Opuscula Civil court acts when Jewish "court" didn't

 

THE HEADLINE READS:
Washington 'peeping Tom' rabbi sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison. Underneath the text reads:

"Rabbi Barry Freundel, the 63-year-old former head of Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington, sentenced to jail time after pleading guilty to 52 misdemeanor counts of voyeurism for secretly videotaping women naked during ritual baths."

The sentence was imposed after Freundel pled guilty to secretly videotaping dozens of women naked during ritual bath

District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Geoffrey Alprin handed down the sentence before a packed courtroom.

What would have a "religious" court - a bet din zedek - have done? How would it have ruled? What punishment would it have handed down?

Based on other reports of Freundel's misbehavior, it is likely the religious court would do little more than say "naughty, naughty."

What has happened to Freundel in the religious community is that

1. His congregants fired him
On Wednesday, (Jan 28, 2015) Kesher Israel launched a case with the Beit Din of America to oust Freundel, who was arrested in October on charges that he spied on women, among them his students and converts, who used a ritual bath adjacent to the Orthodox synagogue. JTA: Synagogue launches religious court case to evict Rabbi Barry Freundel
2. The Rabbinical Council Of America tossed Freundel off its boards.
In an emergency meeting on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 the Rabbinical Council Of America (RCA) Executive Committee voted unanimously to suspend Rabbi Freundel from all positions of leadership in the RCA, from RCA membership and, together with the Beth Din of America, from all activities related to conversion. Rabbinical Council Of America Issues Statement Regarding Freundel Matter

That's it.

Because the civil court dealt with Freundel, the rabbi is now considered a sex offender. The federal government has enacted laws that define the terms and outline the tier of offense based on certain criteria. According to the Sex Crime Criminal Defense web site, voyeurism is a Tier I Sex Offense; this includes misdemeanors and felonies such as:

• Public indecency (lewdness);
• Voyeurism;
• Possession of child pornography (could include teen sexting)./LI>
• Sexual contact without consent.

The Washington Post reported that

Freundel ultimately pleaded guilty to videotaping 52 women, and the punishment translates to about six weeks per victim. Sentencing guidelines require that he serve 85 percent of his term.

The longtime rabbi had recorded about 100 additional women, prosecutors have said, but those alleged crimes occurred outside the three-year statute of limitations. The videotaping occurred between 2009 and 2014.

Once Freundel gets out of prison (he must serve at least 85% of the 78 month sentence, or 66 months) other than possibly facing some housing restrictions, he is free to assume a rabbinical role

Freundel was one of a handful of rabbis outside of Israel that the Israeli rabbinute considered sufficiently trustworthy to accept his conversions. Likewise, his stamp of approval on a bride-to-be's status as a Jew was accepted by the Israeli religious establishment if the marriage was to be performed in Israel.

Apparently, this is not the first time Freundel has had a run-in with the RCA. According to the Failed Messiah blog,

The RCA Twice Investigated Rabbi Barry Freundel For Alleged Conversion-Related Misbehavior – Including An Alleged Sexual Dalliance With A Female In The Process Of Conversion

Given the above, is it any wonder that most American Jews, "orthodox" or otherwise, prefer to complain to the civil courts rather than a rabbinical court?

One final note: the RCA announced that the Beth Din of America – under the leadership of Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz – has concluded as a matter of Jewish law that conversions performed by Rabbi Freundel prior to his arrest on October 14, 2014 remain halachically valid and prior converts remain Jewish in all respects. Rabbinical Council Of America Issues Statement Regarding Freundel Matter

MEANWHILE, the Jerusalem Post reports that

Tel Aviv District Court Judge Oded Mudrik on Tuesday sentenced Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto to a year in prison on a reduced bribery conviction as part of a plea bargain with the state.

The decision, which also carried a NIS 1 million fine, was a blow to Pinto, who had fought all-out for community service and no jail time.

If you can't trust a rabbi, who CAN you trust?

Opuscula We have Met the enemy And he is us

Our bad behavior shames
Jews before the entire world

 

Here we are, just days away from Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur and we read headlines such as

Rabbi Pinto Agrees to Plea Bargain Agreement

WikiLeaks delves into Dead Sea sales scam and Raft of complaints over Dead Sea kiosks

It seems, on first blush, that both the rabbi and the Dead Sea product sales folks share one thing in common:

GREED

The greed of these people plays into the hands of the anti-Semites who joyfully shout: "See, we told you they want all our money."

The people are drilling holes in the proverbial boat in which all Jews must sit.

I'm curious.

Will Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, who comes from distinguished families on BOTH sides. On his father's side he is the great-grandson of Haim Pinto, a Moroccan sage; on his mother's side, he is the grandson of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, the Baba Sali.

According to a Wikipedia biography, Pinto graduated from Ashkenazi Lithuanian yeshivot, and studied under Ashkenazi and Hassidic rabbis, including Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach, director of the Lithuanian-style Ma’alot Hatorah yeshiva located in Jerusalem. Pinto also was influenced by Satmar Hassidism and his teachings.

For Pinto, his plea bargain in Israel is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. He also has a slew of legal problems in the U.S., most if not all civil (not criminal) issues. A number of his followers, however, have been investigated for possible criminal charges.

DEAD SEA SCANDAL

According to Stuff.co.nz, A diplomatic cable released by whistleblower website WikiLeaks has shed new light on the mysterious activities of Israelis selling Dead Sea beauty products at malls in New Zealand and the US.

The cable, prepared by the previous US ambassador to Israel, James Cunningham, alleges immigration fraud, illegal labour, money laundering and worker exploitation in an industry now worth a billion dollars.

An aside.

My First Born is a cop. He visited his parents when we lived near Washington D.C. On a trip to a local high-end mall we spotted some Israel's selling Dead Sea products.

Being an Israeli-born wise guy, he approached the Israelis, flashed his badge, and demanded to see their papers. Instant panic. None of the Israelis were in the U.S. on a visa that permitted them to work.

Next time you hear someone complaining about "Mexican wetbacks," know there also are many Israeli wetbacks.

According to the New Zealand sites (ibid.), Dead Sea beauty kiosks are turning over millions of dollars - despite continual complaints about aggressive and deceptive sales tactics. Tony Wall reveals who is behind the kiosks, and why the malls won't clamp down on them.

The money flowing through Dead Sea beauty kiosks is staggering, according to insiders. Sources familiar with the Israeli-run operation here and overseas have told the Sunday Star-Times it's a licence to print money.

"They're literally doing 10 to 12 grand a day per stall, and that's a bad day," an informed source claimed of the New Zealand business.

A US source said he was speaking out because he felt the businesses there were unethical, charging customers who were perceived as wealthy hundreds or even thousands of dollars for beauty products that cost only a few dollars to produce. Customers perceived as "poor" would be charged a fraction of that, he claimed.

"They are predators, it's just an ugly business."

 

This is not Pogo's first appearance on this blog. The "We have met the enemy" comment appeared on March 24, 2014 in an entry headed: We met the enemy and he is us, a few thoughts about the diplomats' strike.