Earlier this week, Rabbi Moshe Lazer Zigelman told a federal judge in Los Angeles that
he would rather sit in jail all his life rather than violate the Jewish
law forbidding mesirah, informing. Three times every day, Zigelman
said, we pray “and informers will have no hope.” If I inform on a Jew,
Zigelman said, I will never have hope in God. I prefer sitting in prison
than go against the commandments of God, he said.
Rabbi Moshe Lazer Zigelman
Spinka Gabbai Gets 6 Months After Refusing To “Inform” On Co-Conspirators – Again
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
You may remember that the Borough Park Spinka Rebbe Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Weisz pleaded guilty to money laundering and tax evasion charges for in essence taking ‘donations’ from wealthy donors and giving those donors back 90% to 95% of their donations in cash.
So a wealthy person might have ‘given’ the rebbe $100,000. The rebbe would give the donor $90,000 in cash and the donor would show the $100,000 donation on his tax returns. The deduction the wealthy man then takes is worth much more than the $10,000 he gave to Spinka, and he also has a large pool of cash to use as he sees fit – perhaps hiding it from a spouse during a divorce or from a business partner during a fight.
The Spinka Rebbe allegedly took dozens (if not hundreds) of ‘donations’ like this every year, and $100,000 was not the highest amount he allegedly laundered. Over ten years, at least $8.7 million in ‘donations’ were allegedly given to Spinka. Spinka charities kept just under $750,000 and allegedly returned the rest to the ‘donors’ in cash.
The rebbe was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. He was released the last week of December 2011.
Helping the rebbe commit this fraud was his loyal gabbi (secretary and personal assistant) Rabbi Moshe Lazer Zigelman.
Zigelman refused to name any of his co-conspirators, insisting that doing so would violate the Jewish law forbidding informing on another Jew to a non-haredi government or police.
He was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison but only served nine due to illness and good behavior.
But Zigelman was also a witness in another case that came from the same Spinka scams, and Zigelman again refused to testify or name names.
Earlier this week, Zigelman told a federal judge in Los Angeles that he would rather sit in jail all his life rather than violate the Jewish law forbidding mesirah, informing. Three times every day, Zigelman said, we pray “and informers will have no hope.” If I inform on a Jew, Zigelman said, I will never have hope in God. I prefer sitting in prison than go against the commandments of God, he said.
Due to his illness, Zigelman was sentenced to six months of home confinement.
He can leave his house twice each day to pray in a nearby synagogue, and he must check in with law enforcement daily.
Many poskim (authorities in Jewish law) allow mesirah in Western democracies. Others allow it when the government already knows that X person committed the crime, but needs testimony from a co-conspirator or witness to convict X in court. (The logic being that failure to “inform” on X brings hatred on the Jewish community because the government already knows X is guilty and Y’s refusal to name names or testify is allowing a guilty man to walk free and the government knows it.)
Many haredim have expressed support and praise for Zigelman despite the shame Zigelman’s actions have brought on the haredi community.
[Hat Tip: Burich.]