Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein Sentenced to Prison for Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Schemes
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of California
Assistant U. S. Attorneys Valerie H. Chu (619) 546-6750 and Michelle L. Wasserman (619) 546-8314
NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – January 4, 2022
SAN DIEGO – Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, former director at Chabad of
Poway, was sentenced in federal court today to fourteen months in
custody for his years-long, multi-million-dollar schemes to defraud the
Internal Revenue Service, several San Diego Fortune 500 companies, and
multiple public and private agencies. He was also ordered to pay
restitution totaling $2,834,608.
According to his plea agreement, while Rabbi Goldstein was director
of the Poway synagogue, he received at least $6.2 million in phony
contributions to the Chabad and affiliated charities and secretly
refunded up to 90 percent of the donations to the “donors.” After Rabbi
Goldstein provided these donors with fake receipts, they illegally
claimed huge tax deductions for these nonexistent donations, and the
rabbi kept about 10 percent – more than half a million dollars over the
course of the fraud - for himself. Tax losses to the IRS were more than
$1.5 million.
Rabbi Goldstein also admitted that he defrauded three different
Fortune 500 companies by tricking them into matching supposed charitable
donations of their employees. Working with the employees, Rabbi
Goldstein fabricated receipts and then secretly returned their fake
“donations.” This allowed the employees to claim tax deductions for the
completely fabricated donations, and allowed Rabbi Goldstein to collect
the companies’ matching funds—including some that matched double their
employees’ donations. Rabbi Goldstein helped to orchestrate this scheme
with at least six taxpayer-employees and two other associates who helped
recruit new donors or conceal the true recipient of the funds. In
total, Rabbi Goldstein defrauded the companies out of at least $144,000,
and helped the taxpayer-employees to claim nearly as much in fictitious
tax-deductible charitable contributions to the IRS.
Rabbi Goldstein admitted that he also helped his brother Mendel
Goldstein conceal approximately $700,000 in income by allowing him to
use Chabad bank accounts to deposit his income, thereby hiding it from
the IRS. As his cut, Rabbi Goldstein kept 10 percent of this
individual’s income—more than $70,000.
Separate and apart from the tax evasion scheme, Rabbi Goldstein and
another defendant, Alexander Avergoon, used false information and
fabricated invoices and other records to pretend to be eligible for
emergency funds, grants or donations, and private loans. These frauds on
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the California
Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), and private
foundations resulted in losses to these programs of at least $860,000.
According to sentencing documents, the United States Attorney’s
Office recommended departures from the sentencing guidelines for
Goldstein because of his cooperation against other individuals, and
because of the extraordinary events he suffered as a victim of the April
27, 2019 shooting at the Chabad of Poway.
In imposing sentence, U.S. District Judge Cynthia A. Bashant
commented, “You dragged down so many congregants. Many of those
individuals thought that they were committing these offenses to benefit
the Chabad or the synagogue in general, when in fact it was to benefit
you. I just can’t ignore that. … I think time in custody is important.
It’s important to send a message to the community, and it’s important
to send a message to you.”
“Yisroel Goldstein exploited his position and stature as a faith
leader to commit well-planned and carefully executed crimes of greed,”
said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “As his serious criminal conduct was
under investigation, the rabbi became a victim in a devastating attack
on the synagogue he led. Today’s sentence accounts for these
extraordinary circumstances and our office’s mission to always seek
justice.” Grossman thanked the prosecution team, the FBI and the IRS for
their excellent work on this case.
“The defendant used the Chabad of Poway’s tax-exempt status as a
religious organization to compile millions of dollars in fraudulent
‘donations’,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Suzanne Turner. “This
scheme enabled Rabbi Goldstein to line his own pockets; reward his fake
‘donors’ with reimbursement for their contributions; and provided
receipts enabling the ‘donations’ to be written off as charitable
contributions, all in furtherance of the scheme. The FBI will continue
to root out fraud disguised as charitable donations which ultimately
hurts those organizations relying on the generosity of donors.”
“Rabbi Goldstein veiled over $2.8 million in fraud schemes he
perpetrated with at least ten other co-conspirators by exploiting the
non-profit statuses of the Chabad of Poway and the Friendship Circle of
San Diego, organizations entrusted to him to serve the community,” said
Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Korner of IRS Criminal Investigation's
Los Angeles Field Office. “IRS Special Agents were proud to work
alongside the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in this
multimillion-dollar tax and grant fraud investigation that uncovered
decades of illegal conduct. In addition to holding Rabbi Goldstein
accountable for cheating U.S. taxpayers and businesses for personal
gain, my fervent hope is that today's sentencing brings closure and
healing to all who were affected by his crimes.”
Rabbi Goldstein was ordered to surrender into federal custody by noon on February 23, 2022.
DEFENDANTCase Number 20CR1916-BAS
Yisroel GoldsteinAge: 60 Poway
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Commit Wire Fraud, in violation of Title 18, USC 371
Maximum Penalty: Five years in prison
‘Challah’ and ‘tefillin’ were code words in the Chabad of Poway’s fraud scheme
Former rabbi of the synagogue targeted in 2019
by an antisemitic shooter received a 14-month term for his part in the
scheme; as a co-conspirator is sentenced, new details emerge
it
seems that Trump’s grievance with Netanyahu is the PM's insistence on
safeguarding Israel’s vital interests in the case of Trump's
characteristic desire to 'strike a deal' - this time, with Saudi Arabia.
Understanding
Donald Trump is a hazardous sort of punditry as he is mercurial, a man
of contradictions, not entirely coherent in his policy pronouncements,
and given to abrupt changes without explanation.
That
he is now reportedly “frustrated” with Prime Minister Netanyahu is not
entirely surprising (join the club). The report may be untrue – the
media “reports” some rumor or scandal almost daily; most are usually
forgotten the next day when what was reported does not materialize – and
almost always are promoted by someone with an agenda. Stuff is made up
all the time and quickly forgotten after the initial shock and outrage
dissipate.
Nonetheless, if
Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu is real, why would that be? And
should it be a cause for concern? First, a word about Trump.
President
Trump is an AmericanTrumppatriot who rightly construes what he perceives as
the best interests of TRUMPUS as paramount in his considerations. He is
blustery but seldom acts on his threats. He is a materialist who thinks
that one’s primary objective in life is to obtain as much money and
become as wealthy as possible. He is not an ideologue and has little use
for ideology when it interferes with the pursuit of (personal) material gain. He
will passionately espouse and try to implement a particular policy, and
if it does not immediately bear fruit, he will abandon it for its
antithesis with the same ardor with which he first pursued it, and
without any explanation.
Trump
has a positive attitude towards Jews but properly puts America First.
He does not mind, and perhaps even enjoys, opposing views among his
staffers, but also enables the sparring sides to feel that they each
have Trump’s support. And he has always been against war, any war, which
he sees as bad for business.
Above
all, he prides himself on being a deal maker, with the art of the deal
being the heart of the deal – not so much its implementation or
consequences but the deal itself. As a real estate baron, Trump was
known to renege on agreements, to hondle merchants, workers, and
suppliers when the due date for payment came, and welcomed lawsuits – as
plaintiff or defendant – because those were just preludes to more
deal-making. Contracts and the written word were meaningful only as a
guide to general principles but did not bind him if circumstances
changed (which they always did, as in “the job is done, so why should I
pay you?”).
That is why
Trump did not hesitate to breach US trade agreements with other
countries. Circumstances, to wit: his election, changed. Paradoxically,
he is decisive until he changes his mind – but he does make decisions,
seeks finality, and will walk away from negotiations if the prospects
are strong for stalemate, no deal, or an inconclusive outcome.
Trump
also wants to be seen as a winner; hence the abrupt reversal of his
tariff plans when the stock market tanked. He ordered the justified,
targeted assassinations of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
(and good riddance to the both of them) and chalked those up as
victories, even though Iran has since become an even more nefarious
force and ISIS still exists. A deal with Iran, Syria, Russia, Ukraine,
Israel, Hamas, the PA, Saudi Arabia, the Houthis is the goal. The deal
is the win, whatever happens later is incidental. That is how Trump sees
the world.
Therefore, he
will not tolerate endless negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, with
sundry countries and their trade arrangements with the USA, or between
Israel and our many adversaries. For Trump, the deck is cleared once an
agreement is signed regardless of future consequences. He prides himself
on being a conflict solver, especially in the short term.
By
contrast, as stated here not long ago, PM Netanyahu is a conflict
manager, not a conflict solver. He has made an art form of kicking the
can down the road until there is no road left. What he may see as
caution has become a sort of paralysis – an inability to resolve
anything – which also cleverly enables him to prevail in every election
promising to resolve the problems that he never resolves.
For
the duration of Netanyahu’s long tenure – he has served as Israel’s
prime minister far longer than FDR served as US president – he has
dedicated his life to preventing an Iranian nuclear bomb, now closer
than ever. Rockets and missiles have been falling on our heads
incessantly throughout his term, the only change being their points of
origin. Repeated mini-wars have degraded the enemy’s capabilities but
never really change anything because he allows them to rebuild and
become more violent and dangerous. He is no closer to judicial reform
than he was fifteen years ago. And he still looks to others to fight our
battles – especially to the US, as if Trump will invade Iran and
destroy their reactors on our behalf. But we can rely only on our Father
in Heaven and ourselves.
When
the report emerged that Trump is “frustrated” with Netanyahu, I assumed
it was because of Netanyahu’s hesitations in Gaza and his reluctance to
do what is necessary to prevail. Even Netanyahu’s various choices for
senior positions – including head of the Shin Bet and the new Chief of
Staff – tend to impede his policies rather than strive to implement
them, and for that he too is to blame. So if Trump’s frustration with
Netanyahu stems from the latter’s inability to “finish the job,” it is a
frustration shared by many Israelis.
Yet,
it seems that Trump’s grievance with Netanyahu is not because of the
latter’s weakness and vacillation but because of his strength, and his
insistence in this case on safeguarding Israel’s vital interests. That
is, Trump is reportedly “frustrated” because his goal of expanding the
Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia is foundering because of
Netanyahu’s rejection of Saudi demands that Israel end the war in Gaza
short of victory and Israel publicly commit to the establishment of a
Palestinian Arab state. Both are rightly non-starters, and to his credit
– again, if the reports are accurate – Netanyahu has appropriately
dismissed them. Good for him, and for us.
In
the alternative, Trump has allegedly asserted, he will make a deal with
Saudi Arabia that includes strategic attainments for both countries,
but no recognition of Israel by the Saudis, to which I say, great. It is
far better to have shared strategic objectives and an unofficial
alliance with the Saudis than enter into an official agreement that
endangers our future. We have survived for 3700 years without peace with
the Saudis and can survive until Messiah comes without it as well.
Trump
may well feel that Israel should sign any agreement, end the war, get
the hostages out, withdraw from Gaza, make peace with the Saudis – and
then just renege on the agreement and do what is necessary, citing “a
change in circumstances.” The Saudis may want Israel’s commitment to a
Palestinian Arab state to mollify the Arab street, but I am more
concerned with the Jewish street, and the implications of agreeing to
allow a Nazi-like foe to survive as well as renouncing a signed
agreement, which will subject Israel to even more international
opprobrium but now with a tinge of legitimacy.
Moreover,
before these Abraham Accords are expanded, we would do well to remind
ourselves of the original Abraham Accords, the covenant our forefather
enacted with the Creator that promised and entrusted the descendants of
Abraham with the land of Israel. That is a religious right – and a
divine gift – that should not be repudiated even if Saudi Arabia agrees
to open a Chabad House in Mecca. The ancient Abraham Accords are far
more important, meaningful, and enduring than the current one may prove
to be.
Rapprochement
with the Saudis should be between two nations that respect each other’s
rights, interests, values, and heritage. It should not come at the
expense of the land of Israel, and certainly not by empowering an enemy
still sworn to our destruction. Having good relations with the USA is an
Israeli strategic interest that should not be dismissed lightly, but we
should have the fortitude to say to President Trump that certain
concessions are not worth our participation in any deal, and if the US
and the Saudis have their own agreement, that is fine by us.
We
should not say “no,” but we should say “no, thank you.” Mr. President,
make your deal, reap the Saudi investment in America, address Saudi
concerns about Iran, and feel like a winner. And if Trump still feels
“frustrated” with Netanyahu, so be it. In that, he will echo the
feelings of most Israelis and even many of Netanyahu’s supporters. At
least in this case, though, PM Netanyahu’s caution here is well founded.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky teaches Torah in Modiin, and serves as the Senior Research Associate at the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy (JCAP.ngo).
R. Aharon Lichtenstein, in uniform, delivering a shiur to Hesderniks in Lebanon, Summer 1982
In the ten years since the passing of my father, my teacher and master, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l,
we have faced difficult and challenging times, foremost among them the
massacre on Simchat Torah 2023 and the ensuing war. My father, now gone
for a decade and receding into the mist of the past, has not experienced
these ordeals together with us. Yet, although his voice has been
silenced, the influence of his consistent Torah-based ethical values has
not ceased.
I wish to present here a small selection of his vast worldview
related to an urgent issue in Israel’s public discourse—his clear
position obligating all yeshiva students to enlist in the Israel Defense
Forces and share the burden of combat. I will first present his
position on the damage done to Torah by those who remain exclusively in
the beit midrash at such an hour, and then propose a course of action,
based on his teachings, for expanding the circle of yeshiva students
enlisting. All this is offered with the hope that his words, spoken from
a pure heart, will enter the hearts of my readers.
In 1981, in the pages of TRADITION (19:3), my father published his essay “The Ideology of Hesder” (published the following year in Hebrew in Yeshivat Har Etzion’s journal, Alon Shevut
#100). True to form, he addressed the topic from multiple angles. He
presented military service as an urgent necessity, as a clear and
present mitzvah; laid out the justification for shortened military
service for yeshiva students; extolled the contribution of Hesder’s
combination of study and service to the nation and the IDF; pointed out
the difficulties inherent in the Hesder track; and offered solutions.
His primary halakhic argument presented Hesder as a clear fulfillment
of “Torah combined with acts of lovingkindness.” As one who
consistently followed the ways of Beit Hillel, giving precedence to his
opponents’ arguments before his own, he fairly and thoroughly presented
the views of those who exempt yeshiva students from military service. He
engaged with their arguments and sources, but ultimately concluded that
they do not provide a sufficient basis for a sweeping and definitive
exemption for Torah scholars.
The essay was published over forty years ago, closer in time to the
founding of the Hesder movement in 1953 than it is to our own day. It
expresses an original position that at that time was not accepted even
among other heads of Hesder yeshivot. Anyone reading the essay feels its
polemical tone—one that, as often happens, engages most ardently with
those closest to one’s own position. My father chiefly confronted the
track known as “Hesder Merkaz” (centered on Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav). He
argued that the key difference between the varieties of Hesder
experience was whether they viewed military service merely as a
necessary preparation for war, should it arise (as all in Israel reasonably suspected it would;
indeed, the First Lebanon War broke out less than a year after the essay
was published), or whether they also saw bearing the burden of ongoing
national security as an inherent obligation for Torah scholars.
Here, I will highlight a paradox in the positions of both sides.
Merkaz HaRav, which champions Rav Kook’s Torah—a Zionism of action that
sees the State of Israel as the realization of prophetic
vision—nevertheless supports shorter military service for yeshiva
students in favor of increased time on the benches of the beit midrash.
Meanwhile, my father, whose Zionism drew from entirely different
sources, called for longer military service for students of Torah. This
paradoxical reversal is rooted in a deep difference in worldview
regarding the sacred, the secular, and the nature of the State of
Israel. With the “image of father appearing before us in the window”
(cf. Sota 36b), I will attempt to offer an explanation and
reexamination of the issue through the lens of our present experience of
a year and a half of continuous warfare.
Hesder as an Ideal
When my father arrived in Israel in the summer of 1971 there were few Hesder yeshivot. Many of the roshei yeshiva and ramim
of that time had grown up in the Haredi system. How did they view their
Hesder students? I heard from Rabbi Haim Sabato that his teacher at
Yeshivat HaKotel, Rabbi Yeshayahu Hadari zt”l, described
Hesder’s goal as “to bring Torah to the boys of Bnei Akiva.” The
assumption behind that statement was that Hesder represents a compromise
or concession—a yeshiva for Religious Zionists (who probably couldn’t
handle a “real” yeshiva), where they could learn a bit of Torah
alongside serving in the army.
Such a yeshiva was seen as a realization of the Mizrachi movement’s
vision, emphasizing “Torah and…” In other words, much of the Hesder
leadership viewed its very own institutions as a bedi’avad
(less than ideal) option, meant for those who had already chosen the
path of Religious Zionism and its compromises. For a boy whose soul
thirsted for Torah and who aspired to grow in learning their
recommendation was to study full-time in a “proper” yeshiva, nicknamed
the “Holy Yeshivot,” and take the exemption from army service.
My father represented a completely different orientation: Hesder as an ideal (lekhathila).
Rabbi Re’em HaCohen told me that as he was finishing Netiv Meir high
school and was deliberating about his next step, he consulted with my
father. He asked him about the choice between a “Holy” and a Hesder
yeshiva. Father surprised him with his answer: He said that someone
unable to handle the dual challenge of serious Torah study along with
the military should opt for a yeshiva without army service. But one who
is strong and capable of both deep Torah study and army service should
choose Hesder—which he saw as the more challenging but preferred path.
Indeed, anyone who learned at Yeshivat Har Etzion knows that my
father viewed the yeshiva as a kind of Volozhin-like ideal in terms of
his expectations of us, his students. Those expectations were high—in
terms of diligence, academic level, and aspirations. He envisioned a
yeshiva where the sound of Torah would not cease for even a moment.
True, there were extended periods when students would leave the beit
midrash, but this did not diminish the vision that here, the banner of
Torah would be borne high—equal to or surpassing other yeshivot.
This worldview is expressed in the main argument presented in “The Ideology of Hesder,” regarding Torah combined with hesed (acts of kindness). My teacher and master, Rabbi Yehuda Amital zt”l,
shared this worldview, and that is why he drafted my father to stand
alongside him at the head of Yeshivat Har Etzion, so that the
institution would be led by a Torah role model of the highest caliber.
Despite their differences, they found common ground in many areas, among
them a shared vision regarding the mission of the Hesder yeshivot. The
difference between them, in form not in essence, is demonstrated in R.
Amital’s well-known expression of his worldview through a short Hasidic
story, while my father encapsulated his philosophy through a complex,
twenty-page scholarly essay. Nonetheless, the ideas are one and the
same.
R. Amital would often relate the tale of Rav Shneur Zalman of
Liadi, the Ba’al HaTanya, who lived for a time in a modest dwelling with
his son and infant grandson. The house had three rooms: The Ba’al
HaTanya sat and learned in the innermost room; in the middle room sat
his son, later known as the Mitteler Rebbe, also learning; and in the
outer room, the infant lay in his cradle. During his study, the Ba’al
HaTanya heard the infant crying, and, as he passed through the middle
room, noticed that his son was so engrossed that he did not hear the
baby. After comforting the child, he rebuked his son: “If one learns
Torah and does not hear the cry of a child, there is a flaw in his
learning.”
R. Amital’s message about personal responsibility is clear. My
father’s article expresses a similar worldview: One who studies Torah
without national responsibility, one who learns without combining study
with acts of kindness, one who walls himself inside the four cubits of
the beit midrash and does not hear the needs of the Jewish People—his
Torah is deficient. A moral obligation lies on every person, and
certainly every Torah scholar, to shoulder responsibility for society.
Since in the State of Israel the existential and security threat stands
at the forefront of our national challenges, yeshiva students must take
part in addressing it.....
The belated (April 3, 2025) publication of the Hareni
Club Protocols (“Exhibit B”) has
allowed us to clarify and, perhaps for the first time, accurately contextualize
elements of the Hareni Club agreement.
The recent agreement contractually commits to, sanctions and
institutionalizes not only the L.G.B.T.Q. nomenclature but its agenda as well.
In April 2021, the Y.U. Pride Alliance filed suit against
Y.U., alleging discrimination and demanding that Yeshiva recognize a Gay Pride
Club.
Y.U., in its filing with the courts in 2021 and 2022, correctly
exposed the Plaintiffs’ heretical goals “to change Yeshiva’s Torah-based
understanding of L.G.B.T.Q. issues.” Y.U. even incorporated the Plaintiff’s
actual self-revelatory words, as evidenced in this next sentence. “And
(the) Plaintiff’s desired goal – forcing Yeshiva to make
“cultural changes” to its religious environment and “make a
statement.”” (See pages App.246, App.251 here.)
The Plaintiffs’ strategy and methods were also exposed.
As summarized by Justice Alito, “To facilitate these goals, the Alliance
planned to host events that framed Jewish practices and religious events
through an LGBTQ lens.” (See Yeshiva
University, et al, v. YU Pride Alliance, et al.)
All this notwithstanding, Y.U., לדאבון
לבנו ולעגמת
נפשנו,
on March 20, 2025, incredibly announced that it had agreed to a club wherein
students openly identify as (and thereby openly identify with the philosophy of)
L.G.B.T.Q. In its contractual commitment to this L.G.B.T.Q. club, which
was revealed when “Exhibit B” was later unsealed, Y.U. pre-approved
events such as “Mishloach Manot project”, “pre-holiday events
such as pre-Rosh Hashana/ pre-Pesach (dinner and discussion)” etc. –
i.e., events which implement the very strategy and methods of the Pride
Alliance.
Y.U. also pre-approved “a professional networking/career
development event” which further signified the ignoble agenda of the students’
Hareni Club. Such an event fosters active L.G.B.T.Q.
identification in the workplace, while clearly betraying Y.U.’s
ostensible, exclusive goal of a club which fosters and strengthens genuine
commitment to Torah.
The Pride Alliance embarked upon a heretical campaign “to
change Yeshiva’s Torah-based understanding of L.G.B.T.Q. issues”
and to make “cultural changes.” They formulated a strategic plan
for this campaign, i.e., to “frame Jewish practices and religious events
through an L.G.B.T.Q. lens.” Y.U., in the Hareni Club
agreement, mind bogglingly approved that insidious plan.
Effectively, Y.U. approved not only a social, professional gay
club but one for כפירה.
אוי
לעינים שכך
רואות, אוי
לאזנים שכך
שומעות.
The mythical, illusory notion that the goals or methods of
the club have changed since 2021-2022 is belied by the fact that the current students
also insist upon identifying as L.G.B.T.Q. and by the representative, self-revelatory,
celebratory, triumphant reactions of the co-presidents of the Hareni
Club. (e.g., “I think this will really show that there is no
separation between being queer and being a Jew . . .”, Hayley Goldberg
(New York Times, March 20, 2025); “This agreement was a huge step in
terms of normalizing being queer at YU”, Schneur Friedman (InsideHigherEd.com,
March 26, 2025).)
This communication is intended to provide clarity and
direction, not engage in condemnation. But without recognizing that this
agreement is a staggering, sacrilegious, self-destructive travesty, it is nigh impossible
to recognize Yeshiva’s exigent obligations at this moment.
Moving forward with clarity and correct(ed) context, it is abundantly
clear that such a club categorically cannot (continue to) exist. The
agreement constitutes a חלול
השם, זיוף
התורהand חורבן
הישיבה, and, as such, cannot be countenanced at all for any period.
YU Creates New LGBTQ Club ‘Grounded in Halacha and Torah Values’
Yeshiva University announced the establishment of the Kol Yisrael Areivim Club Monday, an undergraduate student club for LGBTQ students “striving to live authentic Torah lives.”
The club was approved by the administration and senior roshei yeshiva,
with input from LGBTQ students, and was formed due to student interest
in a club in line with traditional Orthodox values. Like other
undergraduate clubs, club members will be granted access to the
university’s resources and will be allowed to host events, provided they
remain “within the framework of Halacha.”
“We recognize that our undergraduate students, including our LGBTQ
students, who choose to attend Yeshiva come with different expectations
and navigate different challenges than those who choose a secular
college,” stated an email sent to undergraduate students. “And as such,
we have been working to formulate a Torah framework to provide our LGBTQ
students with an enhanced support system that continues to facilitate
their religious growth and personal life journeys.
“Today, we are announcing a new initiative to support our LGBTQ
undergraduates, which includes a new student club that presents an
approved traditional Orthodox alternative to YU Pride Alliance and a
commitment to strengthen our on-campus support services.”
The email was signed by YU President Ari Berman, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi
Hershel Schachter, Chairman of the board of YU Ira Mitzner and Chairman
of the board of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) Lance
Hirt.
Measles vaccination is believed to have saved more than 93 million lives worldwide between 1974 and 2024 and reduced overall childhood mortality.
World may be ‘post-herd immunity’ to measles, top US scientist says
As infections pummel communities in the US, Mexico and Canada, fear of ‘the most contagious human disease’ grows
A leading immunologist warned of a “post-herd-immunity world”, as measles outbreaks affect communities with low vaccination rates in the American south-west, Mexico and Canada.
The US is enduring the largest measles outbreak in a quarter-century. Centered in west Texas, the measles outbreak has killedtwo unvaccinated children and one adult and spread to neighboring states including New Mexico and Oklahoma.
“We’re
living in a post-herd-immunity world. I think the measles outbreak
proves that,” said Dr Paul Offit, an expert on infectious disease and
immunology and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia.
“Measles – because
it is the most contagious of the vaccine-preventable diseases, the most
contagious human disease really – it is the first to come back.”
The
US eliminated measles in 2000. Elimination status would be lost if the
US had 12 months of sustained transmission of the virus. As of 1 May,
the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 935 confirmed measles cases across30 jurisdictions.Nearly one in three children under five years old involved in the outbreak, or 285 young children, have been hospitalized.
Three
large outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and the US now account for the
overwhelming majority of roughly 2,300 measles cases across the World
Health Organization’s six-country Americas region, according to the
health authority’s update this week. Risk of measles is considered high in the Americas, and has grown 11-fold compared with 2024.
Only slightly behind, data released earlier this week
from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and
WHO also noted that measles cases across Europe were up tenfold in 2024
compared to 2023. That data also indicated that the 2024 measles cases
in Europe followed a seasonal pattern, which was not previously noted in
2021 through 2023.
Of the European cases,
which reportedly hit 35,212 for 2024, 87% were reported in Romania. The
ECDC said the dip in vaccine rates has impacted the recent spike in
measles, with only three countries, Hungary, Malta and Portugal, having
coverage of 95% or more for both doses of the measles vaccine.
“This
virus was imported, traveling country to country,” said Leticia Ruíz,
the director of prevention and disease control in Chihuahua, Mexico,
according to the Associated Press.
Many
cases are in areas with large populations of tight-knit Mennonite
communities. The religious group has a history of migration through the
American south-west, Mexico and Canada.
Mennonite teaching does not explicitly prohibit immunization, according to an expert
in the religion. However, as some in the Mennonite community in Texas
resist assimilation and speak a dialect of Low German, community members
may have limited contact with public health authorities, leading to
lower vaccination rates.
Immunologists fear
the rate of infection of such diseases – and the unnecessary suffering
they bring – will increase as the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy
Jr, spreads misleading claims about vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases, undermines public confidence in vaccines’ benefits, threatens to make some vaccines less accessible, guts publichealth infrastructure and pushes leading vaccine experts out of the department.
“Here, Robert F Kennedy Jr
is exactly who he has been for the last 20 years. He’s an anti-vaccine
activist, he is a science denialist and a conspiracy theorist,” said
Offit.
“He has a fixed belief that vaccines are doing more harm than good – as he’s said over and over again.”
Although
Kennedy has tepidly endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR)
vaccine to prevent measles, he has also made false and inflammatory
claims about the vaccine. Just this week, Kennedy told a crowd that it
contains “aborted fetus debris”. The rubella vaccine, like many others, is produced using decades-old sterile fetal cell lines derived from two elective terminations in the 1960s.
Kennedy’s
health department also stated this week that it would implement new
safety surveillance systems and approval requirements for vaccines, but
did not provide any specifics about the design.
Experts said
running certain trials, such as for a decades-old vaccine like MMR,
would be unethical because it could expose people to a dangerous disease
when an intervention is known to be safe.
Kennedy
recently visited the most affected community in Texas, centered in
Gaines county, in his capacity as health secretary. There, he made misleading claims
about measles treatment, including that the antibiotic clarithromycin
and steroid budesonide had led to “miraculous and instantaneous
recovery”.
The overwhelming scientific
consensus is that the best way to treat measles is through prevention
with the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective. Still, Kennedy has said he
will ask the CDC to study vitamins and drugs to treat the viral disease.
Measles
is a virus. There is no cure for the viral disease and it is not
considered “treatable” by leading physicians’ groups, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
“There
is no cure for measles, and it can result in serious complications.
It’s misleading and dangerous to promote the idea that measles is easily
treated using unproven and ineffective therapies like budesonide and
clarithromycin,” the AAP has said of Kennedy’s claims.
Measles
kills about one in 1,000 children who become infected with the disease,
and has similar rates of brain swelling, called encephalitis, that can
result in lifelong disability. Measles infection suppresses the immune system, which can lead to other infections.
Measles vaccination is believed to have saved more than 93 million lives worldwide between 1974 and 2024 and reduced overall childhood mortality.
ATTRACTION, LUST & IDENTITY: A TORAH AND SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
Introduction: Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz, Rabbinic Advisor, Jewish Family Forever, Featured Presenter: Dr. Koby Frances, Clinical and Education Consultant, Jewish Family Forever
Session One: Secular Culture’s “Sexual Ten Commandments”: How to teach and counsel new generations of religious people who have unwittingly adopted a secular version of morality
If you or anyone you know is struggling with questions around sexual attraction or sexual identity, you are not alone. Help is available. Please visit https://www.jewishfamilyforever.org/ or https://www.kobyfrances.com/.
This presentation and the professionals involved in it have no association whatsoever with gay affirming therapy or with conversion and reparative therapy
The Ugly Conversion Racket - Under Control By The RCC, RCA - Headed By Guys Like Hershel Schachter & His Ilk.
Sexual Harassment in the Jewish Conversion Process: What You Need to Know
This wasn’t easy to make.
I’ve been part of the Jewish community for years now, but there are
some things I still carry quietly. One of them is how vulnerable
conversion candidates can be – and how rarely we talk about it.
Sexual harassment and abuse do happen during the Jewish
conversion process. Sometimes it’s a rabbi. Sometimes it’s a community
member. Always, there’s a devastating power imbalance and an unspoken
pressure not to make waves.
In this video, I speak plainly about what I’ve seen, what I’ve
experienced, and what I wish every conversion candidate knew from the
beginning. I cover red flags, power dynamics, practical ways to protect
yourself, and why your gut matters.
This video is not meant to scare you. It’s here to protect you.
If you’re going through the conversion process, or walking alongside
someone who is, I hope this helps you feel more prepared, more aware,
and less alone.
If you or someone else need support, contact the following organizations: (not affiliated) The Hotline – the National Domestic Violence Hotline (US) Shalom Task Force – Support for abuse survivors in Jewish communities
If
you’re currently in the conversion process, consider bookmarking this
or sharing it with someone you trust. You might not need it now – but
one day, it could help you recognize something you otherwise would’ve
explained away.
You’re not imagining things. You’re not too sensitive. And you’re not alone.
Transcript below.
Transcript:
Sexual harassment and assault do happen during the Jewish conversion process. Learn how best to spot it and protect yourself.
It is remarkable how difficult this is for me to talk about. I still have so much PTSD around this topic.
The conversion process is full of humans. And let’s face it, humans do terrible things sometimes.
Sexual harassment or assault can be done to anyone, by anyone, regardless of the genders involved.
In most cases, it’s women being harmed by men, especially in the
Orthodox Jewish situations. But don’t let that stop you from believing
someone else’s story because it doesn’t fit that narrative. The
narrative does not describe every case that exists, and you would be
shocked to find out some of the things that have happened in this world.
Why are conversion candidates so vulnerable to sexual harassment and
abuse? One, because we’re not Jewish, we are often new to the
community, and we have few or no allies in the community.
And we probably don’t have any allies in the broader Jewish world outside the community.
Jewish geography is power in our community. At its base, that’s what a
macher is, who you know and who you can get to do a favor for you.
The conversion process itself is so imbalanced in power. Rabbis are literal gatekeepers. If they say no, you’re done.
You make one rabbi mad, and he can literally shut off every
possibility you have of converting. And even if he’s not the one in
charge of it, he can shut it off with one phone call or one email to the
right person. And he knows the right person. You don’t.
They hold your future in their hands, quite literally. If you are in
the conversion process, you already know this. But for those of you who
are not in the conversion process, this is to tell you that yes, they
control where you live, where you’re working, when you can move, when
you date. They control your life basically for several years.
Everything you’ve worked for, sometimes for years, can be destroyed with one phone call or email.
Especially in the Orthodox world where conversion has become so
centralized. The system currently under the RCA is a monopoly system
where one beit din is controlling a large geographic area. If you make
someone mad in that office, you cannot convert for several states. You
may have to move across the country in order to be able to try to
restart the conversion process.
Ask me how I know.
Thankfully I had the opportunity to prove my innocence. Not many
people are that lucky. Quite frankly, I’m the only person I know of that
has been that lucky.
Thanks to the internet and blogging, I had a small army of rabbis and
Jewish lay people who I had been building relationships with, and they
went to bat for me. They had no reason to have to go to bat for me, but
they did, and I am here and Jewish because of that.
People who want to abuse other people can see these weaknesses in the system. They exploit these weaknesses.
And do you know how many consequences I have seen for them? I’ve seen
one, folks, one, and that was because the police got involved. Anything
that stays below “call the cops” you’re probably gonna get away with it
because who are you? You’re not even Jewish. Why should they believe
you?
Let’s talk about those things you might overlook or assume that you must have misunderstood.
If you’re normal, you’ve probably put your rabbis and other mentors up on a pedestal. You want to believe they can do no wrong,
and so you’re gonna talk yourself out of it if you think that you
find something suspicious. No, they didn’t really mean it that way. No,
that was an accident.
Worse. It’s not always a rabbi or a mentor. It can be someone just in the community.
And if that community member has more power than you do, if they are a
major donor or a machar, someone who’s very influential. Who’s your
rabbi going to believe? It’s probably not gonna be you.
Emotional abuse, financial abuse. It’s all abuse and it all comes from the same desire to control.
So how can you recognize sexual harassment and better yet, how can you protect yourself?
The first rule of “is this sexual harassment” is to trust your gut.
If someone is creeping you out or making you feel uncomfortable,
there’s probably a very good reason why. Your body will tell you.
I’m gonna start with how you protect yourself because quite frankly,
you might not be able to. It is very common for people to get away with
this stuff.
There may very well be nothing you can do if you still wanna convert.
This is the reality that conversion candidates deal with.
This is the reality I myself dealt with.
Really the best thing you can do is document everything, write it down, pull up Google Drive, make yourself a spreadsheet,
add some columns for date, time, location, who was present, and what happened.
You may never need that list, but if you ever do, it’s worth its weight in gold.
And start tracking before you think you need it. Don’t wait for it to
pass some arbitrary point of no return before you start writing down
the weird stuff. Abusers start low and ratchet it up. Track as soon as
you are feeling weird stuff consistently.
So what does sexual harassment actually look like? Basic safety rules
apply. If your boss did this, would you be weirded out? Would he be the
creepy boss? Because that’s what rabbis and mentors are to you. They’re
your bosses and they have the power to fire you, meaning kick you out
of the conversion process if they don’t like what you do.
“Would this be okay in an office?” That is your measuring stick. If not, it’s not okay in a conversion.
Keep your ears open for the whisper network. People who do not have
the power to bring consequences on people who hurt them whisper. They
will tell when they are safe to do so. They will try to prevent other
people from getting hurt. If you hear rumors, don’t believe them
automatically, but do file it away.
Keep that in case you need to know that later. If your experiences
corroborate that rumor, then you know someone you need to avoid as much
as humanly possible, which may not be very possible for you, but you can
do your best.
Most obvious kind of sexual harassment is what’s called quid pro quo.
“This for that.” It means being asked to trade sexual favors for
something you want. In the conversion context, that may be agreeing to
convert you. It may mean agreeing to serve as your mentor.
Or make a recommendation or a referral or to hook you up with the people you need.
You would be shocked how many times this comes up, but a rabbi should not ask you out on a date.
Where it gets tricky is if they are asking you to do things that are
date-like and you feel that you are not allowed to say no. So if they’re
inviting you alone to a dim romantic restaurant for meetings, that’s a
red flag. That’s bad. They should not do that.
If for whatever reason this rabbi who is converting you wants to date
you, they can do the right thing and they can wait until your
conversion is done and you two can interact as peers, as equals.
Also, you would be surprised how often this comes up. A rabbi should
never ask you to come to his home alone with no one else there. A lot of
rabbis have asked people to go to their home and do filing paperwork
and other menial tasks, but sometimes cleaning their house and that’s
not okay.
They are asking you to do manual labor in the hopes that you get
brownie points towards a faster, smoother conversion. That in itself is
abusive, but that is not the type of abuse we are discussing today. But
doing it alone in their house, that starts to send off red flags and
beebo warning sounds.
Some rabbis have started that way and it’s progressed. Do be very
careful if you are being asked to do private personal work for a rabbi.
Red flags.
He may touch you in ways that feel just too friendly and kind of
creepy. Especially in the Orthodox context, no rabbi should be touching a
woman at all. We have shomer negiah, rules between the genders of not
touching each other. If an Orthodox rabbi is hugging you or putting
their hand on the small of your back and you’re a female, that is just a
bucket of red flags.
I can’t even tell you how many red flags that is.
That is abnormal.
Sometimes this touching is played off as accidental, like maybe they
accidentally brush into your breast. Like once is a thing, but like when
it’s a pattern, you should be writing it down.
It can also manifest as a near constant intrusion of your personal
space. If you cannot get breathing room around your rabbi, that is a
control tactic. They are taking up your space.
You should not be getting unwanted texts, phone calls, social media messages, visits from a rabbi.
Same with unwanted gifts. If these things happen in an office and
you thought about calling HR about it, then it’s wrong here too.
The relationship between a conversion candidate and a rabbi should be
professional and polite. They’re not your friends. Never mistake them
for your friends because as we said, they’re the gatekeepers. Their job
is to keep you out if you’re not appropriate.
I hate that we have to say this, but rabbis should not be making
inappropriate comments in front of you. Definitely not about you.
This is actually the one you’re most likely to see. They should not
be making lots of comments about your appearance or the appearance of
other people, especially if it’s a man making comments about the bodies
of women.
And it doesn’t have to all be positive attention. It can be insults,
derogatory comments, negative comments, rude comments, jokes, those can
all still be sexual harassment.
So here’s where it gets hairy: pervasive or inappropriate personal questions.
You can argue that there is some need for personal questions during
the conversion process, but how much is pervasive? How personal does it
have to be to fall into the category of inappropriate?
The lines are very hard to draw here, and it is the exact place where you are going to reason it away.
Even when it is blatantly inappropriate, you will still try to rationalize it away.
In the moment I completely explained away this kind of behavior. It
didn’t hit me until later, and a friend was telling me, “dude, this is
really not okay,” and I had to hear that from someone else in order to
be able to listen to my gut.
There was a reason I left all these meetings with this person crying.
After all, we did everything the “right way.” We were across a table
from each other. There was no touching. The door was open. There was a
male secretary right outside the door that we could see, and if he
looked over, he could see us.But that rabbi sat there and asked me very
detailed questions about my sexual history. I cannot think anywhere
that would be considered appropriate. Your sexual history should be
irrelevant to the conversion process.
In this case, I sat there and I blamed myself.
And guess what? He’s still overseeing conversions. I’ve tried for
years to get people in power to care, and let me tell you, they are not
interested in doing things that are uncomfortable or that would rock the
boat or upset power alliances.
So here’s the summary. Trust your gut. If something feels wrong, it
probably is wrong. Don’t twist yourself into pretzels trying to make it
all right.
Listen to the whisper networks. You might hear things that are useful
to you. And understand that you may not be able to do anything about it
if someone is sexually harassing you. Allegedly, there are processes in
place to report people who are sexually harassing or otherwise abusing
people.
But don’t be surprised if those reporting mechanisms don’t work.
But remember the most important thing of all. Write it down. Keep
track even if you are questioning yourself. Like, do whatever you need
to to keep track of these things before you need it, because after you
need it is too late.
And keep those records, don’t delete them just because you’ve
finished the conversion process. Don’t delete old emails. Don’t delete
the Google Doc. You never know when you might need it again, because
maybe one day we’ll reach the point of the straw that breaks the camel’s
back and your evidence will be necessary.
People who abuse others aren’t just doing it to you. They don’t stop at one. It’s a pattern. Pikuach nefesh, y’all.
An Orthodox parent whose child tells him he’s been sexually abused
may not take that child’s claim to the police without first getting
religious sanction from a specially trained rabbi, the head of America’s
leading ultra-Orthodox umbrella group has told the Forward.
FOX
35 Investigates after a local school employee was arrested for sexual
abuse of a child, and the alleged victim reached out to us about the
arrest. A man who works at the Orlando Torah Academy was arrested on
Monday in Chicago and charged with criminal sexual abuse of a person
under the age of 17. Today, the school told staff the employee has been
removed from his post for now.
The Brief
An
Orlando school employee was arrested earlier this week after turning
himself in to police following allegations of sexual abuse of a child.
FOX
35 began to investigate the incident after the alleged victim reached
out, saying he had initially reported the incident to police back in
2021.
Avraham
Levin is being charged with criminal sexual abuse of a person under 17,
which is a misdemeanor, since Levin was also a minor at the time. He is
scheduled to be in court next month for the case.
ORLANDO, Fla. - FOX
35 is investigating an Orlando school employee who was arrested for the
alleged sexual abuse of a child. The victim reached out to FOX 35 about
the case, saying he’d actually initially reported it to police back in
2021.
Avraham Levin, who goes by Avi, turned himself into police this week following the allegations.
Levin is now scheduled to be in court next month for the case.
What led to the investigation?
What we know:
Levin's arrest actually stems from a case in Chicago.
Chicago
police say this all happened between October 2010 and April 2011, when
Levin was 15 and then 16 years old. Michael Weldler, the alleged victim
in the case, was 11, turning 12, at the time.
Chicago
police confirmed with FOX 35 that they started investigating the case
back in 2021, when Weldler first reported the incident. The group
representing Weldler says Levin was arrested in 2022, but was let go
over a confusion over the statute of limitations. FOX 35 is still
working to independently confirm this with police.
Police say Levin moved to Orlando and was hired as a staff member at the Orlando Torah Academy last August.
Officials
also confirmed the arrest this week is in connection with the case
Weldler brought forward almost three and a half years ago.
What they're saying:
About
four months before Levin started working in Orlando, Weldler said he
went to Beth Din, part of the Chicago rabbinical council that hears
abuse cases. This council can take actions within the Jewish community,
such as warning others about previous allegations and barring people
from certain religious ceremonies.
Weldler said he was uncomfortable about coming forward, but he knew he had a responsibility to help protect other children.
"I
realized I had a responsibility to (the) kids," Weldler told FOX 35. "I
can't change what happened to me, but I could prevent it from happening
again. … I'm not one to put my face out there. I don't like it out
there at all. I don't like talking, but this is so important to me that
I'm willing to go against everything that I personally feel makes me
comfortable in order to stop this, because that's what I need to do."
Avraham
Levin is being charged with criminal sexual abuse of a person under 17,
which is a misdemeanor, since Levin was also a minor at the time. He is
scheduled to be in court next month for the case.
The
Orlando Torah Academy declined to comment on the case when FOX 35
Reporter Marie Edinger went by on Thursday, and they did not answer any
emails on Thursday or Friday.
However, in a
message sent to staff on Friday, they said they’ve "removed [Levin] from
his post until further notice" following his arrest. The center also
sent out an email to its attendees on Friday evening, adding that Levin
is also no longer welcome in the synagogue.
FOX
35 also reached out to the Chicago Rabbinical Council on Thursday and
Friday to ask if they were investigating the claims, but did not hear
back yet.
In an email to Weldler, a detective on the case said that he wasn’t getting much help from them either.
What's next:
Records show Levin has bonded out of jail in Chicago.
Levin
is scheduled to be in court next month in Chicago for the case. He is
being charged with criminal sexual abuse of a person under 17, which is a
misdemeanor, since Levin was also a minor at the time.
FOX 35 attempted to call and text Levin Friday, but he didn’t answer.
