America boasts an unsurpassed justice system. Unlike many Eastern countries, America presumes the defendant “innocent until proven guilty”. The Fourth Amendment protects all individuals against unreasonable searches and seizures, and a valid search warrant must be obtained from a magistrate after proving probable cause. Additionally, in America criminals can be vindicated if the prosecution fails to prove their criminal guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt”. Furthermore, the Sixth Amendment provides the accused with a right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury; thus, a hung jury results in a mistrial. Its purpose is explained in the landmark Supreme Court decision Apodaca v. Oregon: “… [T]he purpose of trial by jury is to prevent oppression by the Government by providing a ‘safeguard against the corrupt or overzealous prosecutor and against the compliant, biased, or eccentric judge.’” It is, thus, for good reason that it is often said that in the United States the commandment states: “Thou Shalt Not Get Caught.”
However, upon examination it truly doesn’t seem so. The impartiality surely doesn’t pass the test when it comes to celebrity indictment, and bias surely finds its way into our fair system. Recent episodes often make us wonder whether there’s prejudice against Orthodox-Jews in the Courts. Despite the separation of powers which provides checks and balances, the judicial process has its flaws. Although federal justices are properly vetted by the president and Congress, the juries can often demonstrate bias for religious groups. Additionally, the reality that verdicts are often up to a judge’s discretion may be troubling for some religious sectors.
The question lingers: Does America truly boast a better justice system then the East?
A Tale of Three Boys in Japan
In March of 2008, while throngs of Jews from all walks of life were preparing for the pilgrimage to the tomb of the Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizensk, three Israeli boys were amongst those delightfully traveling to pray for a better life and future. The boys, Yossi Bondo, 17, Yaakov Yosef Grunwald, 19, and Yoel Zev Goldstein, 22; Yeshiva students of Bnei Brak, Israel; were approached by someone they knew and trusted, and asked them to transport antiques to the Far East for an upcoming Art Fair. The deal was that the boys would stop in Amsterdam, where they would receive the antiques, before taking a connecting flight to Tokyo, Japan where someone will pick it up. They were to receive a bonus of $1,000 each and a chance to Daven in Lizensk.
After a long, exhausting flight, the boys arrived to Narita International Airport. After a custom agent determined that their suitcases had contained $3.6 million dollars worth of narcotics, the three unsuspecting boys were immediately arrested and placed in solitary confinement. It followed by months of grueling interrogation in a foreign country and foreign language. After Askanim from Israel, Europe and the United States got involved, the boys were finally able to relate their account and request Kosher meals. These dedicated Askanim saw that the boys should be vindicated and freed for once. At last, after three and half years of hard work by the Askanim, after millions of dollars for defense and thousands, perhaps millions, of chapters Tehillim recited on their behalf throughout the world, Yossi is on probation in Israel, Yaakov Yosef is waiting to be transferred to Eretz Yisroel and Yoel Zev is a free man.
Rabbi Asher Levin, a Dror activist who traveled to Japan to visit the boys, shared his reaction to the finale of this unfortunate story. “Chasdei Hashem Ki Lo Somnu,” he began, “the boys’ pain was boundless, and it will never be properly comprehended”. “Yet,” he cautioned, “although we heard positive news, the ordeal is not over yet; Yaakov Yosef ben Raizel is awaiting his imminent extradition to Israel”. Nevertheless, the Japan government proved to be more understanding than often portrayed, and their sympathy took precedence over their no-nonsense approach for drug trafficking.
The Rubashkin Saga
On May 12, 2008, the FBI and ICE agents arrested 389 alleged illegal immigrants in Postville, Iowa, in a raid deemed the largest in US history at that time. Sholom Rubashkin was charged for harboring illegal immigrants and for conspiring in identity theft. Those charges have since been dropped, but he was indicted for bank theft and sentenced by United States District Judge Linda Reade to 27 years in prison in 2010. The case drew national attention, and Jews globally took an interest in the case after Rubashkin was denied bail because of flight risk to Israel. People felt that this case is a direct attack against Shechita and “Sholom Across America” soon captivated the nation. Thousands of people gathered around the world in his support and millions of dollars were contributed in his merit; yet, he is incarnated in a prison cell away from family and friends.
Elected officials and law experts expressed shock over this excessive sentence. Forty seven Congressmen and 75 US attorneys and law professors have written to Attorney General Eric Holder to probe for alleged misconduct and fairness in this case; yet, the 8th Circuit rejected Rubashkin’s appeal and upheld Reade’s decision. Additionally, a petition on the White House website that called for “an investigation into allegations of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct in the case of Sholom Rubashkin” garnered more than 52,000 signatures, yet went unanswered by the Executive Branch.
Dror spoke to an attorney, who serves as a counsel to the NYC Law Department and wished to remain anonymous, to share his analysis regarding the latest developments. “I’m shocked that the Appeals court upheld the verdict,” he stated, “it is two years more than the prosecutors requested, a shocker.” He also painted a bleak future for Rubashkin confirming that an appeal to the Supreme Court is unlikely to be granted. “He can request an en banc review – where all judges from the circuit will review the case – but this too is unlikely,” he told Dror. However, he did dismiss blather of anti-Semitism on the federal level and said that it is up to the judge’s discretion. A request for a response from Defense Attorney Nathan Lewin was not answered by the time this article was published.
Mordechai Samet’s Chronicle
Mordechai Samet’s story is less known but an unfortunate one, as well. Samet, a Jerusalem native, was convicted in 2002 for money laundering and fraud totaling a mere three million dollars – all of which has since been reimbursed. After the jurors couldn’t agree to a unanimous verdict, and a retrial presided by United States District Judge Colleen McMahon sentenced him for 27 years in federal prison. The Judge cited his conceit and lack of remorse for this harsh sentence, and an appeal was rejected in 2006. Samet initially began serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville but has since been transferred to Fort Dix.
The Dror organization has been following the case from the onset and has been instrumental in presenting his case for justice. An activist with Dror tells YWN: “Mordechai Samet is a changed man. He related how Samet unofficially serves as the Rabbi and is essentially the backbone of the other Jewish inmates in Ft. Dix. “About two months ago, at approximately 3:00AM on a Thursday night, ten masked robbers armed with knives entered their room and demanded money,” he repeated a recent occurrence. “One Jewish fellow was held hostage with a knife to his neck while the others ransacked their lockers.” He explained that it would not be wise to file with the police, for such a person is considered a snitch and will suffer repeatedly. Thus, the inmates turn to Rabbi Samet for emotional support. He related that Samet stated that “if this scenario were to occur on the street, it would be breaking news all over the USA”.
Another friend that frequents Fort Dix concurred: “Samet serves the role of spiritual leader to the 40 Jewish inmates in Fort Dix. He assists them in any way he can, emotionally and financially; he nearly has no time for himself.”
“Mordechai Yitzchok [Samet] needs much Chizuk too,” he acknowledged. After being absent at joyous events within his family, including six of his children’s wedding, Samet is a broken man. Yet, he draws his strength by supporting others. It was he who arranged a visit by the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Zalman Leib Tetelbaum from Williamsburg, and Rabbi Niederman, to the prison, rejuvenating himself after seeing the joy in the other inmates’ eyes. “It gave him the strength to continue,” he stated, saying “the Rebbe’s visit instilled hope in the inmates.” He told of an individual from a traditional-Conservative home that has begun observing Shabbos and putting Tefillin every day. This person has given up and did not appeal because he didn’t have the resources; yet, a day after the Rebbe’s visit, the lawyer expressed hope for a successful appeal out of the ordinary.
“Repentance and atonement obviously takes no place in America,” his friend concluded.
Conclusion
There is a common myth that American jails are the equivalent to luxury rent-free housing funded by the taxpayer. However, it is surely not the case. The sad accounts of Sholom Mordechai ben Rivka Rubashkin and Mordechai Yitzchok ben Sara Samet prove that kindness and compassion don’t exist in jail. The justice system in America, a Medina Shel Chesed, is no less corrupt than the likes of Japan, and we can only rely on our Father in heaven. One can take a lesson to be grateful for the kindness of Hashem and his way of judgment. Our merciful Father adjudicates each of us with kindness and compassion despite His insightful knowledge; yet, the result of a human court is far more stringent. Chazal say: “one who prays on behalf of a friend in need, he is answered first.” In the merit of our prayers for those imprisoned in confinement, may we all see ourselves salvaged from our troubles.
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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11 Responses
Unrepentant thugs who think the rules dont apply to them.
So called “Orthodox Jews” are supposed to have their behavior be so beyond reproach that no one would even think to accuse them of dishonesty.
However, these people get their hands caught in the cookie jar and think just because they wear the uniform that the religious world is going to come to the rescue.
1. American prisons are not pleasant. They are good places to avoid. They treat all the prisoners poorly, without discrimination. They are an improvement over what they had previously (hanging all felons), but that isn’t saying much.
2. The Jewish community generally ignores Jews in prison, regarding them as people who have disgraced the community. This goes way back. A handful of frum groups make a serious effort to help incarcerated Jews, but such groups are far from mainstream. When crime was much more common among Jews (100 years ago, when Jews were a significant part of the prison population), the community made a point of abandonning such persons. It’s a well established tradition. Note the vicious postings on YWN about an obviously mentally ill Jew who murdered someone. In the past, families of Jews being executed had trouble finding any “rabbi” to preside at their funerals. This was disgraceful, but it was a precedent. Any sort of services for Jewish inmates were seen as quite exotic.
3. The handful of frum Jews (meaning FFBs) in prison now usually were convicted for white collar crimes and they could have done a better job of staying out of trouble. Such as, if you notice most of your workers barely know English and work for less than the going wage for native born Anglophonic workers, be more suspicious. If you found a very clever way to make money, and no one else found such a clever way, you are probably being “clever by half”. While “mens rea” (criminal intent) and “innocent until proven guilty” are parts of the system in most criminal cases – not always – it may be hard for a jury to believe you were as dumb or naive or ignorant as the defense lawyer argues.
4. Unlike Israel where judges are almost expected to show prejudice against Orthodox (Hareidi) Jews, we don’t have a problem with such prejudice in America. In general Orthodox Jews are seen favorably (by goyim, frei Jews are a different matter) in terms of midos and intelligence – though that hurts if a jury has to decide if you made an honest mistake or not.
Suggest action items: 1) better civics and law instruction from frum kids planning to work in the “outside” world so they don’t get into trouble due to ignorance; 2) more attention to the needs of incarcerated Jews.
the writer of this article should be ashamed of himself; either for being misinformed about the subject of his writing or for being an apologist for crooks. Anyone who knows the Samet saga knows what an unabashed crook that chutzpan was. The fact that he is a Rabbi is no excuse – quite the opposite – of all people he should know better. Unlike Rubashkin who committed business fraud; Samet ripped off individuals who were vulnerable.
If there is any truth here it is this: the sentences were too harsh. Samet and Rubashkin are but two individuals who have been unfairly victimized by a penal system that jails more people per capita than any other country in the world. Quite frankly, if I wanted to bring better examples I would have started with people jailed for life for possessing drugs or even Jonathan Pollard.
I hope our community opens its eyes to the manifest injustice that is the US penal system (not the justice system). Privatization of jails and politicians that scare people to vote for them by being “tough on crime” and legislating long mandatory sentences for petty crimes have hurt our great nation – and many communities – like the African American community – a lot more than ours.
Stop defending crooks but please support the reform of our penal system.
I agree on Rubashkin but “was convicted in 2002 for money laundering and fraud totaling a MERE three million dollars” A mere three million is a lot and if he did it he is guilty.
The boys in Japan were unwitting, naive victims of someone they trusted because he is “Charedi”. Rubashkin and Samet are guilty. The only question is the degree of punishment considering each one’s individual circumstances.
#2, You are are motzi shem ra on everyone involved with the Israeli justice system. Many times judges have released observant Jews and awarded them damages when the police overreached.
#4, What is your alternative to imprisoning criminals? BTW, according to din Tora a person who steals a peruta and cannot repay is enslaved for six years.
American is “as corrupt as Japan…”? Nothing in your op-ed suggests that Japan is corrupt. Tough on drug crimes? Yes. To suggest that the American system is corrupt based on the cases you mention is unfair. We can debate the merit of the sentence Rubashkin received but it does look as though he was guilty.
These cases all involved people who were guilty of crimes (naivete of Yeshiva kids mitigates but does not eliminate the fact that they committed a crime).
Nothing in your op-ed proves your thesis.
Great Article
The issue is not whether Rubashkin & Samet should be punished or not, IF they are guilty they t be punished, the issue is the extreme severity of their sentences,
Yes bank fraud & stealing 3 Million dollars are serious crimes, but, as is well known most corporate crooks who stole tens & hundreds of million dollars, received much lighter sentences…..this is the crux of the problem….
A few months ago I attended the bail hearing of a frum 21 YO man who accused & arrested on a child molestation charge, those charges have since been dropped, as the DA immediately saw that this was a FALSE accusation (money…)
Please note, he was arrested without a shred of evidence, based only on the interpretation of one of those bum “therapists” from the vicious org. AKA as OHEL…
As we were waiting for this young man to have his bail set, we witnessed a Non Jewish man with a long criminal record, being accused of breaking into a house, stabbing one person, and shooting a person, his bail was set @ $25,000.
When the frum young man was brought up, his bail was set @ $100,000.
Recently a Latino raped a young Jewish girl in one of the orthodox communities in NY; he admitted to the crime, his bail was set @ $2,500!!! No this is not a typo, $2,500 (Two Thousand & Five Hundred)
Now you tell me if there isn’t anything wrong with this picture?
Problem is, that when election time comes around, all the so called askunim photo-op with the DA, smile and shake hands, and then give him a heartfelt endorsement, so why should we expect this prejudice to stop?
The justice system in America, a Medina Shel Chesed, is no less corrupt than the likes of Japan
Neither are corrupt. You may think so only because they apply the laws to you, and you didn’t expect to be caught.
The Judge cited his conceit and lack of remorse for this harsh sentence
‘Nuff said. Throw the book at all those who think the rules don’t apply to them, Whether it is Boss Tweed, Blagojevich, Samet or Rubashkin.
I cannot comment on the Samet case, since I don’t know much about it. But from what it seems he committed fraud against people willingly with intent to gain financially. ( I might be wrong). It also seems that the money was repaid and it sounds like he did Teshuva. Anyone here is willing to deny a person a right to do Tshuva for stealing money? So what is it about people being so personal in attacking him? As for the 27 year sentence, I believe it was quite excessive.
In Rubashkin case, the situation was different; Sholom Mordechai committed fraud by inflating his revenue in order to gain a larger loan from the bank. No where in the process of the trial, was prosecution able to prove intent to keep the money. While it was illegal to do so, the intent was to repay the loan at a quite high interest rate. The VP of the bank testified that the loan was being repaid in timely matter, up until the government shut down the plant and would not allow anyone to buy it. The only reason Agri defaulted on the loan is because the government, made it so. The bank was well aware that the paperwork wasn’t “kosher”, but they chose to turn a blind eye, since they benefited from it greatly. There was no intent to defraud the bank. So while technically he did commit a crime, according to a sentencing guide, it should of not received more then 2 years. We might argue that he was innocent, but the law is the law. 27 years is not a law and you can call it what ever you want it.
As far as setting bail. I also unfortunately was present at such an event. While every other criminal for vireos other crimes were set out on bail at no more then 10,000 that night, a frum Jew accused of abuse, who had his entire family there was set a 75,000 bail. Not only that, he was requested to submit his passport since he was a “flight risk” to Israel. They do not ask anyone else to submit their passport, only the Jews.
When one is accused of a bank fraud, there is a paper trail. In murder there is a body, a weapon, motive, DNA etc. In abuse case, there is no physical evidence usually, it’s a he said, she said. No Judge in his right might wants to touch those cases. It’s a lose – lose situation for the legal system.
It is so easy for eveyone here to pass judgement. i am not saying what they did was right or wrong. But doesnt it say we cannot judge someone until we are in his shoes, in his mind, know what brought him to do what he did? I guess you all know. And besides does anyone make money off the books/ “CASH” or even when applying for a credit card or mortage to overstate their income? I guess not. If anyone falls into that situation, they are committilng many crimes that may put them in prison. If someone is sick do we have to have pity on him? Why? Hahsem punished him for a different sin he committed. Lashan Horah! or not keepping Shabbus! Or any other Mitzvah. When one of out brothers fall we have to help them and support them so they dont fall back into that situation. So lets not pass judgement he did wrong and I didnt. We are all with sin in one way or another.
There are terrible examples of people like Sholom Rubashkin and Jonathan Pollard that have been dealt severe sentences, obviously with the will of Hashem even though most of us (including me) feel the sentences were unreasonable.
However it’s hard for me to say that religious Jews suffer because without naming names as it would be loshon hora, I personally know a religious Jew who was found guilty (and admitted his guilt) and is now back home with his family after just a handful of years – Baruch Hashem.