Gathering for Eliyahu EzaguiCrown Heights residents gathered at Lubavitch Yeshiva in Crown Heights in support of developer Eliyahu Ezagui, facing up to 15 years in prison.
COLLive.com
A rally to raise funds for a developer found guilty of bank fraud took place Wednesday in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood.
Supporters of Eliyahu Ezagui, who is facing a prison sentence as long as 15 years, called on the community to help raise $300,000 to cover the cost of his defense.
Ezagui was said [sic] to entice local Lubavitch families into buying homes at 770 Lefferts Avenue and 613 East New York Avenue but never turned over the deeds.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Jacobson, who was the main speaker at the rally, said that prison is not the place for a Jew to be. "We have a moral duty to help him so that his children will be reunited with their father."
Rabbi Yaakov Schwei of Badatz of Crown Heights, remarked that even if one has money dedicated to a charity, one may give it instead for the mitzvah of Pidyon Shevuyim.
Other speakers were Vaad Hakohol member Yossi Hackner, community activist Rabbi Shea Hecht [a leading figure on the Sholom Rubashkin Pidyon Shevuyim Fund], and local Mashpiim Rabbi Pinyeh Korf and Rabbi Shlomo Majesky.
Donate online at EzaguiCase.com or mail to CHJCC General Pidyon Shevuim Fund 392 Kingston Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225 or call Musia at CHJCC 718-771-9000 ext 0