I've had contact with this person for a few months now, and kept her story confidential as she requested. But now…
…Miriam Shear has sent out an email commenting on the arrest of Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin and has given me permission to reproduce it here – on the condition that I print her contact information along with it, as found in her email:
dear friends - i've heard from many of you over the last 24 hours regarding sholom rubashkin's arrest as you know that i have pending litigation against agri.
i want you to know that i get absolutely no pleasure out of seeing sholom rubashkin in handcuffs as he is being led to hear the numerous felonies with which he is being charged. i actually felt sadness - not pity - but true sadness.
the rubashkin family were zocheh to reap the abundance of america in all its forms. they could practice their religion without fear of torture, discrimination, harm or coercion - unlike many of their ancestors who hailed from other countries. they enjoyed the freedom to work hard, work smart, and enrich their lives with all of the material benefits of a prosperous society. they were given the opportunity to share some of this wealth with those less fortunate as well as support the causes they so passionately supported - and this they did, nobody can deny.
yet, somewhere along the way the freedom that america offers for prosperity became their stumbling block. they forgot that the same laws of the american government that provided them opportunity and wealth and protected them from abuse were also there for the protection of others.
they forgot that the anti-trust laws of the american government were there so that ALL could compete fairly in the market place. they forgot that the labor laws were there so that those who worked for others could do so in safety and dignity.
some how along the way, an arrogance seeped in that deluded them into thinking they were above the law and, for some reason, the opportunity to do business in america on a level playing field was their exclusive entitlement to which nobody else had a right to share in.
how this happened, when it happened is a mystery to most if not all of us. it may even be a mystery to the rubashkins themselves. however, there is something about the walls of an 8 x 8 prison cell that will provide them lots of thinking and introspection time. stripped of their freedom, their money, their families and the respect of those who honored them and mentioned their names with awe - these elements will create a living nightmare of horror, despair, depression. maybe, hopefully, it will also lead the rubashkin family to true contrition with amends made to those they hurt in so many ways.
do not kid yourselves: it was not "only" goyim, poor helpless mexicans who were grateful for any job - the rubashkins hurt their fellow jews too. with in-your-face, arrogant, shameless violations of anti-trust - sometimes in conjunction with alle (aka mealmart) - the rubashkins (sholom, heshy, and tattie) drove hard working, honest people out of business. in the process they stripped and robbed these people of their livelihood, their investment, their dignity, and the little piece of the american dream that all hard working, productive american citizens are entitled to. some of these people will never be able to recover their financial footing. some of these people will be so emotionally beaten up by their losses that they will never have the strength to reestablish themselves. when one loses their money, their shalom bayis suffers, their children are deprived of basic childhood pleasures, etc. bottom line: life is just not ever the same again.
so - why am i not reveling in the "glory" of seeing sholom rubashkin in handcuffs, charged with felonies that could put him in the slammer for a very long time when it was him and his family who hurt my family?
i'll tell you why.
the only thing worse than blowing a great opportunity is Chillul Hashem. this man has disgraced his religion as CNN makes agri's crimes their #2 story on prime time television. the rubashkin family has managed to add their name to other crime families with jewish names recently disgracing the pages of the wall street journal - right up there with shereshevsky and abramoff, all orthodox religious jews. these men forgot that being a Torah jew is supposed to be just that. it's supposed to mean something.
the rubashkins have also managed to disgrace Lubavitch, an organization that has made tremendous contributions to the Jewish people for their ahavas yisrael, their kiruv, and opening their hearts, homes, and institutions to all jews of every stripe. i truly hope that people will be intellectually honest and fair enough to know that the rubashkins' antics and crimes have absolutely nothing to do with lubavitch or their followers. to do otherwise will only compound the tragic injustices of their crimes.
i am also sad for those who could have continued to enjoy and benefit from the agri/rubashkin largesse: many lubavitch yeshivas in many states, many shluchim who could spread Torah to uninformed jews in their communities, for political activism that benefited klal yisrael, etc, etc. these are good people who work hard and devote their lives to their fellow jews. they are now left in a horrible predicament of finding funds for their endeavors during a severe economic recession throughout america. it will be no surprise if many of these institutions close their doors - just like jack abramoff's baltimore yeshiva did.
if any good can come from this let it be that all jews learn that there is a G-d and that the jews you hurt daven to the same G-d that their tormentors daven to. let all jews learn that bracha comes from tzedekah ONLY when it is earned legitimately. that means that dina malchusa dina is not always subservient to jewish law. and that jewish law demands adherence to dina malchusa dina in most cases of commerce. nobody - NOBODY - has the right to make our Torah a smorgasbord of pick and choose judaism for their own greed and enrichment.
Message to Sholom and Heshy: I want my check. i want every dime you stole from my family. while you were raping my family business with glee and impunity, i was davening that you would get your comeuppance and that your hand would be stayed from doing to others what you did to us. G-d listened. and He answered better than i could have ever imagined.
miriam shear
permission is granted to forward
216-502-2325 (voip line to israel )