Haredim Move To Take Over Secular Anti-Poverty Agency

Met Council board member Abraham Biderman, who is a top haredi lay leader in Agudath Israel of America, is likely to be the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty's new board chairman and his candidate to replace David Frankel  the CEO brought in to clean up the anti-poverty agency after widespread embezzlement came to light last year is a Chabad rabbi. Frankel was allegedly forced out by haredim, likely with the help of Biderman and other board members.

 

The Forward reports:

…Met Council board member Abraham Biderman is being considered to succeed Steven Price as president of the organization, according to three sources close to the Met Council. Biderman, who is ultra-Orthodox, is a managing director of the investment firm Eagle Advisers and also serves on the boards of the ultra-Orthodox umbrella organization Agudath Israel of America and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Biderman did not respond to an inquiry from the Forward.

A source close to the Met Council said that that Biderman was backing [Chabad RAbbi Moshe] Wiener’s bid for the top job at the organization. Appointing the men to the group’s top lay and staff positions would constitute a major change for the charity.

“The Met Council, I think, had a reputation as being a secular Jewish charity,” said Lewis Fidler, a former member of the New York City Council who has worked closely with the organization. He characterized the Met Council as having “embrac[ed] somewhat Orthodox groups — the [Jewish Community Councils] and [the Councils of Jewish Organizations] — in a patrician-like manner,” referring to the local agencies in the Met Council’s network that provide social services in return for funding and operational support.…

Weiner is the head of a local Jewish Community Council.

Almost all of the JCCs are haredi-controlled, and they fought with outgoing Met Council CEO David Frankel – a man with extensive Wall Street experience who also served as commissioner of New York City’s Department of Finance.

Frankel was brought in last September to replace fired CEO William E. Rapfogel  – a leading member of the city's Modern Orthodox community – who led a 20 year at least $9 million embezzlement scheme with co-conspirators that included his predecessor as CEO, haredi Rabbi David Cohen, the Met Council's former CFO Herbert Friedman, and the Met Council's Breslov hasidic insurance broker Joseph "Yossi" Ross – essentially meaning that a gang made up almost exclusively of Orthodox Jews looted the city's secular Jewish anti-poverty charity.

All four men have pleaded guilty to felony charges. Rapfogel is already in prison.

Some of these haredi-controlled JCCs have been accused by a small number of clients and community members of misusing some of the government monies they received through the Met Council, and have been accused of failing to help needy Jews who are not members of their particular religious community in the same way they help their own poor – who allegedly get much more assistance.

But these JCC heads reportedly complained about stricter financial oversight instituted by Frankel and forced him out – with the Met Council's board's acquiescence.

That board was sharply criticized by government funders for providing lax (or in some cases, no) oversight during Rapfogel's embezzlement.

Now it appears ready to hand over control of the city's only Jewish anti-poverty agency to handpicked candidates of haredi power brokers – including Biderman, who was a senior lay leader at Agudah during the time the haredi umbrella group alleged covered up child sex abuse cases and negotiated an illegal deal with then-Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes to allow its rabbis to vet cases of alleged child sex abuse and decide if those cases should be reported to police or the DA.

This bodes poorly for the city's secular and non-Orthodox Jewish poor – except for Russian immigrants, who have their own organizations under the Met Council.

It is also an odd decision to make because haredim donate almost no money to the Jewish Federation and its constituent charities – including the Met Council.

Related Posts:

Haredi-Controlled Agencies Force Out Non-Orthodox Anti-Poverty Head.

Chabad Rabbi Candidate To Hed Met Council.

New CEO Of Scandal-Plagued Anti-Poverty Charity 'Resigns."

All Met Council Scandal Posts.

Comments

[lj]

Jewish Federations Back Western Wall Compromise-etc as example..doesn't represent all Jews. An article some time ago about why the JF can't seem to get "orthodox" not charadi specifically, involved w/Federation causes..because they issue political statements not conducive to their purported goals of fighting poverty etc., issuing statements on Jewish identity which includes..I don't need to say. some might not agree. Pretty obvious why Shmarya. re: the Federation. re: met council gala: and the no support-Shmarya...think what you might....Forward;
Met Council supporters gathered in the Cotillion Room at The Pierre Hotel, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, to celebrate the organization and its backers. Placards in the entry hall thanked mega-developer Bruce Ratner and major Chabad donors Pamela and George Rohr. A $25-per-ticket raffle offered nice prizes: a big flat-screen TV, Giants and Yankees tickets.
The event, called Food for Life, raised money for Met Council’s food programs. Guests ate, buffet-style, from mountainous sushi platters and martini glasses stuffed with quinoa and salmon.
The annual event raised $350,000 — far less than the $2 million the same event raised last year, on the occasion of the Met Council’s 40th anniversary, but on par with the $360,000 the event raised in 2012.
Met Council events before the scandal were well known for the hordes of local politicians who showed up to have their photos taken. Most of the pols seem to have skipped the Food for Life gala.

[Fleishike Kishke]

In my understanding, many/most/nearly all Chabad organizations consider donations and government grants to be the personal income of the organization’s head. Some money they spend with fanfare and media, so that the events result in further donations (i.e. earn profit). Monies they MUST distribute and salaries they must pay, they keep within the family to the extent possible. In addition, the organization heads work with various ‘alleged philanthropic’ real estate moguls and other business people to help launder their incomes and evade paying taxes.

[lj]

I think sweet potato and carrot chips and a soft drink would sufficed also. Nonetheless. Chabad, though don't know that much about them runs many soup kitchens especially Eretz Yisroel..and such. And very charitable. I recall helping put together a lot of food boxes, Pesach Sukkot before shabos, And it wasn't Chabad..went to many people, including holocaust survivors, the elderly and the poor. Made sure to know who they were regardless of where they davened, or if at all. All very discreetly so not to embarrass.

[Shmarya Rosenberg]

IJ –

Stop your BS. Chabad has almost no soup kitchens or anti-poverty programs. Even Colel Chabad, which does have a couple in Israel, only serves a very small, closed clientele. (Although the Jerusalem soup kitchen near Mea Shearim was very well run when I toured it 15 years ago.)

When people are hungry, Chabad is not the first place people turn to.

[lj]

Maybe 15 yrs ago but according their site they have 16 or 17 now. Why are u so mean. Were you not once a recipient of Chabad's charity..or could I be wrong..I don't want to embarrass you.

[lj]

Who fed you Shmarya

[Shmarya Rosenberg]

IJ –

You’re wrong and you’re an ass. And anyone foolish enough to believe propaganda is, well, a fool – and at best, that is what you are.

[Shmarya Rosenberg]

IJ –

Who fed me? The money I earned fed me, asshole.

[lj]

touchy subject obviously. U r just mean. Period.

[Shmarya Rosenberg]

IJ –

I’m not mean. I just dislike dishonest, lying trolls. I never took charity from Chabad, I never relied on Chabad for food. I never lived in Rubashkin’s basement or took charity (or any other money or support) from him. He never gave me or loaned me a car. And you, asshole, are done.

[dh]

Phew, thank you.

Sholom Rubashkin and the others in the Rubashkin Crime Family who have served time have been the recipients of the charity of all the rest of us who have, and continue to pay their way. I'm getting mighty tired of feeding them.

[Barry 1]

If you know even a little of the origins and history of Met. Council, you'd know that it was started by the Yeshivish/Chareidi world. The Jewish Community Councils were not getting Federation money, while they were the ones providing direct services to the Jewish and other poor in NYC. They had to fend for themselves.

Not withstanding the recent horrendous criminal actions, Met. Council always did a good job within their mission. Credit is due where it is due, blame is due where it is due.

The organization needs to be professionally run and transparent, but hiring a Chareidi or having a Chareidi Board is going back to its roots, but they need to be above reproach.

[adams420]

chariemdim have no credibility. it should be multi group run. professional house cleaners needed.