A few weeks after former Chief Rabbi of Israel Yonah Metzger entered Massiyahu Prison to begin serving his sentence on a fraud conviction, former Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron was found guilty in the Jerusalem District Court of fraud and breach of trust and other white collar crimes after seventeen years of judicial process. The conviction comes despite the prosecutor announcing the case is closed about a decade ago.
The law-breaking activities included in the conviction took place between 1999 to 2003, connected to Rabbi Yitzchak Ochana, who was in charge of the Chief Rabbinate testing unit. He sold Chief Rabbinate of Israel rabbinical ordination certificates to persons who used them to advance their careers and increase their salaries; including members of the Israel Police and Israel Prison Authority. Rav Doron turned a blind eye to the illegal operation and he did not profit at all.
Today, 76, the rav stood in court and heard the conviction. The rav’s medical condition is precarious and he arrived in the courthouse in a wheelchair. Despite the court’s 135-page decision, the rav’s punishment is expected to be quite light.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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8 Responses
Guilty as charged, NEXT
YWN, this article headline is very deceiving. You guys say clearly in the article that the Rav didn’t actually do anything. Someone who was in charge of the testing while he was chief Rabbi was found guilty. They found him guilty by association, that’s very different than actually committing a crime. Rav Bakshi Doron is a big talmid chacham and a big yiras shaymaim. Please change the title because the current one is not respectful.
No big deal….this guy allowed his staff to “sell” semicha certificates but its OK since he didn’t profit. What is it with these rabbonim who seem to feel that the rules don’t apply to them and they are above the law. Hopefully, his punishment will be sufficient to deter similar actions. We’ve seen this movie before of ostensibly heilige rabbonim being wheeled into courtrooms claiming to be sick and elderly begging mechila from the civil courts (while laughing at the civil laws and criminal justice system which they obviously have no respect for)…
Allan, the way you judge others is how Heaven will judge you!
FYI a huge percentage of innocent Jews are languishing in Israel’s prison because according to their sodomite law one is guilty until proven innocent.
To Allan if you believe the Israeli courts I got a bridge to sell you. I don’t know any details in this case but this conviction means absolutely nothing to me.
Arye and Anon21. There is no question that some of the Israeli courts and judges are dishonest, but then again they are Jews. Regardless, a ruling is a ruling otherwise we would have chaos in our society. There are far too many dishonest frum yidden in our communities, but they get away with-it b/c they play the game and dress the part and hid behind OUR torah. I am all for justice and I am certainly not judging BD. The torah specifically warns us against this kind of behavior. Why? b/c it’s expected from mortals like us. BD is probably a great man but great man also fail, unfortunately. I hope Hashem will judge him favorably. If you don’t agree with the judge’s ruling then vote someone else in. Israel is a corrupt as any other society , but hey who else do we have.
Also I might add where there is smoke there is fire -ALWAYS.
ANON21 How much do you want for the bridge?
allan not good enough sorry. especially when you read the article it says that the prosecutor closed the case 10 yrs ago shows you that something is up. and your right theres corruption everywhere but israeli court system has a track record of bogus rulings. just like the israeli supreme court has one dumb ruling after the next all in the name of democracy. just because “who else do we have” doesn’t mean the rav is guilty or did anything wrong.
Allan, had you known innocent people languishing in Israel’s jail or were in jail and suffered from their atrocities like I do, you wouldn’t be so quick to say what you said. The high court in Israel is one of the most corrupt entities there is which should be enough for you to take their rulings with a ‘huge’ grain of salt.