Chabad and haredi rabbis in Paris forced the family of a young woman seeking a get (Jewish religious divorce) for five years to pay 30,000 Euros to get it. They also told the woman's family to write a 90,000 Euro check to Chabad and agree to drop all secular court proceedings against the recalcitrant husband.
New “Get” Extortion, This Time In Paris, Catches Senior French Haredi And Chabad Rabbis In Alleged Extortion
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
According to a report in French on the website of the French newspaper L'Express, Chabad and haredi rabbis in Paris forced the family of a young woman seeking a get (Jewish religious divorce) for five years to pay 30,000 Euros (approximately $42,000) to her recalcitrant husband in cash to get it.
"This is the price of liberty," Acting Chief Rabbi of France and Chief Rabbi of Paris Michael Gungenheim said in response to protests from the woman during the hearing to having to pay the 30,000 Euro bribe.
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The rabbis also forced the woman to drop all testimony against her husband in secular court.
When the woman's brother worried that taking out 30,000 in cash to pay off his brother-in-law would be noticed by banking authorities, Rabbi Bezalel Levy told the woman's brother to write a check for 90,000 Euros (approximately $125,000) to Chabad's Sinai Institutions headed by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Pevzner to launder the money – who was there in the room participating when this took place.
The brother was told that he would be able to deduct 66% of that 90,000 from his taxes, making his net loss about 30,899 Euros – the "30,000 Euros" he had agreed to pay his sister's husband for the divorce.
The woman's brother wrote the check to Sinai.
In the room and allegedly participating in the alleged extortion and money laundering was the Chief Rabbi of Paris Michel Guggenheim, Levy, Pevzner, and other rabbis.
But unbeknownst to them, the extortion was secretly recorded on video.
Pevzner, however, claims he refused to take the 90,000 Euro check and says the available video is truncated to omit that.
The woman's brother says that Pevzner's claim is false. And he says Pevzner refused to give the check back later when he asked for it.
The alleged extortion was reported to police, and a French nonprofit, the Progressive Future of Judaism, got a copy of the video recording of the alleged extortion and publicized it.
Gugenheim may be forced to remove himself from the position of acting Chief Rabbi of France. He has held the position since last April when Rabbi Gilles Bernheim was forced out as Chief Rabbi of France after being caught plagiarizing and then lying about it.