If innocent Why seek immunity?

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto is accused of financial crimes in Israel and elsewhere.

Whether or not he is innocent or guilty is a question for the courts.

But Pinto's recent action in Israel must cause all but his most loyal followers to question the man's integrity.

Pinto has told Israeli authorities he is willing to testify against a now-former Israeli police official, Maj. Gen. Menashe Arbiv, if the state will give him immunity from bribery of a police officer.

According to the left-wing Israeli newspaper HaAretz,

Pinto is suspected of attempting to bribe a senior police officer, Ephraim Bracha, who was close to the rabbi and is today the commander of the National Fraud Squad, by offering him 200,000 shekels (about $57,000) in exchange for information about an investigation of the Hazon Yeshaya nonprofit association, which Pinto headed.

Bracha immediately reported the offer to his superiors, who wired him to document the alleged bribery attempt. Pinto and his associates say that he and Bracha had a lengthy relationship during which the rabbi had supported the officer financially. These claims were investigated by top prosecutors, who said there was nothing to them.

If there "was nothing to them," why would Pinto seek immunity in Israel?

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the New York Times reports that Pinto is a figure in the federal inquiry into the campaign of Representative Michael G. Grimm of Staten Island has been put under house arrest in Israel in a bribery and money-laundering investigation there, the Israeli police said on Friday.

The United States attorney’s office in Brooklyn is looking into the improper donations. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the United States attorney’s office, declined to comment on the effects the Israeli investigation might have on his efforts.

I am not privy to all of the the claims and counter-claims, but is seems to me even the hint of scandal should never touch a rabbi, most certainly not a rabbi of some local, national, and - in Pinto's case - international fame. It brings disgrace on the rabbinute, already held in contempt by many, disgrace to Moroccans - as Pinto is of Moroccan descent, disgrace to Jews everywhere.

Some might claim Pinto's money is the source of his enemies ' jealousy, but if that is the case, where are the claims against even richer rabbis: Baba Sali's kin, Pinchas Abuhatzeira, allegedly Israeli's richest rabbi with an estimated worth exceeding US$367 million, Yekutiel Abuhatzeira, is number 9 on the wealth list. Cousin Pinto comes in at only number 7 on the list. We don't - perhaps "have not" - heard scandal attached to the other Abuhatzeiras, not to the Ifargans, Yaakov Israel and his sister, Bruia Zvuluni. Likewise, no one is besmirching the names of either the Belz or Gur rabbes, at least not for financial issues. Both men are in the financial "Top Ten" of rabbis in Israel.

I am NOT suggesting that Pinto is guilty of anything - not in the U.S. and not in Israel. What I am stating is that even the hint of dishonestly - true or false - is more than should attach itself to a rabbi, even a rabbi known only to his own small congregation.

Pinto would be wise to put his financial affairs into the hands of a notoriously honest person's hands and, at least for now, remove himself from any control over the wealth.

Pity the current Abuhatzeiras choose to dress like Ashkenazi haridem. They don't have to dress like the Babi Sali, but neither should they dress in Ashkenazi garb.