By: Rabbi Hirshy Minkowicz
Chabad of Alpharetta, Georgia
A moment of truth has descended on the Jewish community in which we stand to define to the world, to our children, and to our selves whether we are a people of real action or just empty words.
Whether we are able to put into practice the lofty things we learn and talk about or we simply know how to “talk the talk” but not very good at “walking the walk”
A prestigious Jewish family, known throughout the world for tremendous acts of kindness, care, and love for fellow Jews, in ways that are unparalleled, has fallen on hard times and now faces the loss of their entire company and enterprise to the banks that are foreclosing on them.
Will we – as a community – stand by idly and watch the destruction or will we stand up and do something about it.
As a relative of the Rubashkin family I have come to see first-hand their ways of Tzedakah and it is extraordinary and mind-boggling.
A Rubashkin home is one where giving up your bed to a stranger and underprivileged person is a way of life and almost a daily occurrence, not just an occasional act for a friend who visits for Shabbos.
The Rubashkin restaurant in Brooklyn is a place where more meals are given free to poor people than to paying customers. The family actually refers to the restaurant as “Mom’s Tzedakah Box”
The Rubashkin way of spending a financial windfall is by helping a complete stranger that is about to lose their home to foreclosure, by paying off the bank so the family can keep their home.
The Rubashkin idea of a care package for a struggling family that has just given birth includes not just food but clothing, strollers, cribs, and more.
A Rubashkin Yom Tov Chesed package includes food, and new outfits and shoes for the entire family.
And the Rubashkin idea of a summer vacation at the family property in the Catskills includes rounding up families of orphans and widows and inviting them to live with them in their homes for free for an entire summer including full room and board.
And all this is done discreetly and without PR, dinners, and Chinese auctions, and funded out of their own pocket.
An entire bookcase would be filled If all the stories of people that were helped by the Rubashkins were compiled into books.
The Jewish community is blessed with many very charitable people but few are willing to commit not just money but everything they have including their time, home, vacation, and more to help another.
And now this great family is about to lose it all unless some very good people are able to come forward and save their company so that the Rubashkins can continue saving other Jews.
To be sure this is not an easy task as millions of dollars are needed and time is very short. But the way the Jewish world responds to this moment of truth will help identify who we really are.
Sadly there are many in the frum world that have used this story to show the dark side of our community. There are frum people that run websites (some sadly even run by fellow Chasidim) that spew hatred and Loshon Hora about the Rubashkins, and there are Kosher and frum run companies dancing at the Rubashkin sorrows and praying for their demise. There are even some frum vultures lining up and egging on the banks to foreclose on the Rubashkins so they can steal the company from them.
The world is watching us now and we have an opportunity to make a unique and tremendous Kiddush Hashem.
If ever there was a need for true leadership in the frum community this is the time.
Will the true askanim and leaders rise to the occasion?
Menu
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
36 Responses
How can we help? I want to.
I cringe just thinking of how many people (Jewish) have run them off the cliff without thinking first.
Jewish Halacha: Dan l’kaf zechus
American Law: Innocent until proven guilty.
Additionally, this is all about immigration!! How many of you have hired illegal workers, and now are ready to through Rubashkin to the wolves???
Please let us know how we can help our fellow Jew.
I don’t think that anyone would dispute the fact that things are rarely black-and-white. Your best friend chats during davening; that is improper, but he is still your friend. A g’vir wanders into shul an hour late; but he is supporting various mosdos with unstoppable generosity. Good behavior in one forum does not provide license to misbehave in another.
A fellow in our town was convicted of white collar crimes. A terrible chilul HaShem. He also single-handedly supported numerous families. Does that excuse what he did? No. He is serving a prison sentence now.
We must ensure that whatever may occur is undertaken fairly. But we cannot turn a blind eye.
dan l’kaf zechus and innocent until proven guilty are all well and good.
Where was this family during this whole chillul hashem?
did none of them care that they were besmirching G-d’s name by their alleged actions?
and what if it is all true?
is it no less a chillul hashem that this had to happen in the public eye?
all of their good works not withstanding, what has happened here is horrible – not for them but for judaism, yiddishkeit and klal yisrael.
The lesson we want to teach our kids is that no matter how much tzeddakah someone gives, if they do something wrong we must hold them responsible. The money they gave as tzeddakah was money that belonged to others, workers that were not paid, the american government via avoided taxes, and the bank to which they have defaulted on a loan. The rubashkins are dishonest people no matter how much tzeddakah they give. Shame on you rabbi minkowicz.
Jewish Law takes a very dim view of Chilul Hashem irrespective of any good one nay have done in the past.
Sometimes the best way to save a situation is with a haschallah chadashah. When there are too many potential liabilities, fines, pending charges, etc. against an entity, our Medina shel Chesed provides ways to begin afresh. It may not be in anyone’s best interest to throw good money after bad.
Banks do not want to own livestock, poultry, kosher slaughterhouses, meatpacking companies, and distribution centers. Companies can close with outstanding fines and liabilities, and negotiations can usually result in quite favorible terms for new management to reopen with very minimal interruption after a brief halt or temporary shutdown.
The Rubashkins must be defended! Funds should be arranged for top counsel as necesssary. Loi sa’amod al dam rei’echa! They should have this opportunity to renegotiate thru family members that have not held previous executive positions at risk of financial or legal exposure to previous business activity.
Don’t raise money for excessive fines when the government can still trump up new charges and assess further penalties for other violations. Ein ladovor soif.
Thank you to the Rubashkins for the package of meat that I shipped overnight on Friday, to feed a 27 year old Jewish boy, who is living alone, trying to repair his life in a place where there is no kosher meat in the supermarket. I found out that he was eating in an aino yehudi soup kitchen. Now he isn’t.
In that z’chus alone, may we all merit
to care about all our brothers, no matter what;
to make sure that we act according to the darchei H-Shem in practice and in spirit;
to develope an ayin tov;
to have our tefillos answered l’tova
to: Yid613
If you have access to money or credit lines email me [email protected] if not please daven and say Tehillim
This troubles me – please, someone give me a well reasoned explanation how Rabbi Minkowicz’s plea differews from a plea for mercy when a person who has otherwise led a very positive life is sentenced for a crime he did commit.
I am an attorney, and I well know that a person is legally innocent until charges are proven beyond a reasonable doubt. But I also know (a) that a United States Attorney does not bring felony immigration fraud charges lightly, (b) that the allegations set forth in the complaint against Rubashkin describe in detail actions that amount to significant criminal behavior, and (c) that dismissing the allegations as being merely the result of anti-Semetism or Liberal shtuss is dangerous.
And in anticipation of some of the responses I am likely to elicit here . . . .no, I’m not a self-hating Mamzer . . . just an Agudah Guy . . . right Ralphie?
It has been very sad to see all of what has transpired with the Rubashkins over the past few months. It’s also hard to beleive how things can change so dramatically over such a short period of time. It saddens me to see how much jealousy and hatred people can have, and even more so against our own people. Many people as is our nature to be a nation of Rachmanim Benei Rachmanim really want to help and I am sure that there are many people who are praying for the Rubashkins on a daily basis. I think that now is a very scary time for ALL Jews. From what is happening with the banks, to the stock market, to having a Black Muslim (Inspired by the America hating Reverend Jeremiah Wright) running for president. I think now is a good time for all of us to assess our deeds and try to be better Jews.
Aside from our heart felt Tefilot, is there another way to help the Rubashkin family?
It seems to me from this letter that the writer is feffering to something in addition to tefilah.
Please elaborate. Thank you.
To those of you who are critical, consider:
We are all guilty of some wrongdoings! Do we want Hashem to apply midas hadin or midas rachamim? Hashem pays midah kineged midah!! By helping a Yid,
we are showing Hashem that He should apply midas
rachamim to us and ALL KLAL YISROEL. It is not a
comment on another Yid’s behavior. We should also not be so sacrosanct. You know the old adage about
people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Can
any one of us say that we are 100% innocent of ANY
wrongdoing??
To: Yonason, Esq.
The excessive amount of the combined assessed fines of multiple individual counts leading to $10 million is outrageous, perhaps unprecedented. The government’s relentless simultaneous pursuit from so many angles smells of an ulterior motive.
Character and contribution to society is usually reviewed and considered at sentencing. It’s not just a plea for mercy.
I tend to believe that when you get unions upset, they dig into disgruntled employees, former and present, and find more than the U.S. Attorney can find on its own. They dig with a vengeance and then pass on the info.
Unions have been the major whisleblowers in a number of corporate fraud and criminal cases.
To #9 and all the so called C O R R E C T:
Now is not the time to criticize.
If someone has some positive idea, PLEASE post it.
can everyone please call senator Grazzley’s office and demand they STOP harrassing the Rubashkins and give them a chance.. His telephone number is in Washington 202-224-3744 in Iowa 515-284-4870 PLEASE DO A MITZVAH
this is from ireport.com
Agriprocessors has clearly been excessively prosecuted. Why? Because this is really a war on Kosher.
This all began with PETA whose clear agenda was to end Kosher meat. That led to the Forward Newspaper spreading lies so that the Conservative movement could get their foot into the Kosher industry. Then the Union got onto the bandwagon and finally the government. But it all started with PETA and has escalated to the current situation – from the beginning it’s been a war on Kosher.
There have been very bizarre actions by ICE – unseen in any other case. In May, and again with Sholom Rubashkin’s arrest, they released affidavits detailing their stories. This is very strange behavior. Since the Agri raid there have been other big raids, one much bigger than Agri’s. Never have they put out an affidavit for a company they raided. Three examples:
A. Swift & Co – a multi-site raid that netted 1200.
B. Howard Industries – a single-site raid that netted 595.
C. On October 7th ICE raided a Greenville, S.C., poultry plant, arresting more than 300 workers.
In none of these cases were affidavits released.
Also, it is highly unusual for ICE to make press conferences about their raids. This has caused a disproportionate media response, a hundred times more than Howard Industries’ raid, the current largest raid and one that netted 50% more arrests.
From the beginning they have been out-right lying. The first affidavit included a meth lab allegation. No HazMat team or equipment was even brought – proving they themselves didn’t believe it, but yet they didn’t hesitate to publicize it. They even claimed Agri was producing pipe bombs!
The affidavit said that Agri was abusing workers based on a report from the Forward Newspaper. Since when does an official government document make allegations based on a newspaper article?
Sholom’s million dollar bail is crazy.
Agri has suffered abnormal fines never put on other companies, fines with none or very little basis (such as $10,000 fines for an extension cord, 10 million dollar fine…).
Most importantly, there has been NO CONSIDERATION for the fact that the entire US relies on Agri for Kosher meat. There is presently a shortage in Kosher meat and prices have sky-rocketed, and will continue to do so if this doesn’t end soon.
We, the consumers of Kosher, need to scream out “bloody murder”! The government has joined gangs with the Union and PETA to bring an end to the Kosher meat industry.
We protest and call for an end to the excessive prosecution taking place against Agriprocessors, the Rubashkin family and all Kosher consumers!
If I remember correctly AVRAHAM AVINU Davened for SEDOM!!!!! NOACH was condemned because he didnt DAVEN for his generation, Sedom was clearly Guilty and yet, Avraham found it necessary to save them,
Here is a YID who has a Cheskas Kashrus, whos allegation could be made on probably EVERY corporation, and this “Agudah” guy is brushing this off???
AGudah guy, remember that in the eyes of Hashem and the Goyim…your a Yid, not an “Agudah Guy”.
What would you like people to do?
I for one am willing to run the company, and bring it to a level where everone will trust and buy from them once again.
Are they willing to let an outsider help them???
Dear “Moishie” and “nevergiveup” –
The question is not one of being positive or negative – it’s a matter of accurately assessing what happened.
I believe the community should do what it can to raise money for Rubashkin’s defense – but we may need to give him mussar as well – and not coddle law breakers with unjustified claims of victimization.
Rubashkin is accused of abetting aggravated identity theft, and with participating directly in efforts to obtain fraudulent documents that could pass muster with immigration inspectors . . . for dozens of illegal immigrants.
The complaint charges that Agriprocessors HR staff worked directly under Rubashkin’s supervision to fill out job applications for workers with false documents . . . Rubashkin is alleged to have directed a scheme to release illegal employees in anticipation of the May immigration raid, and to assist them in reapplying as “new” employees with false documentation. According to published reports, one human resources manager told investigators that she had protested to Rubashkin that these employees were reapplying under new, false names, but that Rubashkin simply replied that the IDs looked good to him, and to have instructed the HR manager to accept them.
These are serious allegations of serious crimes . . . and they need to be respected as such, and not excused away.
There’s a great story that I believe took place with the Ribnitzer Rebbe zt’l. The Gabbai came running in to the Rebbe and said “Ploiny was indicted for ganvenen”. The Rebbe chided him saying, “Zug nisht er hut geganvet, zug er hut genimen”.
As refined people we should have the sensitivity not to lash out at the Rubashkins – even though we may feel angered in any way.
Have rachmanus – WE ALL NEED IT!
yid613 says “Additionally, this is all about immigration!! How many of you have hired illegal workers, and now are ready to through Rubashkin to the wolves???”
That is one heck of an admission – in my personal experience . . . and I repeat EXPERIENCE this kind of disregard for law is epidemic in some quarters of the Klal.
Maybe the Agriprocessors situation needs to be a wake up call to all those who either think dina d’malchusa dina doesn’t apply to them – or who simply flout any law, be it tax, labor or immigration, that costs them money.
BS”D
The situation is obvious:
1) The plant was horribly mismanaged; the Rubashkins are indeed special people but they were not able to make the jump from a small haimishe firm to a large national corporation properly.
2) There is a clear leftist agenda (NOT necessarily anti-Semitic though) here; the case was manipulated by the unions through left wing mouthpieces like the Forward (Backward).
3) Agri is very necessary to the US Jewish community and had it been run right like B&H is (union or not), the kiddush Hashem would be tremendous.
So, in these tough economic times, is there any group of investors who will save the plant in a way that can:
a) salvage at least some of the Rubashkins’ well deserved equity that they built up over the years.
b) keep the firm running and keep the shochtim schechting and the community that grew around the plant going (or move it to another more welcoming location, including Mexico if feasible).
Then there is the matter of the excessive charges against Sholom M Rubashkin; indeed he needs expert legal counsel as he will sadly be forced to cut some sort of deal with the Feds. Setting up a package to get the plant running properly and providing jobs in these hard times may help Rubashkin’s case.
Sadly, the US is no longer a place where a man like Avraham Aron Rubashkin can come with nothing and build a firm that literally feeds millions. Instead, it is a place where those who have nothing and do nothing – unions, PETA, the self-hating bloggers who got publicity by bashing Agri etc, can take down a “self-made” man’s years of hard work by concentrating on his flaws the way a vandal finds a crack in a cement wall and takes it down with a few well placed hammer blows.
Agri had many faults, but it did not deserve to implode this way, and had the unions and PETA not been allowed to poison the atmosphere against them, they could have made the necessary changes quietly and paid fines to cover any real violations.
Finally, if able bodied people in the US were not allowed to collect welfare, there would be no need for illegals. Every meat packing plant hires them because today’s legal immigrants tend to be skilled individuals who do not start at the bottom, and unskilled Americans collect welfare (or do time because they don’t want to work and instead commit crimes to relieve their boredom or fuel their escape via drugs). Had there been a real workfare program, Agri could have hired people off the welfare rolls. Instead, they are busy stealing and US borders are purposely left porous so enough illegals can sneak in and do the work no American wants to do.
It takes a trained carpenter to build a house; any jackass can kick it down. The regulations and unions allowed a herd of worthless, useless jackasses to kick Agri down.
Yonason is correct.
It is a matter of accurately assessing what happened and claims of victimization are unjustified. I am not worried about Rubashkin’s personal financial situation. After so many years in this cash rich business I’m sure they have plenty of money stashed away to pay lawyers and fines. What I am worried about is our values. Calling this pidyon shevuyim is an insult to those truly held captive like Gilad Shalit. Have rachmonos on someone about to go to jail – yes. Calling it pidyon shevuyim, absolutely not.
A Rasha can always do Teshuva and then he should be embraced and helped.
But the Rubashkins never admitted any guilt and they continue the public Chilul Hashem.
Therefore as long as they don’t publicly admit guilt and repent, then if Frum Yidden help them publicly, we are making a public Chilul Hashem by showing the Goyim that we HELP_CRIME and help_CRIMINALS.
Helping CRIME is a major Chilul Hashem and is forbidden.
It’s bad enough the chilul hashem they already made, but by frum yidden coming out in their so called “defense” it means that all frum yidden are guilty, all the same and not that it was an isolated incident of just one private individual.
There is a very big difference in the Chilul Hashem, if one single person did something wrong, or if the entire community CHEERS HIM ON.
Dear Rubashkin Family;
Although this calamity has [temporarily] befallen you, please refrain from deflecting blame or [worse,] bad mouthing other yidden!
This is not a time for politics! You need a huge NESS from Shomayim, and inciting hate towards other yidden (regardless if ‘justified’) is NOT part of the recipe to achieve this goal!. (If you have a PR firm working for you, clarify this rule to them.)
By keeping your plea clean and refraining from bad mouthing others, you attain thousands of malochim on your side. (Otherwise…)
If at all possible, repost your open letter without the paragraph starting with ‘Sadly’.
Hoping for the best,
A friend from Boro Park.
To Yonason,
I posted this before, but I have to post it again for you:
I agree with your comments except when it comes to illegals. The true hypocrites in immigration are own governments. The president had it right when he said we should let them in but control it. I do not condone breaking any law, but it is very hard for the avg. citizen to keep this law as I will explain. The hypocrisy we see is this- we let them come in -we should have built a border fence and increased patrols years ago. We don’t send then back- it should be the job of every cop in America to randomly check people’s papers and if they aren’t in order they should be sent to a detention center pending an inquiry for deportation. They shouldn’t be entitled to any medical care, even emergency care or any schooling. But the fact is we give them this and we allow org. to give them money for housing, food and other necessities. If we would stop these bleeding heart policies, the mexicans wouldn’t want to come here. What person would want to live here even if they could find a job, if they wouldn’t be able to get medical care if needed? We have created this intolerable situation ourselves and we want to lay the blame on a bunch of employers who want to take financial advantage of this situation. When you point a finger at someone, three point backwards!
To Itzik,
You are so right, even our President thinks so.
The only ones affected by welfare reform were frum Jews. The main thing they did was remove welfare if there is an able-bodied person without dependant children in the household. This had no effect on schvartzes because most produce kids out of wedlock, it only effected households with two parents like frum Jews. Yonason, not to give you the impression that I believe people should break the law, but why are you only concerned about Jews breaking the law? Do you know the schvartzes have a sub-culture in this country based on drug activity which they don’t pay taxes, besides all the damage drugs cause our society namely crime, disease etc. At least the Jews who are doing things wrong like not paying taxes or hiring illegals are helping society. Why don’t you and your liberal friends start rallying against the blacks and leave the jews alone? You are not the Godol Hador that it is your job to give mussar!
When will we learn? Yiddin wake up, your spewing logic and reasons to be Mechuyav another YID!
Do you know what a Moser is? Do you know what a Rodef is??? Do you understand that these terms apply EVEN when someone may be GUILTY?
We went through this during the Churban, each one of us will have to account ultimately and we dont want all good things to come to an end – I dont know if OBAMA will wake some of us up…
To charlie,
I didn’t bash illegals, I bashed our gov’nt and liberals. I said we should allow them in to work only, not to live. And the gov’nt wouldn’t have to make so many raids if they did like I posted in #25!
#23 Comment by ZevulunT — November 3, 2008 @ 12:08 pm
if you feel that you are not guilty why plead guilty. last we looked this is america.
The Rubashkins are, of course, entitled to a fair trial and an assumption of innocence unless proven guilty. That being said, if a ba’al hesed breaks the law, the law still sees him as a lawbreaker and subject to the laws of the land. With limited exceptions, dina d’malchus dina means that violating a secular law is equivalent to violating Torah law. By all means, the community should raise money for the Rubashkin’s legal defense fund, but we should also see their case as a warning that we must be as law-abiding in the secular world as we are in the Torah world.
Re # 27 – Health – you have no data about me to warrant saying that the only law breakers that concern me are Yidden. It happens that I work for a law enforcement agency. That said, it is only my own people that embarrass me when they break the law, when they excuse law breaking among my people and when their comments are tinged with racial commentary.
To Yonason,
I didn’t say that in your mind only Jews bother you, but I said what you say and post publicly is always bad about Jews never goyim.
Also, you should have thicker skin, everytime one of your fellow workers makes a comment you can use my post about schvartzes.
To: Yonason, Esq.
If you work for a law enforcement agency, you are probably unethically receving renumeration for the time you are spending during working hours monitoring, commenting and defending your opinions regarding postings on this site. If your supervisor/s knew what you were doing while on the clock would it be permitted? You are not the arbiter as to which violation is more reprehensible. G-d is.
People compare hiring illegal immigrants for domestic help, to conducting large scale commercial enterprises materially dependent upon illegal immigrants, to forging documents to enable such activity. Governments designate these immigrants locations to stand and search for such “illegal work.” They ignore large bands of loiting illegal day laborers waiting for an illegal offer, and ignore construction crews that pick up and depend on such laborers, despite recent record numbers of construction accidents. Yet they enter this facility and immensely fine them for practicing under safer employment conditions what the government condones!
Koidem K’shoit Atzmicha V’acharei Kein K’shoit Acheirim. I am not justifying any illegal activity, but I rally for the defense against these charges. Under such conditions, the Rubashkins are clearly entitled to the best defense possible. Dina D’malchusa Dina and everyone is entitled to a fair trial.
Moishie: re “…you are probably unethically receving renumeration for the time you are spending during working hours monitoring, commenting and defending your opinions regarding postings on this site…”
Firstly, au contraire mon amis…I do this on my own time.
But more important, yours an ad hominum personal attack that has nothing whatsoever to do with the issues under discussion. You may attempt to shoot the messenger, but that does not address the issues.
One or two generations ago our organized communities had to bribe Eastern European governments just to survive. Nebuch, too many people never successfully tmade the transitioin into a democratic freee society,as the disregard for law and secular authority – especially when it comes to pocketbook issues, is rampant.
Failing to report income, illegally receiving government benefits, running 24/7 facilities with 2 shifts rather than 3, wage and hour violations, discriminatory pay scales, two sets of books…it is epidemic in parts of the Klal, and Rubashkin is just a bigger fish who got caught by a better fisherman.
Address that Moishie
Let me see Moishe, you said “Yet they enter this facility and immensely fine them for practicing under safer employment conditions..” I take it you refer to Agriprocessor as having “safer employment conditions.”
If so, you need to ask Iowa OSHA fo a copy of the OSHA 300 logs of Agriprocessor, which reports the number of injuries and losses of fingers and other body parts that has occurred at Agri. Then you need to have a heart-to-heart talk with the Doctors in town about the number accidents that didn’t get reported.
Agri has a terrible record of injuries due to poor training, missing safety guards on machines, poor use of chemicals, insufficant eye wash stations, outrageously fast line speeds — the list goes on and on. If you want to defend the Rubashkin’s – go ahead. But first know what your talking about. Don’t get me wrong, I feel sorry for anyone about to go to jail. They deserve rachmonas. But we also deserve justice.
Yonason is correct. Moshe needs to be held accountable for his actions and face the music.
I’m not sure what this article is asking. Is is asking that we send money to help? Don’t the Rubashkin’s live in mulit-millon dollar homes filled with silver and crystal goblets? Why don’t they just re-mortgage their houses or sell them and rent a modest apartment if they need money? Am I suppose to give tzdaka to people who have huge personal assets? I don’t get it.