the decisions were made without him..

I spoke with several people who knew Howard Frank well, including some who were the last to see him alive. Frank had never been suicidal as far as any of them knew. He had never spoken of suicide or threatened it.

I spoke with Howard Frank several times over the past two years, usually about alleged mistreatment of other beggars by synagogue officials and rabbis, and sometimes about his own problems with housing. He’d call me, sometimes pitch a story, and almost always wonder why all the good things he’d once learned in Jewish law and in various hasidic and mussar tales about caring for the poor didn’t seem to be true in real life. In the holy books, rabbis and Jews really cared. In real life, that didn’t seem to be truth, at least not as Howard Frank often experienced it.

In the hours before his death, his concerns were clear: the money he owed but couldn’t repay, the meeting he dreaded, and his fear that he would be seriously maimed or murdered in proximity to it.

Howard Frank entered the water in or near Sunset Park Brooklyn. He was alive. Thursday morning his body was found, floating in the murky water, about a mile away.

Was he murdered?

Did Misaskim’s intervention conceal it?

I asked NYPD spokesman Paul Browne by email at 10:41 am CDT this morning to confirm or deny a narrative of events leading up to Frank’s death, and to speak to Misaskim’s role in blocking autopsies – especially in a case where the death is suspicious.

After several hours passed without a response, I called him. An assistant took a contact phone number. I mentioned the email and said he could reply to it rather than call, if it was easier for him – something the assistant appreciated. But as of 9:15 pm CDT tonight, Thursday evening, Paul Browne had done neither.

 

Comments

[netflix]

why would anyone give 80 thousands dollars in loans to a mentally ill man?

[Critical minyan]

News you can't get anywhere else.

[Bary]

May he rest in peace.

[Devorah]

May he rest in peace and may they find his killers.

[very much so!]

Because loan sharks do that.because they know that you know that non payment means you dissappear forever.

[Jake]

ברוך דיין האמת

הי״ד

[jancsibacsi]

Bizzare story his pictures were woth a million ,he was a beggar this doesnt make sense.

[Bassy the Haredi Slayer]

It is amazing that you can right such a great story about a NY event while you reside in St. Paul

[Chumlee]

If he needed money, he should have sold his valuable pictures. If he was attached to them so much, he could have just pawned them and gotten them back later. I work in the pawn business and we help guys like him out all the time.
I know a lot of Jews and have pretty good relations with them. In fact, I'm in the process of becoming Jewish myself. I just don't find it believable that frum Jews would let this guy sleep out in the street.

[Maskil]

I fear, Shmarya, that you might need to explain to your readers why one can't "just sell" a million dollar collection of photos to prevent being evicted, and why, as a homeless person living at the mercy of the sheigetz that took him in, he couldn't "just auction it all off at Sotheby's" to pay off his loan sharks, get his life back, and live off a fixed income from the profits.

Since people might feel attacked by the idea that the rabbinical establishment does not have the socio-economic resources in present day U.S. to help out a fellow Jew in need, who needed badly enough to ask, which will surely clash with people's perception of the environment they live in, and because few if any readers know what it means to have a collection of something "valued at" a million dollars, it is very likely that they're gonna go there.

I don't know enough about that kind of thing to articulate it, but I presume that it is never that easy, that the eviction was not so easily forseeable, and that, while valuable, preparing the collection for a buyer and finding one only gets harder (even insurmountable), rather than "a priority to which one would immediately devote all his efforts," as things deteriorate.

[Bigfatgetchka]

So a mentally ill millionaire gets killed by some unsavory characters he owed money to but it's the orthodox rabbis' fault and Misaskim is covering it up.

[Steve K]

Very sad.
I used to see him almost every night outside Landaus together with a number of fellow collectors.I believe he held some papers in his hand that said he was a descendant of a well know rabbi, though I may be mistaken.From his look he did not look or behave in a deranged way at all.I must however say that in the pic from outside 770 he looks much younger and in better shape than he appeared to be outside Landaus.
Zichrono livracha and he should merit some peace for his soul.

[Steve K]

Also he was a relatively new arrival to the people raising money outside the shul.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Maskil | July 05, 2012 at 11:05 PM

The pictures were his life, and they probably were what ended up taking it.

[No Light]

Oh chumlee.

I just don't find it believable that frum Jews would let this guy sleep out in the street.

That's because you've been sold a bill of goods that doesn't exist. You believe in a loving, friendly, cohesive community. You think they're a peaceful, pious tribe from the old world, looking after each other, making sure that everyone is safe and loved.

Nothing could be further from the truth. You'll find out soon enough though, once you've converted. Oh boy will you see the reality of the frum life.

Good luck, you'll need it.

[Moshe]

Doesn't make sense. He owes monies to some unsavory people/person, he is afraid for his life and owns a valuable photo collection. Wouldn't the sane thing to do is to sell the collection and pay off the loan?

[amused]

Chumlee

I cannot afford to send my children to camp this summer. The bill is being fully paid for by the community.

Follow your heart.

[Lubavitchers are Christians]

Someone that I know gets about $400 per week in food from Tomchei Shabbos, the community-wide charity organization that gives free food to poor families.

I would have to assume that if they knew that this person had a $1,000,000 photo collection, they would ask him to please stop taking from Tomchei Shabbos and allow other needy families to take the food instead.

It's a pity that Howard wasn't black. It would have proven that the frumma are racist.

[Shmarya]

Someone that I know gets about $400 per week in food from Tomchei Shabbos, the community-wide charity organization that gives free food to poor families.

I would have to assume that if they knew that this person had a $1,000,000 photo collection, they would ask him to please stop taking from Tomchei Shabbos and allow other needy families to take the food instead.

It's a pity that Howard wasn't black. It would have proven that the frumma are racist.

Posted by: Lubavitchers are Christians | July 06, 2012 at 08:10 AM

What I love best about Failed Messiah is watching haredim like you spout off about issues without having any idea that halakha specifically condemns that point of view.

Put more simply so the simple, like you, can process, halakha doesn't judge a person who needs tzedaka by the amount of property he has. So a man who owned 10 apartment buildings who hits a cash flow problem and doesn't have money to feed his family is not expected to sell one or all of those buildings before qualifying for aid.

In the same way, a person who owns a business is not expected to sell that business before getting aid.

And that is especially true if that business or those assets would be sold below their actual value in a distressed sale.

The halakhic goal of tzedaka is to keep a person living at the level he was accustomed to, doing the same work he previously did, and to do so with dignity.

It's all blackletter halakha.

Too bad you never learned it.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

Shmarya,
this story is not just moving; it exemplifies how well you do the things you do, selflessly and with an enormous heart, and why journalism awards should be visiting this blog: you made a connection with a poor soul whom others dismissed or took advantage of, you understood his life and struggles, and you are plugged into his surrounding context enough to raise legitimate concerns about the circumstances of his death. And you do this when no one else does, until it gets picked up by the mainstream press which typically won't give credit where it is due.
So what next? His death can't end like this, with a post-mortem on FM. Is the DA investigating, or are we back in Hynes' Brooklyn where, heaven-forbid, crimes in the haredi community are left to the haredi themselves to investigate, if they want to.
Terrible story, Shmarya, and thankfully you are drawing attention to it.

[DBSesq]

A few things, in n specific order:
1. Why did his brother not take him in?
2. Why did no one send him to better organized community charities like Federation or the Met Council?
3. Why do you assume Misaskim is covering anything up? I believe they have a policy of opposing all autopsies on Jews. If the medical Examiner had reason to suspect foul play, he should have sought a court order requiring an autopsy. BTW in an instance where this is reason to suspect foul play, or to prevent the spread of communicable disease, an autopsy is allowed. It's based on a responsum of the Noda B'Yehuda.
4. The brother, as next of kin, should immediately seek either letters of administration or letters testamentary to preserve the estate so it can be disposed of in accordance with the deceased's wishes.

[amused]

It is hard to make a judgement here as it seems to me there is more to this story that we may never know.

Thanks for explaining the halacha, but in these most difficult times, where was one to get $80,000 in order to help a man who was clearly incapable of helping himself?

In business, people routinely help each other stay afloat. I personally saw it done countless times.

[Shmarya]

1. Why did his brother not take him in?
2. Why did no one send him to better organized community charities like Federation or the Met Council?
3. Why do you assume Misaskim is covering anything up? I believe they have a policy of opposing all autopsies on Jews. If the medical Examiner had reason to suspect foul play, he should have sought a court order requiring an autopsy. BTW in an instance where this is reason to suspect foul play, or to prevent the spread of communicable disease, an autopsy is allowed. It's based on a responsum of the Noda B'Yehuda.
4. The brother, as next of kin, should immediately seek either letters of administration or letters testamentary to preserve the estate so it can be disposed of in accordance with the deceased's wishes.

Posted by: DBSesq | July 06, 2012 at 09:09 AM

1. He lived too far away from the storage facility where the pictures were kept.

2. Those community charities have no housing for adults between 18 and 55 years old.

3. I don't say that Misaskim is. But it did oppose an autopsy even though the death was suspicious, and it used its pull to make sure one wasn't done. It did the same thing in that Upper West Side Lincoln Square case, and it's now widely accepted by law enforcement that what Misaskim did allowed the murderer to walk free. There's a ton of corruption in NYS and NYC governments, and haredim are hovering around a lot of it, exploiting it. And you totally don't understand how hasidim – Misaskim – view the halakha.

[Reb Mendel]

Owning a million dollars worth of pictures is not like havingg a milllion dollars worth of gold. The latter is easy to turn into cash but the former not so.

[Dave Rintel]

Shmarya- did you have any relation to Howard Stern? You look like him in that photo of yours

[Dave Rintel]

Er, make that Howard Frank

[amused]

It looks like he didn't need to sell the entire collection to get himself out of trouble. People routinely sell things at a loss if they need to raise cash. Again, it is hard to help someone who is incapable of helping himself.

[Barry Farber]

Shmarya, afraid you're next? G-d forbid. After all YOU are a beggar and have a similar profile to that shmendrik that couldn't get his life together. Shame he didn't have a mother who'd keep him in her basement...
NO! the frum community is not to blame for this unfortunate mishap. The community cannot afford to help every meshugane/miscreant who walks into town carrying 10s of thousands of dollars in debt. You know better than that.
At any rate I do hope they catch the killers and justice be served. Hashem Yinkom Damo!

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Barry Farber | July 06, 2012 at 11:13 AM

Howard Frank is from the same family Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, a former chief rabbi of Jerusalem, is from.

He has far better yichus than you could possible have.

By the way, although my yichus is different than Frank's, so do I.

As they used to say to people like you in the old country, gei kakken affen yam, asshole.

[Barry Farber]

What WiKipedia says about Shmarya Rosenberg:
...However, legally he is considered unemployed and indigent.

[No Light]

Archie - I feel. so sorry for you. You're clearly a very sad, lonely man. I hope you find peace one day.

Don't forget, medication isn't a bad thing. Accepting psychiatric help is not a sign of weakness.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: Barry Farber | July 06, 2012 at 11:20 AM

So lets see.

A Wikipedia page that I am cannot edit says things about me which are false, just as thousands of other Wikipedia pages say false things about other living people.

And "Barry Farber," a dull, unintelligent, pathetic little creature believes it to be true because it confirms his worldview.

But little "Barry Farber" would be the first to challenge a Wikipedia entry about me that says good things, rather than bad.

No Light is correct, Archie.

You're demonstrably mentally ill. You're also a foul person.

Therapy and medication can help both.

Get them.

[Lubavitchers are Christians]

Shmarya, I am not haredi. In fact, I'm not frum. Not everyone who disagrees with your spin is frum, you know.

[God is not amused]

Barry what is your point? You have none.

[Dave Rintel]

Who gives a bleep about Yichus? Are you kidding me? Talk about being influenced by chareidim...Isnt every man responsible for their own life?
And who is Leon Gleckman? Chuckle...

[seymour]

I just wonder how many murders go unreported and how many murders are walking around because the frum do not allow autopsies

question FM

If it really would have been suspicious i thought the medical examiner does an autopsy even against the family wished in NY

[tsvika55]

Shmarya, darling, you have no issues badmouthing (falsely most of the time) a whole community, but once someone disagrees with you or writes something about u that's not to your taste, boy do you get your panties in a bunch...

[dh]

So, so sorry. For Shmarya for the abuse, for Archie et. al. for their heartless soulless ignorance, for the beggars outside shuls who do not realize that what they are given is not so much for them but to make the givers feel better and are given only enough to insure their return and for Mr Frank for having had to exist in a world that will never understand mental illness and view it only through scorn and insult. So very sorry. A terrible loss and we'll never know why.

[Devorah]

"The community cannot afford to help every meshugane/miscreant who walks into town carrying 10s of thousands of dollars in debt. You know better than that."

Why not? Your community has scammed your entire lives and can certainly afford to give a mentally ill man a few bucks weekly for rent and food.

[Shmarya]

Who gives a bleep about Yichus? Are you kidding me? Talk about being influenced by chareidim...Isnt every man responsible for their own life?…

Posted by: Dave Rintel | July 06, 2012 at 11:59 AM

That you're not a smart man or an honest man is evident from your comment.

Who cares about yichus?

Perhaps the man who wrote: "The community cannot afford to help every meshugane/miscreant who walks into town carrying 10s of thousands of dollars in debt."

What that means is thatthe community is justified in that writer's words in refusing to help someone who isn't really a part of it, especially when he's crazy or a malcontent.

There is no makor for that idea in halakha.

Past that, Howard Frank wasn't from out of town and he'd been a part of the community for decades.

And more than all that, as I noted as well, he had better yichus than the jerk attacking him – meaning he was more "inside" that that jerk is.

But a person lacking in intelligence and who wants to attack simply because he hates, like you, and who isn't really concerned about the facts, just as you are not, ignores the plain meaning of what I wrote and the clear reason I wrote it and instead yanks it out of context and then attacks me for writing it.

That is dishonest.

But I doubt you care about that.

[Shmarya]

Shmarya, darling, you have no issues badmouthing (falsely most of the time) a whole community, but once someone disagrees with you or writes something about u that's not to your taste, boy do you get your panties in a bunch...

Posted by: tsvika55 | July 06, 2012 at 12:14 PM

And as you know very well, buttercup, what I do is report facts. I stand by what I report.

If I make mistakes I correct them.

And what I do not do is hide behind aliases to anonymously post lies about political enemies.

You, however, do exactly that.

Toddle off now, little one.

[amused]

I would wager that Mr. Frank would rather die than part with any of his collection. Unfortunately, he did. There are millionaires who stand outside of synagogues begging, who take and steal from other while complaining about how poor they are. These are sick people who refuse help that will make a difference in their lives. The community certainly throws small change at them, but $80,000 --really!

[tsvika55]

Why so cranky today? Mommy didn't prepare your undies the way you like'em?

and as far your "mistakes" are concerned, u'll be correcting them in gehenom.

[effie]

tsvika55: You appear obsessed with other people's underwear. Do you suffer from a sexual fetish? Anyway, we're not into that here. However, I sure you can find a blog that shares your peculiarities.

Good Luck, And Piss Off!

[Steve K]

"And more than all that, as I noted as well, he had better yichus than the jerk attacking him – meaning he was more "inside" that that jerk is."

I wish we could keep this blog somewhat civil, but anyway at least some logic,k? Since you don't know the poster, you don't know what "yichus" he has or not, therefore your comment to him is circular logic.

[tsvika55]

effie,
1) don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, your boyfriend can protect himself.
2) if u chose to see a sexual fetish in a joke, that's your gig...
3) i was just trying to make a point about how unprofessional Shmaria is being (even for a dinky blogger)

[No Light]

Amused - we have proof that nobody took this man in, but none of your claim that a donor is paying for your kids to go to camp, because you apparently can't provide that yourself.

Also, are you a ger? Because everyone, BT, FFB, hell - even many goyim know what really awaits converts. It sure as hell isn't cosy Shabbat meals, close friendships, and offers to marry their kids.

I know families who are second and even third generation convert or even BT families that still face prejudice. One family had to find shidduchim for their kids on another continent. I know a couple who went Frei in their late fifties after falling for the kiruv promises made to them in their late teens, promises that made them desert university and their families.

So don't exhort chumlee to follow their heart unless you've had the BT or ger experience.

[amused]

I am sorry for those who went through the experiences you describe. However, I know many baalei teshuvah who are fully integrated into the community.

I don't know why you feel the need to insult and attack.

And, yes -- Chmlee should follow his heart because that is what everyone should do.

[fsadsd]

Posted by: Maskil | July 05, 2012 at 11:05 PM

The pictures were his life, and they probably were what ended up taking it.

Posted by: Shmarya | July 06, 2012 at 12:55 AM

Shmarya seems to suffer from some kind of illness. His brain is the size of a cockroach. F Shmarya.

[fsadsd]

We should set up a table @ Landaus to collect for Shmarya. Any takers?

[fsadsd]

He must have been really bored this morning. How can you portray this sick millionaire as some pore little guy. Most of us never get to see such fortune during our lifetime.

[kismadar]

tsvika55 -It looks like youre a brain damaged idiot fixated on harrasing shamrya youre jealousy knows no bound.

[effie]

Right. It's YOUR nose that belongs in every ones underwear, is that it? Knew you had a fetish and are not right in the head. How can we not see something bizarre in your continually talking about other people's underwear? Oh, right...to you it's normal. Creepy! You made no point. You know nothing about professionalism nor blogging. Hell, you can't even compose a coherent comment.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

The comments under this post are repulsive. A man suffering from mental illness may have been killed, evidence destroyed, and the police aren't even investigating. And you take issue with Shmarya for reporting it?
How sad.

[effie]

>>>How can you portray this sick millionaire as some pore little guy

Easy. The man had emotional and social problems. He was alone and elderly. You act like empathy costs you something. It doesn't.

[fsadsd]

Stealing has become a social problem? Portraying yourself as a poor men while being a millionnaire is STEALING. It is that simple. Comprehend? You are a crook if you deceive people. Regardless if you are sick. How can you have compassion for a little Madoff.

[fsadsd]

ONLY JEWS CAN DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

[amused]

I don't believe anyone takes issue with Shmarye for reporting a likely crime that never should have happened. However, I am perplexed as to why this incident has become another of his constant finger pointing at the Orthodox community. The community is not at fault for what happened here. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

[Special peace envoy]

It is tragic that this man is no longer alive and also that Shmarya is using the tragedy to exploit with baseless, sinister insinuations as part of his non-stop attacks on the Jewish community.

One can certainly see that Shmarya would have been huddling all this time with someone who is so remarkably similar. An unemployed moocher, bitter and gossipy. How else are they alike? Is Shmarya sitting on a pile of ill gotten gains from his grandfather while he lives like a miser in squalor and asks for handouts?

Do not be fooled by Shmarya's ploy to blame all criticisms on a single man, Archie or whoever the Hell is being referred to. That is an old ploy by desperate bloggers who want to create an illusion of popularity.

How many other mentally ill street urchins does Shmarya confer with daily as birds of a feather that he so absurdly calls his opponents mentally ill?

In Shmarya's imaginary world, all his critics are "little men", "A-holes", and "idiots"

"Past that", Shmarya is running short of vocabulary.

"Process that"

[fsadsd]

It is not a tragedy. The world is a better place without this Mini Madoff skunk.

[Special peace envoy]

The same goes for Shmarya's inner circle. Their hatred is all consuming. They sit around all day manufacturing new arguments to drag people from their religious beliefs. The ultimate missionaries were they not dripping with contempt of G-d and man.

[Eli, what me messiah?]

Special peace envoy,
You must spend a lot of time here to have Shmarya's pet phrases down so well, so you must also know he's reporting this story in part because no one else is.

[Special peace envoy]

Its a never ending theme that keeps Failed Messiah going. It's all a big conspiracy of the haves against the have nots. Even if the haves are not orthodox like Michael Steinhardt, Mitt Romney & Yitzchak Shamir. ANd the more they have the more Shmarya will demonize. That is Shmarya's social "justice". Shmarya who contributes nothing to society except to pollute it with nasty invective.

[Barry Farber]

“They’re going to kill me,” Howard Frank told people as he left, “I’m a dead man.” It was talk none of them had heard from Frank until then.

He owed, I’m told, $80,000 to one man, and possibly more to others – some of whom may be far from savory people. Loans were due, he had to pay back, and he didn’t have the money. He was, according to one account, recently coerced into signing a will that left a portion of his valuable photo collection to one of those lenders on the event of Frank’s death.
***
The collection is what made this bird brain nervous... I would not be surprised if he was killed over his refusal to release part of his "valuable" collection to one of his loan sharks.

Last: please don't malign my words as promulgating the riddance of all lunatics. That is not my intention; for what would the world be like without all these 'queer' elements?

[Barry Farber]

Special Peace Envoy:
AMEN!

[No Light]

Oh look, Archie's summoned his fellow Bellevue inmates to help him. Quite the sparkling little cohort, shining examples of humanity.

Enjoy Shabbes on your locked ward, disgusting cretins.

[no longer a Monday morning quarterback]

Shamarya - I spent many years advancing institutions that serve community needs and left because of people like you. Fact is you live in a utopean world and lash out at 'rabbis' when you see an imperfection in the world that ruins your fairytale. The halakhah you point to is (a) not practiced today and (b) is incumbent on the community at large not specifically on a rabbi of your choosing. Here are some other facts:

Jews in general and frum Jews in particular give more charity as a percentage of their worth and income than the rest of society. This factoid is also true for religous gentiles.

The frum community is chock-a-block with social institutions that help people that are down and out financially, handicapped, or struggeling with emotional issues. From HASC, to org's that help mothers with post partum depression or just need some additional help to gmachs for tables or toys the frum community has this all.

The frum community nor its rabbis have figured out how to help every last person with every last need. Neither has Israel figured out how to solve every last assylam seeker's problems. Where is the rest of the world offering a hand in taking in African and middle eastern refugees?! They are there pointing fingers at Isael.

Do something productive, start an org that helps people and join the good people of this world. The blood of Howard Frank OBM is on all of our hands, not just the rabbis. He reached out to you over the years for your help, where were you!? Why did you not use your pulpit to help this man instead of waiting until his death to point fingres? Use your talents for the good and become a lover not a hater. The Jewish world can use your talents if it channeled productively.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: no longer a Monday morning quarterback | July 06, 2012 at 05:09 PM

I did help Howard Frank.

Past that, stick to one screen name or, if you grow a pair, use your real name. Do it o I'll delete all your comments.

[SkepticalYid]

That poor man. He was obviously mentally ill. It's easy for predators to take advantage of someone who's so vulnerable.

[Fleishike Kishke]

To my mind, the Comments on this story should have been speculating about who Frank was going to see. Instead, we see a parade of frumma going after Shmarya. Who was this loan shark? Was Frank’s killer a Chussid? Have the depraved “Ultra Jews” of New York now descended to murder?

[dh]

Jeff!!!!! HEEEELP!

[Ann Marie]

I knew Howard. He was a friend of a friend of mine and I was shocked to find out the circumstances of his death and so sorry to hear of his demise. If he was murdered I pray that the murderer will be found and that Justice will prevail. I know that Howard had many problems but he did not deserve to die the way he did!

[Allan Katan]

Howard Frank was evicted many years ago, sad to say, by a money hungry frum SLUMLORD who has evicted other FRUM people and really cared little about his tenants. When Howard's father ob"m passed away about 10 years ago, Howard was a respectable devoted person who stood by his father's side 24/7! Whether he was mentally unstable is not the point here. He was unemployed for many years because he was his father's caretaker. His father left him penniless and he was unable to pay the full rent monthly.

I firmly believe that the day the marshals showed up to evict him is the day his life began to fall apart. His apartment was a disaster. The bathroom had no floor. The kitchen walls were crumbling and light fixtures were not working. The landlord REFUSED to repair anything. He repeatedly told Howard to "pack out" because he had "other people" who were eager to pay rent and didn't care about the living conditions.

It's sad that Howard died the way he did. We can all speculate but at the end of the day, his SLUMLORD is probably partially responsible for this tragedy.

Howard, you were a great man, may Hash-m rest you departed soul. The world will miss your honesty.

[John Haman]

What WiKipedia says about Shmarya Rosenberg:
...However, legally he is considered unemployed and indigent.

Posted by: Barry Farber | July 06, 2012 at 11:20 AM

Shmarya, i know this above post is a troll post but if you check your wikipidia page as of this evening there is no mention of what that troll wrote. so not only is he a troll he is a liar as well. you think his rebbe would be proud if he knew his subject was lying.

[Shmarya]

Thanks, John.

[i will not!]

Instead of deflecting and threatening bans, why don't you become open to dialogue and honest criticism. The way you treat your guests now will result in having only trolls and meaningless chayter. I've noticed that your site has been going in that direction since i started coming here and it is sad. You have more to offer the world than that.

[Shmarya]

Posted by: i will not! | July 08, 2012 at 11:23 AM

So when I warn trolls to stop trolling or stop sockpuppeting, it's wrong because it encourages trolling?

Perhaps the actual problem is those trolls.

[i will not!]

Stop deflecting. Ironicly I just popped into tzig's blog and noticed he is working towards raising funds to post bail and providefunds for mental help for this person. Perhaps if FM would have done that for Howard, things would have ended very differently.

[Shmarya]

Stop deflecting. Ironicly I just popped into tzig's blog and noticed he is working towards raising funds to post bail and providefunds for mental help for this person. Perhaps if FM would have done that for Howard, things would have ended very differently.

Posted by: i will not! | July 08, 2012 at 12:00 PM

No. He's raising funds for a criminal, and the funds will be used, in part, to establish a "mental illness" in the hopes of getting him off.

As for Howard Frank, he didn't want mental health treatment. He wanted the frum community to help him and taker him in.

And for the most part, that didn't happen.

[dingdang]

So does the brother gets a chance to dispute the will.

[I will not!]

there you go again deflecting and seeing the most cynical motives in someone's else's attempt to help (I don't know detail of Tzig's project so cannot say one way or another).

What Howard Frank wanted of the frum community is irrelevent. What is relevent is how tragic his life ended, what we (yes, you, me and anyone else who gives a damn)could have done to change the course of events and what we can learn from it to help others that might be in a similar position. Especially those that cannot help themselves. Does that mean we help the frum org's that are there on the front line helping those in need? Or does that mean we create an alternative means of helping less fortunate people because we don't always like how the frum org's do it?

Just tearing down those frum org's without working on alternative solutions helps no one.

Waht are you or your regulars doing to help? While I am no longer engaged in this in the high profile way I once was, I do continue to help in trying to solve many of these communal issues (and yes, mostly through frum org's as they are the only ones that have the infrastructure right now).

[Shmarya]

Please.

You really are a jerk.

I tried to get him help. He wouldn't take it.

As I wrote – and as YOU continually try to avoid dealing with – he wanted the RABBIS and the FRUM community to help.

I've explained this clearly and ad nauseum.

Now toddle off.

[I will not!]

And I want Bill Gates to buy me a yacht. So what?!? You seem to be more content in pointing fingers rather than actually helping. I do admire your attempt to help Howard and regret that you were not successful there.

I'll toddle off now. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Feel free to delete all my earlier comments b/c I did not adhere to some technical rule you have on your site. I would expect that kind of treatment from the gedolim and think higher of you than to just invoke bans when someone steps out of some rigid lines that were artificially created.

[Shmarya]

And I want Bill Gates to buy me a yacht. So what?!?

You quite obviously know very little about mental illness.

[I will not!]

Indead, I don't. Unfortunatly neither are most rabbis qualified in this area. They are stuck playing triage on who they can help and who they can't. Perhaps if Am Yisroel figured out a way to have the proper channels where people like Howard can turn to for help, we would all be better off. This is a collective problem for us all to resolve, not one where we can shirk our responsibilities and thrust it onto the "rabbis".

[Shmarya]

The rabbis lead your community. And you are being disingenuous in the extreme.

[spacedout BT]

All the Tomchei Shabbos food in the world do no good for a man who cannot cook or keep an apartment. We know what happened 28 years ago when a certain "rabbi doctor" in BP claimed to treat emotional issues with children. The frum community as a result never moved to commit to state-of the-art mental health facilities staffed by true professionals (perhaps with the exception of Belz) and they suffer for it, along with Howard Frank

[Chesed Shel Emes]

The best thing we can do for him now is to learn Mishnayis Lizchuso: Chaim Simcha ben Eliyahu, and to be kind to others

[shosh]

What I love best about Failed Messiah is watching haredim like you spout off about issues without having any idea that halakha specifically condemns that point of view.
Put more simply so the simple, like you, can process, halakha doesn't judge a person who needs tzedaka by the amount of property he has. So a man who owned 10 apartment buildings who hits a cash flow problem and doesn't have money to feed his family is not expected to sell one or all of those buildings before qualifying for aid.
Posted by: Shmarya | July 06, 2012 at 08:45 AM

Shmarya, Please see Rambam Matnot Aniyim chapter 9 (specifically halachot 14, 16 & 17). It seems that you are not entirely correct.

Here is a link to and English translation:
http://goo.gl/b8mbY

[Shmarya]

Shmarya, Please see Rambam Matnot Aniyim chapter 9 (specifically halachot 14, 16 & 17). It seems that you are not entirely correct.

Here is a link to and English translation:
http://goo.gl/b8mbY

Posted by: shosh | July 09, 2012 at 12:47 PM

There is nothing there that questions what I wrote.

If anything, what the Rambam wrote supports what I wrote.

16 and 17 say that you must not force, ask or encourage a poor person with a valuable asset to sell it at less than its value. Instead, you should support him until he can sell it at full value or until he can make enough money to live comfortably in another way.

9 is talking about household items like coffee grinders, food processors, pots and pans, etc., and it says that the poor person should sell the extravagant ones – the $1000 Italian espresso machine, for example – and buy himself a cheaper but still fully functional espresso machine, and use the difference to support himself.

It is *not* saying that those items should be sold and not replaced or that they should be sold at any type of a loss, because they shouldn't.

It's blackletter halakha, halakha 101. The Rambam says it clearly just as the rest of accepted halakha does.

And that is exactly what the Rambam says in the examples you cited.

[shosh]

All I was trying to say is that 16 & 17 say (in my understanding) that essentially assets do need to be sold, but clearly no under duress – at a loss, but rather at a fair market value. (this does not include the home one currently lives in or personal, basic, essential household items)

[Shmarya]

All I was trying to say is that 16 & 17 say (in my understanding) that essentially assets do need to be sold, but clearly no under duress – at a loss, but rather at a fair market value. (this does not include the home one currently lives in or personal, basic, essential household items)

Posted by: shosh | July 09, 2012 at 03:23 PM

Well, you're not correct.

[shosh]

Here is the actual quote:
Halacha 16 - When a person possesses homes, fields, and vineyards42 which were he to sell them in the winter, he would be forced to sell them cheaply,43 but were he to leave them until the summer, he would be able to sell them at their worth, we do not obligate him to sell them [in the winter]. Instead, we enable him to partake of the tithe of the poor [until he partakes of] half the worth of his property [so that] he will not be pressed to sell outside the [appropriate] time to sell.

Halacha 17 - If people at large were purchasing property at high prices,45 but he could only find people to purchase from him cheaply, because he is pressed for funds and preoccupied, we do not require him to sell [at a low price]. Instead, he is allowed to continue to partake of the tithe for the poor until he can sell his property at its worth and everyone will know that he is not under pressure to sell.

This means that if one has assets, he should sell them at their fair value. but if it is the wrong season to sell this type of item, or the fact that people see that he is hard pressed for money, they will offer him only below market prices, he will not be obligated to sell it at a UNFAIR PRICE.

Halacha 14 talks about the person’s personal hose and household belongings.

“Halacha 14 - When a poor person is in need, but owns a courtyard and household utensils - even silver and golden utensils - we do not obligate him to sell his house and his personal possessions. Instead, he is permitted to accept [charity] and it is a mitzvah to give him.
“When does the above apply? With regard to eating utensils, drinking utensils, clothing, bedding, and the like.35 If, however, he owns a golden comb or pestle or the like, he should sell them and buy less valuable ones.
“When does the above37 apply? Before he has descended to the level where he takes charity from people at large.38 Once he collects charity [from the community], we obligate him to sell his utensils and purchase lesser ones and then accept charity”

[Shmarya]

I realize the bar for being considered learned in Chabad is set exceedingly low, but surely some of your teachers should be able to explain the halakhic difference to you between owning a vacation home or several homes one lives in in the same locale, which is what the Rambam is talking about, and owning property one rents out as a business.

[Kelilah]

I'd just like to point out that just because Mr. Howard was in possession of property estimated to be worth $1 million does not mean that he was rich or a millionaire. The estimated value of an object and what it is worth at any given time are 2 very different things. This is actually enshrined in federal bankruptcy law: when declaring the value of all assets, a filer must declare only what they can get for an item right at that moment, not the insurance or appraised value. For instance, let's say I have a book that has an appraised insurance value of $200, but a similar copy of that book just sold on eBay for $10. The book is then worth $10, because that is all I can expect to get for it if I want to turn it into a liquid asset.

While Mr. Frank's photos may have an estimated value of $1 million, their immediate worth is much, much less. Now, with a properly advertised and ran auction, the collection might fetch that much when divided and sold, bearing in mind the costs of such an operation.

So to say that the man was a robber because he begged to take care of his immediate financial needs is incorrect at best, cruel at worst.

[shosh]

Shmarya, it would be nice if you provided sources for your interpretation.

[John]

Howard was a wonderful man! He had a passion for his pictures!this truly is a sad day! He was my friend and I will miss talking to him! I hope his killers rot in jail! I wish I was still living in Brooklyn and could of helped prevent this somehow! Rest in peace Howard !

[Carson]

I had contact of Howard (and his father) from 1988-1998 by phone but never met in person. First my sincere condolences to his brother. I am totally shocked and saddened by this news. Why didn't any one call the police when he said someone is out to kill him? Perhaps he was eccentric but in the years I had contact I don't believe he would say anything like that unless it was real. We had good laughs on the phone. I hope they find the truth in the cause of death. I doubt he would commit suicide. I cannot believe a man fearing for his life and no one tries to help. Poor guy - if he was lonely to begin with I cannot imagine how he felt those last days when no one tried to help him. Rest in peace Howard.