When the alleged mobster Rabbi Yoram Abergel was released from jail Sunday after a week spent behind bars, he issued his first public statement on his arrest – a statement which was surprisingly sedate – for a man who allegedly conspired to murder a rabbinic rival.
Rabbi Yoram Abergel
Mobster Rabbi Issues Statement After Being Released From Detention
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
When the alleged mobster Rabbi Yoram Abergel was released from jail Sunday after a week spent behind bars, he issued his first public statement on his arrest – a statement which was surprisingly sedate – for a man who allegedly conspired to murder a rabbinic rival.
“We must have great respect for Israel Police for doing its work. I am pained by the demonstrations which led to bitul Torah [wasting of time that should have been spent learning Torah] among yeshiva students,” Abergel reportedly said, referring to the massive riots and demonstrations staged by his students in several locations across Israel, including Jerusalem and Netivot, to protest his arrest and detention.
Just after getting out of jail, Abergel was visited by a number of prominent rabbis, including Meir Mazuz, a member of the Sefardi haredi Shas Party’s Moetzat Gedolei Yisrael (committee of leading Torah sages), who came to show support for Abergel, Yeshiva World reported.
Abergel was also visited Sunday by Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri – a felon who is no stranger to prison – and Shas Member of Knesset Eli Yishai, who also came to show their support for Abergel.
Abergel – who founded a new type of Sefardi haredi ultra-Orthodoxy that is made up of traditional Sefardi-Mizrahi customs and law and one hand and Chabad and Breslov hasidic teachings on the other – is alleged to have conspired with mobster Shalom Domrani to extort a rabbinic rival over an endorsement in the municipal election.
When that rabbinic rival – the so-called “X-Ray Rabbi” Ya’akov Ifergan – refused to endorse Abergel’s and Domrani’s candidate, Abergel and Domrani allegedly conspired to murder Ifergan or his chief aide.
Abergel was arrested on the morning of November 10 in Ben Gurion International Airport as he was about to board a flight to China where he was reportedly slated to visit a Chabad House.
Domrani was arrested a few hours earlier on the night of November 9.
The criminal cases against Abergel and Domrani – who is still remanded – continue.