In a tremendous display of support, sympathy and unity nearly 1000 people gathered Monday evening at Moshe Ganz Hall in Los Angeles to Daaven on behalf of Reb Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin. The main ballroom was full with standing room only, with many attendees choosing to sit in the overflow room.
The tone of the evening was set by the MC, Los Angeles businessman and noted philanthropist Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz. He began by expressing his amazement at the remarkable diversity of the crowd and how inspiring this unity was. He then proceeded to outline the many injustices of the case and how disproportionate the proposed sentence is.
The entire crowd stood as Rabbi Berish Goldenberg, Principal at Yeshiva Rav Isaacson, led the crowd in reciting Tehillim verse by verse.
Rabbi Yaakov Krause, Mara D’asra of Young Israel of Hancock Park, spoke about the legendary kindness of Reb Sholom Mordechai and the entire Rubashkin family. He reminisced about meeting with the Rubashkin family in the Catskill Mountains and recalled how impressed he was with their support of a camp for special needs children and the extraordinary Mesirus Nefesh the family’s patriarch Rabbi Uziel Chazanow had as a Schochet in Russia.
Meir Simcha Rubashkin, son of Reb Sholom Mordechai, followed by describing the difficulty the Rubashkin children are having adjusting to life without their beloved father. He shared a letter that his father wrote during the verdict expressing his steadfast, unwavering faith in Hashem.
The evening concluded with Rabbi Ezra Binyomin Schochet, Rosh Yeshivah at Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon Chabad. He discussed the importance of not only being inspired by Reb Sholom Mordechai, but using the inspiration to make actual improvements in our personal Avodas Hashem.
The event was well attended by a cross-section of the entire Greater Los Angeles community area with a strong representation of prominent local Rabbonim, Roshei Kollel and Yeshivos. The evening ended at approximately 11pm.
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14 Responses
rabbi krause is a very dear friend of rabbi balkany who is a brother-in-law of reb sholom m. rubashkin. they learned together in torah vodaas.
achdus… beautiful
Lets keep the achdus flowing.
See, the “other ones” aren’t that crazy after all. 🙂
Continue to site saverubashkin.com and pass it on to anyone you can.
Let the achdus here and all over the world continue and get even better!
What a terrible gzar din! With our tefilos, may the appeal be successful. I totally disagaree with the words of Rabbi Schochet that we should be inspired by Sholom Rubashkin. He .admitted he made mistakes. He felt that for the greater good of supplying kosher meat to our community, he could cut corners and commit fraud. Is this a man we should draw inspiration from? He caused a massive chillul Hashem. He received a sentence way out of preportion to what he deserved, and his family deserves our sympathy, but we cannot kasher his wrongdoings. Would Rabbi Shochet, a Lubavitcher say the same thing about a non-Lubavitcher? I think not.
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I continue to be mystified by the frum community’s interest in private criminals, be they the young men in Japan, Sholom Rubashkin, or l’havdil bein chaim l’chaim, Martin Grossman. I daven for all of them, but wonder how the frum community has turned an institutional blind eye to Gilad Shalit.
Was there ever a davening event for Gilad Shalit in LA that had 1000 people? Was there anything similar?
Sholom Rubashkin is a convicted felon, and I am upset by his large sentence, but what about the innocent soldiers who represent and defend us? Where are our priorities?
to number 5
Hi Mordy,
Rabbi Schochet didn’t say that we should be inspired by SMR’s actions. He said we should be inspired by the event, the Divrei Chizuk which we heard, the tremendous achdus, the amazing faith that SMR and his family have that Hashem knows best. Rather than just be inspired by the event, Rabbi Schochet stressed the importance of using the inspiration to bring about real change in your life. It would be silly to think that he was suggesting that we be inspired by wrongdoing.
To #5 with friends like you we don’t need enemies.
Another thing my mother taught me, something she used to say in Yiddish ” the wrongdoings you see by others can be found by you”. If we investigate you so to say, we’ll find similar wrongdoings on which you negatively comment.
No, i am not agreeing that SMR did anything wrong and believe he was chosen as a korbon.
#7 – What is you say is true. We should definitely be showing more support for Gilad Shalit, Jonathan Pollard, etc. However, that does not take away in the slightest from the beauty of all the rallies held for Rubashkin. Thousands and thousands of jews of every stripe and color have gathered together to protest this injustice done to a fellow jew who they have never met. This is most definitely one of the biggest shows of achdus, and therefore one of the biggest Kiddush Hashems in recent history. Now is not the time to criticize – now is the time to join Klal Yisroel and show support for a fellow jew.
sheichus gilad shalit??
i don’t understand why everyone keeps on harping on the frum community’s supposed indifference to gilad shalit! two entirely different things.
To # 8 (JSSD) The article does not say that Rabbi Schochet said we should be inspired by the event, as you claim. Read the article carefully. It says: “He (Rabbi Schochet) discussed the importance of not only being inspired by Reb Sholom Mordechai…” This obviously refers to being inspired by Reb Sholom himself. Chochomim, hizaru b’divreichem. A Rav must be extremely careful in his choice of words so that no one get the wrong impression. (Of course, no one thinks we should be inspired by wrongdoing, but some people think he is a tzaddik).
To #9 (Lia) Forget the secular court system. Reb Shlomo Rubashkin admitted he did wrongdoings, and his wife also admitted to as much. I am very sympathetic to him and his family for this miscarriage of justice, but to say he did absolutely nothing wrong, as you do, flies in the face of reality. How can you say that when Rubaskin himself said he did wrong? People make mistakes. At least Rubashkin was man enough to admit them.
When I said Rubashkin’s wife admitted to as much, I meant that she admitted her husband made mistakes.
To Mordy,
I was at the event and heard Rabbi Schochet speak……..your interpretation is clearly NOT what Rabbi Schochet said….you could read the article anyway you like….