C H A B A D   M A F I A

In order to achieve their purposes, Chabad emissaries and followers routinely engage in various acts of violence, crime, and deceit. Sometimes, Chabad makes false accusations against the local Jewish leaders in order to discredit them, having them arrested by the local authorities, or even expelled from the local community. And sometimes Chabad members fight amongst themselves over control of a particular territory or property. Many times, money is at the center of those disputes. The following is a very brief summary of some of the Chabad-Lubavitch fights, disputes, and controversies in Israel.

Crimes and corruption

Chabad in Israel is known to regularly pay bribes to Israeli politicians and various rabbis, as they do in other countries, in order for them to obtain statements in favor of Chabad, or to obtain benefits or favors for Chabad. Chabad is considered to be the largest importer of cocaine and other illicit drugs into Israel. Chabad is the largest money laundering organization in Israel. Many of the permits for the construction and establishment of Chabad institutions in Israel were obtained through bribes. There is constant friction between Chabad and all the other religious groups in Israel. Chabad does not recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish State. Chabad followers do NOT sing “HaTikva”, Israel’s national anthem. Chabad followers do NOT recite the “Tfilat Shalom HaMedina”, a prayer for the peace of Israel, in their Chabad temples.

Involvement in politics

Chabad Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo, an ardent messianist is perhaps the most visibly political Chabad Rabbi involved in a number of controversial campaigns, and has called for people not to celebrate Israeli Independence Day in response to Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan. He told a conference in Jerusalem that “the remedy for the disengagement is to understand that the State of Israel is a terrible thing. We should not bless or praise the state that was founded by criminals and heretics like Herzl.”

Shabtai Bloch

In 1998 a Chabad activist, Shabtai Bloch (born circa 1950) described by the New York Times as a “central figure in the rigorously Orthodox Chabad movement” was arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of planning an attack on then Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. According to Israeli army radio he had been a “central figure in the rigorously Orthodox Chabad movement.” Shabtai Bloch had planned to attack Netanyahu in the city of Safed, while the Prime Minister was visiting soldiers wounded in Lebanon. Shabtai Bloch had been the leader of Chabad activists in Safed, and had planned to protest an Israeli troop withdrawal from parts of the West Bank that Netanyahu had authorized. Shabtai Bloch had been active in Netanyahu’s 1996 election campaign on behalf of Chabad and felt betrayed by the Prime Minister, according to the New York Times. According to the Jerusalem Post, Shabtai Bloch was one of the leaders of the Chabad movement in Israel. He was released after 10 days under house arrest.

Kfar Chabad attack

While attending the wedding of an associate at the Chabad community of Kfar Chabad in 2005, Binyamin Netanyahu was attacked by a crowd, who threw objects at him and slashed the tires of his armoured car while shouting “Murderer, your day will come”, according to Yedioth Ahronoth. A plate was thrown at Mr. Netanyahu, then the Finance Minister. Shimon Peres responded to the incident saying: “The attempt to attack Netanyahu was done only because of his views. It is incumbent upon us to condemn this trend.”

Gaza withdrawal

During the Gaza withdrawal in 2005, Saadia Hirschkop, an 18 year old Chabad adherent from Crown Heights, then studying at the Chabad yeshiva in Kfar Chabad, was found in possession of weapons and put under administrative detention by Israeli authorities. He was accused of planning terror attacks against Arabs. Hirschkop agreed to be deported to the United States.

Shalom Dov Wolpo

Shalom Dov Wolpo called for the state execution of the prime minister of Israel Ehud Olmert and a number of senior ministers at a gathering of senior Israeli rabbis in Tel Aviv. He argued that they should be “hanged from the gallows” for giving “these Nazis [Palestinian terrorists] weapons and money”. Menachem Mazuz, the Israeli Attorney General, opened an investigation into the comments. This comments were also condemned by Binyamin Netanyahu, by a number of religious MKs, and by the Orthodox Union.

Chabad spokesperson Menachem Brod also condemned the comments and argued: “His irresponsible statements cause the utmost damage to the Greater Israel cause because he gives the mistaken impression that those who are opposed to territorial compromise and to the division of Jerusalem are a bunch of crazies.”

Israeli Rabbinate conversion case

In December 2007 the case of a Chabad educated man attempting to convert to Judaism came before a senior conversion Beit Din to authorize his conversion. During an interview before the panel of 3 rabbis the man espoused messianist views. The panel escalated the case to a group of four of Israel’s most senior rabbis, two of whom were Modern Orthodox and two of whom were Haredi for arbitration. The Haredi rabbis were inclined to approve the conversion, while the Modern Orthodox pair were not, ruling that an exponent of messianist beliefs cannot be converted to Orthodox Judaism. The deadlock is to be resolved by leaving the final decision to Rabbi Shlomo Amar, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel.

While Binyamin Ish-Shalom an educator at the centre that prepared the man for conversion argued that the beliefs were legitmate, a State Conversion Authority quoted the two opposing rabbis as arguing that Chabad messianism is “beyond the pale of normative Judaism”:

“They [messianic Chabad Hassidim] attribute to him supernatural powers years after he passed away. That is not Judaism. It’s something else.”

Responding to the case Shmuley Boteach criticised the rulings, arguing that messianism was not heretical. Seth Farber took a contrary position:

“This critical message of this rabbinical court is that observance is insufficient. Beliefs also are a necessary component to enter the faith. Has Orthodoxy deteriorated to the point where it is radical to argue that belief is a sin qua non of our faith community? Is observance of halachah as a dry legal code the only thing that matters any more?”

Elkana

A dispute of the construction of a Mikvah in the West Bank settlement of Elkana led to a case being heard before the Israeli supreme court to determine whether or not Chabad were part of Orthodox Judaism. Chabad residents demanded the local religious council build a double Mikvah, per their requirements, but the religious council refused. All attempts to reach a compromise failed. The attorney for the local religious council made a statement on their behalf: “The local hassidim from Chabad are from a messianic cult and want to force the community to build the mikveh according to their specifications.” The rabbi of Elkana who had made the decision defended his position: “I have ruled according to our custom on the mikveh issue. We are not a Chabad community and my ruling followed the rulings of outstanding rabbis throughout the generations.”

Chabad Youth Organisation

The death of the director of the Chabad Youth Organisation in Israel, the de facto hub of the vast majority of Chabad’s activities in Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Madaintchek led to a power struggle between messianist and moderates over the control of the group. The messianists were led by Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wilshansky, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Chabad Yeshiva in Safed, while the moderates were led by Rabbi Yosef Aharonov. Wilshansky took Aharonov to court to prevent him making material changes CYO’s foundation documents, signatory rights, directors, and membership, or making any other fundamental changes. The petitioners claim that this is an attempt to illegally take over the group and Chabad in Israel in general.

Yosef George Segal was a Chabad employee who was accused more than a year ago by Young Chabad officials of embezzling $4.5 million from the organization.

Yosef Aharonov and three others are accused of embezzlement, tax evasion and money laundering. The arrests and a November 13 raid on the community of Kfar Chabad follow an eight-month investigation by the Israel Tax Authority and the Central District Fraud Squad.

Arkady Gaydamak, an Israeli-Russian billionaire and a potential Jerusalem mayoral candidate, is accused of donating $256,000 to the money laundering facilities allegedly run out of Kfar Chabad, according to Israel’s Channel 10. He and other prominent businessmen are currently under investigation.

Chabad encourages alcohol teenage intoxication and
promotes alcohol drinking for minors and youths

On October, 2009, Israeli legislators proposed legislation in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, that would prohibit minors from drinking because youth drinking is a factor in many serious road accidents, vandalism, acts of violence and sex crimes.

But Chabad strongly objected to this proposed legislation because drinking lots of vodka, and giving vodka to minors, is done in every single Chabad gathering or “farbrengen”, as they call it. Chabad argues that underage drinking rarely leads to intoxication at its functions.

In recent years Chabad educational institutions introduced a prohibition against young people drinking more than a “revii”, that’s about 3.5 ounces, or 103.51 millilitres, of vodka at their farbrengens. That’s a lot of vodka! And who will check if there is alcohol abuse and intoxication of minors? All the drunken “rabbis”?

Chabad Spokesman Mendi Brod said the proposed legislation should be changed. “I suggest an exception be made to permit drinking alcohol in limited quantities, in educational or religious frameworks and under the supervision of a responsible adult. Making a lechayim is supposed to end well before there is a danger of inebriation”. Source: vosizneias.com