Speaking on the �Eight-to-Ten� program on Kol Chai Radio hosted by Mordechai Lavi, news analysts Avi Bloom and Yehuda Dan exchanged opinions regarding the FBI investigation taking place surrounding reported extortion attempts and threats against Rabbi Yeshayahu Pinto Shlita.

Lavi:

Good morning Yehuda Avidan and Avi Bloom.

Bloom:

Good morning. I don�t have anything significant to add, and admittedly, Yehuda is far better acquainted with Rabbi Pinto than I, but would like to make one recommendation. We all remember Rabbi Pinto�s suggestion to separate religion from politics and perhaps I would say to him to also separate religion from tycoons.�Interestingly Rav Elyashiv is not being extorted, Rav Shteinman is not being extorted and Rav Ovadia is not being extorted, yet Rav Pinto is. I am not saying he is has a hand in this. We all know he is pure as snow but why him and not them — because he is hooked into big money, the tycoons. Perhaps the rabbi must separate tycoons from religion, not just religion from state. What is happening here is simply unnatural, the kind of connection being maintained.

Lavi:

So a rabbi cannot be connected with people with big money?

Bloom:

Rabbonim should not be involved in money matters, as is the case with Rav Elyashiv and Rav Shteinman.

Avidan:

So what are you saying? Rav Shteinman is not heading to the Diaspora to fundraise. He shouldn�t go? The rosh yeshiva who was niftar last week � and now they are heading abroad as well to raise funds. They shouldn�t turn to big money to save the yeshiva.

Bloom:

There is a big difference between fundraising trips as gedolei yisrael have done over the generations and a constant fostering of a relationship with tycoons, traveling with them and being seen in their shadow. It has reached a point that we are uncertain who is seen in whose shadow. There is a fundamental difference between running a monetary enterprise and all this entails and occasional fundraising mission abroad.

You know what, let�s visit this home and the others and my point is clear. I am not here to criticize, but I am simply making a point. There are those who are never connected to extortion, such as Rav Shteinman but in the case of Rav Pinto, this is not so. At the end of the day, we all must make our chesbon nefesh, and I am cautious with my words.

Avidan:

I will respond with extreme caution; this is the difference between the Sephardi warmth and the Ashkenazi cold approach. This is the way it is with Sephardi rabbonim. They exhibit the connection and warmth, but with the Ashkenazim, it is there but it is not evident outside. They too have a connection with the philanthropists, but it appears different.

Bloom:

Please, we all know the reality with these rabbonim is quite a different story.

Avidan:

I am sorry but it is difficult to express. This is the way it is, the reality.

Lavi:

Were you at the party made for Binyamin Ben-Eliezer after his recovery from a major illness? If you too were there, you would have seen a different reality. (Meaning the Ashkenazi rabbonim exhibited warmth to the veteran MK after his miraculous medical recovery).

Whatever the case, we are all opposed to the extortion and it is troublesome and Avi, don�t put your head in the sand since we all know this is a fact of life, it occurs.

Avidan:

On a personal level, I have traveled with Rav Pinto who is a most unique individual. Take [former Jerusalem Police Chief] Aryeh Amit for example, who is very close to the rav. While he does not appear frum on the outside, he has become Shomer Shabbos, Torah and mitzvos. This is what the Sephardi rabbonim are doing, their charisma. Face it; this does not exist among the Ashkenazim. The tycoons are also close and they too change from the relationship with the rav and this is part of the tshuva movement of this generation that was launched by Sephardim, not the Ashkenazim.

According to a Chadrei Chareidim report, due to the events surrounding the ongoing US federal investigation, Rav Pinto canceled a trip for Hungary. He was schedule to leave on Tuesday, 18 Cheshvan.

(YWN � Israel Desk, Jerusalem)