de Blasio’s “Alluring story” – No Knowledge of Events, Huh?

De Blasio’s Ignorance is Bliss…

De Blasio is playing the “I did not know” card with respect to the crimes potentially committed under his watch (and in our view with his knowledge and approval). He claims to “want to know the same answer you’re looking for.” Does he really want the questions asked in the first place? Likely, not. There were dozens of articles published in the New York Post and the Forward before he acknowledged the events. Did he not read for a few weeks?

LostMessiah, April 6, 2016

From the New York Times, April 5, 2016

New York Attorney General Begins Inquiry Into Sale of Nursing Home to Developer

“The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has opened an investigation into a series of transactions surrounding the lifting of a deed restriction on a Manhattan nursing home that enabled its purchase by a luxury condominium developer for $116 million.

The attorney general’s office began sending subpoenas on Friday to the developer and several other companies involved in the transactions involving 45 Rivington Street, a former school building on the Lower East Side that had been a nonprofit health care center for AIDS patients until last year.

The question of how and why the city removed restrictive conditions on the deed for the property, paving the way for its transformation into market-rate apartments, has already drawn the scrutiny of the city’s comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, and the city’s Investigation Department. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office, Eric Soufer, confirmed its investigation on Monday but declined to discuss its details or targets.

As of Tuesday, subpoenas had been received by several parties in the transactions, including Allure Group, a for-profit nursing home company, and Capalino and Company, a lobbying firm that represented the operator of the health care center, Village Care, in its negotiations with the city to try to lift the deed restriction. In February 2015, Allure bought Rivington House from Village Care for $28 million, and several months later it paid the city $16.15 million to remove the restriction. After the city did so, the company resold it to the developer.

The subpoenas came from the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, according to a person with direct knowledge of the inquiry. The unit’s involvement suggests that the focus of the inquiry into possible wrongdoing was the companies that received the subpoenas, and not the city.

City Hall officials were not aware of any subpoenas being sent to the city. “We will cooperate with the A.G.’s investigation, any investigation, because we want to get to the bottom of what happened,” the mayor’s spokeswoman, Karen Hinton, said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal reported the inquiry on Tuesday.

A sale of a nonprofit asset like Rivington House would normally come to the attention of the attorney general’s Charities Bureau, which oversees the activities of nonprofits in the state. It was not clear what that office knew of the sale.

The State Health Department is also looking at the actions of Allure Group, which applied for state certification in 2014 and had it granted on the basis that it would provide nursing home beds. Those beds, the department said in a statement, were no longer occupied by the end of last year.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that he did not know that his administration had agreed to lift the protections. After learning of the deal last month, he said that Allure Group had misled city officials by promising to keep the property as a for-profit nursing home.

“Someone should have said no farther down the food chain, and if they didn’t know how, they should have come to me and I would have said no very, very quickly,” Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, told reporters on Monday. “I want to know the same answer you’re looking for.””

For the original article and additional articles click, here.

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Deed Changing is a Nasty Business, but Allure did it…

 

The Wall Street Journal Reported on April 5, 2016

New York Attorney General Opens Probe Into Manhattan Deed Change

Schneiderman’s office sends out subpoenas to players in deal

The New York state attorney general’s office is investigating the series of

transactions that led to the sale of a Manhattan health-care facility to a

residential developer, the office said Tuesday.

Subpoenas from the office were sent out last week to several players involved in

the deal, a spokesman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said. The

subpoenas were from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, according to people

familiar with the matter.

In November, a city agency removed deed restrictions on Rivington House that

limited the building’s use to a not-for-profit residential health-care facility.

Months later, the building’s owner, the Allure Group, sold the property to a

developer for $116 million, making what appears to be a $72 million profit.

Mr. Schneiderman’s probe adds to the legal scrutiny surrounding the deed

changes that has bedeviled Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration for weeks. The

city’s Department of Investigation and the city comptroller’s office have already

begun inquiries into the matter.

City officials have accused Allure, a for-profit nursing care provider, of

misleading the city about its plans for the building. Allure has denied

wrongdoing.

Allure, which paid the city $16 million to lift the deed restrictions, was among

those served with subpoenas. A spokeswoman for the firm said it would

cooperate with all investigations.

Also served was James Capalino, a lobbyist who has raised money for Mr. de

Blasio and who worked for two owners of Rivington House, said a person

familiar with the matter. Mr. Capalino declined to comment through a

spokeswoman.

Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said the city welcomes any

investigation.

To read the rest of the article, please go to the Wall Street Journal, here.

For more information on this article,

Write to Josh Dawsey at JOSHUA.DAWSEY@dowjones.comand Rebecca Davis

O’Brien at Rebecca.OBrien@wsj.com

 

 

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Apparently Philip Banks Received Lavish Gifts, Rechnitz and Reichberg -Front and Center

In another photograph on the New York Post article, Chief Philip Banks can be seen in uniform at the Western Wall in Israel with Jona Banks and Jeremy Reichberg.

updated, LostMessiah commenter, April 7, 2016

Chief Banks Left His Position in 2014 because he was the Subject of an Investigation, as reported by the New York Post

It has been reported that Chief Philip Banks left his position in 2014, rather than take a promotion because, as reported by The New York Post:

“Now, The Post can reveal that Banks was the target of an ongoing federal corruption probe when he walked away from his job as one of the most powerful men on the force.

Investigators found “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in his bank accounts that raised red flags, sources said on Wednesday.

“He did bow out in kind of a strange manner,” said a source involved with the investigation.

The feds discovered the money while looking into his close relationship with two businessmen being probed for giving gifts to high-ranking NYPD members in exchange for favors.

“Banks had collected an inordinate amount of cash,” a source familiar with the case said. “Which begged the question, where is he getting this money? How is he getting it?””

 

Showered With Gifts – NYC Police Department in the Pockets of the Haredim

“The favors were troubling — using NYPD cops to provide security for private cash and jewelry deliveries and police escorts for funerals and airport trips to transfer bodies to Israel.”

April 6, 2016

The New York Post reports:

FBI probe finds NYPD traded services for Super Bowl tickets, luxe trips

The gifts were lavish — Super Bowl tickets and vacations to China and London.

The favors were troubling — using NYPD cops to provide security for private cash and jewelry deliveries and police escorts for funerals and airport trips to transfer bodies to Israel.

New details emerged Tuesday in the FBI’s corruption investigation into the police department, including how deep-pocketed businessmen who were the original targets of the probe sought out high-ranking members who they knew could “get things done for them,” sources told The Post.

“They don’t go to police officers or detectives. They’re too far down the food chain,’’ a law enforcement source said of the politically connected businessmen.

“They go straight to the top: the [commanding officer], lieutenants and other top officials at the precinct,” the source added. “They get things done for them. All they need to do is make a call.”

The favors ranged from getting police escorts for their own business deliveries, to crowd control during Hasidic weddings, and even receiving special security when Torahs are moved, according to sources.

The feds are looking into whether high-ranking NYPD officers then received gifts as part of an illegal quid pro quo — including jaunts to the Super Bowl, China, London, Brazil and Rome, and golfing trips to the Dominican Republic, sources said.

The suspected corruption surfaced during a separate financial investigation into Mayor Bill de Blasio cronies Jona Rechnitz, an Upper West Side real estate powerhouse, and Jeremy Reichberg, a prominent figure in Borough Park, Brooklyn, the sources said.

Wiretaps on the two men raised red flags because there were so many phone calls to and from cops, sources said.

“When it’s replayed, it might not sound good,’’ a source said of the wiretaps, explaining that they involve one of the businessmen making requests and the cops saying they’ll take care of it, although it’s unclear if any criminal conduct occurred.

Up to 20 NYPD members — including Deputy Inspector James Grant, the head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct, and two other deputy inspectors — are being grilled over what they might know, sources said.

Some were questioned during 5 a.m. visits to their homes by the FBI. Staten Island Highway Sgt. Al Bono was questioned by agents at his house last week.

Sources said the you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours arrangement between the department and local leaders has been going on for decades — and that Rechnitz and Reichberg are experts at mining it.

Rechnitz is “always bragging about his relationship with the cops, how he knows everyone,” a former work associate said.

Reichberg “likes to talk about himself and drop names of people he knows. He likes to brag,’’ a law enforcement source said.

“He drops names to the cops that he knows Mayor de Blasio and [former NYPD Chief of Department Philip] Banks. He thinks he’s a big shot because of his so-called connections,” the source added. “I don’t know why these [cops] got friendly with him.’’

Banks and his buddy, corrections officers union chief Norman Seabrook, were the first law enforcement officials to come on the feds’ radar, sources said.

Both took overseas trips with Rechnitz and Reichberg, with Banks’ and Seabrook’s bills at least partly paid for by Rechnitz, according to sources.

Banks also was treated to two golf trips to the Dominican Republic, a government source said, and Reichnitz covered his hotel bill in Israel, where Banks posed in uniform at the Western Wall, even though he was on personal time.

Ben Brafman, Banks’ lawyer, said Tuesday, “It does not appear that Mr. Banks, either while employed by the New York City Police Department or after he retired, was involved in any intentional criminal conduct.”

A source said Seabrook is suspected of using Rechnitz’s JSR Capital LLC to invest union money without board approval.

Seabrook has denied any wrongdoing.

Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Tuesday that the NYPD will “cooperate fully’’ with the FBI and called probes like this “the nature of the business.”

“We’ll just have to see where the investigation goes, and it’s something that, as you’d expect, we will participate in and kind of cooperate fully with,” the city’s top cop said.

“That’s all I’m able to say at this time,” he said. “On these investigations, we’re not able to comment on them, and that’s an agreement with the bureau.”

Detective Michael Milici was placed on modified duty after pleading the Fifth when questioned by a grand jury during the probe — a disciplinary move that Bratton said was “for the good of the department.”

Neither Rechnitz nor Reichberg responded to requests for comment.

To view entire article click, here.

 

de Blasio’s Allure -no Forgetting Friends

Updated: The photographs were changed by request of one of LM’s commenters. We could not disagree that the original publicly available photograph could have been viewed as child pornography had it not been “tactfully” disguised as religion.

The grey and black picture comes from an article in HaAretz describing the procedure and the dangers of the Herpes virus which can spread when a Mohel’s mouth is infected.

De Blasio Cozy with His Bobov Hasidic Friends – How Far Would he go to “not Forget them“?

LostMessiah March 5, 2016

Only in NYC can one have an article about an AIDS Home, which was (disingenuously)  purchased by Allure Group “with the intent of keeping it open as a nursing facility” and congratulations for “rolling back” restrictions on the controversial circumcision rite called “metzizah b’peh”…. 

A Mohel with AIDS can transfer it to an infant through this rite.

Truth is stranger than fiction.

As a note for our readers: “metzizah b’peh” (MBP) translates quite literally from Hebrew to English as “orally sucking”. In something of a pun, “rolling back” is what happens to the foreskin before the Mohel performs a circumcision. Jewish law refers to suctioning he blood away from the wound and using one’s mouth is an interpretation. Only a very small subset of ultra-Orthodox Mohels perform circumcision using this ritual, frowned upon by the majority of Jews worldwide. 

Rules were set in place in January of 2013, against this “rite” because [s]ince 2000 MBP has been blamed for 18 cases of neonatal herpes in New York City. Two of those babies died, and two others suffered brain damage.” In 2015, however, under pressure from the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, Mayor de Balsio announced that the city was going to revoke the regulations, which were officially revoked on September 9, 2015.

Now back to Allure Group and the controversial “Flip” of a Nursing Home on Rivington Street…

On April 5th of 2016, Mayor de Blasio “voiced confidence…in the commissioner charged with cleaning up the botched approval of a deal that allowed the sale of a formerly protected Lower East Side nursing home to condo builders. The reference is to Allure.

On April 3, 2016 at 4:42am, in an article entitled “De Blasio slams nursing home sale – but doesn’t punish aids” the New York Post reported:

“Mayor de Blasio claims to be “livid” that his administration approved a deal to convert a nursing home to a luxe condo — yet the staffers and aides who let it happen have seemingly escaped his wrath.

De Blasio has threatened to sue the Allure Group for misleading the city and has touted a “full-scale” Department of Investigation inquiry into how the city removed a deed restriction on the Lower East Side property last November to pave the way for the sale and conversion of Rivington House.

But top-level officials have so far skated in the widening scandal.

To read the full article click, here.

Later that same day, on April 3, 2016, at 8:02pm, in an article entited “How Mayor de Blasio can prove he’s truly ‘livid’ over that $72 million scandal” the New York Post reported:

“It took several days of embarrassing news stories — plus a Post editorial insisting he “should be furious” — but Mayor Bill de Blasio finally declared himself “livid” over that $72 million nursing home flip.

That’s a welcome switch from a few days earlier, when said simply that he was “not happy” about the scandalous deal.

Now he’s promising “there will certainly be consequences” and is threatening legal action, citing “a lot of evidence” that something unacceptable happened.

That much has been obvious from the start — which is why the whole affair is being probed by the Department of Investigations and city Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Last Thursday, DOI subpoenas began to go out to city workers and officers of Allure Group, the Brooklyn nursing home operator at the center of the whole mess.

Allure bought the Lower East Side property, then a residence for AIDS patients, and spoke of hoping to keep it as a health care facility, as required in the building’s deed.

But the city never got a written commitment — and Allure successfully lobbied to get all deed restrictions lifted. It then sold the building to a developer that plans to build luxury condos, netting $72 million.

Despite objections from the local community board, the deed change sailed through with virtually no public input.”

“How did they get around this deed? I don’t

understand it,” Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer told Politico.

Neither does anyone else — de Blasio insists the first he heard about it was when the Wall Street Journal reported on it.

It’s good that the mayor finally seems to comprehend that this scandal goes well beyond your ordinary bureaucratic foul-up, signifying something deeply wrong in his administration.

Of course, with DOI run by de Blasio crony Mark Peters, don’t expect its investigation to point to anyone high at City Hall.”

To read further click, here.

That followed a March 25, 2016 New York PostArticle in which:

“Elected officials are calling for an investigation into a move by the de Blasio administration that removed a protection on a Lower East Side nursing home — allowing its operator to flip the site for luxury condos at a $72 million profit.

The Allure Group bought the building at 45 Rivington Street in February 2015 for $28 million, and said it would keep it as a nursing facility if a restriction that it be run as a health-care non-profit were removed, according to city officials.

In June, the restriction was lifted, and in November, the city got $16.1 million based on appraisals.”

To read the complete article click, here.

Fast-Forward to the Connection Between Meziza b’peh, Joel Landau and a Controversial AIDS Home…

On April 1, 2016, the Forward reported that, Hasidic Businessman Who Flipped AIDS Home Part of Sect With Cozy Ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio

At a recent fundraiser for the Bobov Hasidic group attended by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council member David Greenfield told the crowd that de Blasio “did not forget his friends.”

Now, de Blasio’s ties to the Bobov have put him on the defensive, amid a scandal over a nursing home chain run by a prominent Bobov businessman. Allure Group made $72 million in February flipping a Lower East Side home for AIDS patients to a condo developer. Now, the New York City Comptroller and the city’s Department of Investigation are investigating the deal, and de Blasio says that his administration was “misled” by the firm.

Allure’s CEO, Solomon Rubin, is a prominent member of the Boro Park-based Bobov Hasidic group, one of the city’s largest ultra-Orthodox sects. The Bobov enjoy a particularly close relationship with de Blasio, who represented Boro Park in the City Council from 2001 to 2009.

On March 9, days before the Allure scandal broke, de Blasio attended a fundraising dinner for Amidei Zion of Mosdos Bobov, a Bobov charity, at the New York Hilton. The mayor announced trash collection schedule changes meant to ease congestion in Boro Park, earning vigorous applause.

De Blasio’s ties to the Bobov run deep. Bobov powerbroker Rabbi Yitzchok Fleischer, whose mother’s shiva de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray attended in January, told the online Jewish magazine Tablet in 2013 that de Blasio “owes me everything.”

“Without me he wouldn’t be anyplace,” Fleischer said.

De Blasio now faces tough questions about the Allure Group deal. The company purchased the Lower East Side home in February 2015 for just $28 million, promising that it would use the building to operate a nursing home. In November, Allure paid $16 million to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services for permission to retroactively adjust the deed on the property. In February of 2016, thanks to the deed change, Allure sold the property to a condominium developer for $116 million.

“It makes me livid that this happened in one of the agencies that are part of my administration,” de Blasio told the local television station NY 1 on April 1, according to a transcript circulated by the mayor’s office. “We’re looking at all potential legal options related to the company that did this because we have a lot of evidence that they misled us.”

Days earlier, at a press conference at NYPD headquarters, De Blasio told reporters that he was upset to have heard about the flip only after it was made public.

The New York Times reported on March 31 that a prominent lobbyist who at different times worked for both the not-for-profit that sold the building to Allure and the developer that bought the building from Allure has raised $45,000 for de Blasio’s election campaign since October.

Allure owns six New York City nursing homes, according to the group’s website. At least one of its executives shares a surname with Solomon Rubin; another, Joel Landau, who has been Allure’s public face, is not a member of the Bobov Hasidic group.

Rubin did not respond to a message left at Allure’s office.

Rubin sits on the board of Bnos Zion of Bobov, the sect’s school system for girls. “They are very well off and they support a lot of things that are going on in the community,” said Yoel Rosenfeld, a Bobov community activist, of Rubin. “He’s very involved.”

Rosenfeld said that he escorted de Blasio in and out of the Bobov dinner on March 9, and that Rubin did not speak to the mayor. While he assumed Rubin was in attendance, Rosenfeld said that there were more than 1,000 people there, and he did not see him.

Speaking from the Bobov dais, New York City Councilman Greenfield praised the mayor , lauding de Blasio for rolling back restrictions on the controversial metzitzah b’peh circumcision rite.”

Jona Rechnitz – NYC Property Owner Tied to Alleged Police Corruption

R-L: Jona Rechnitz, Philip Banks, III Chief of Dept. NYPD, Chaplain Jeremy Reichberg

Jona Rechnitz and JSR Capital LLC

LostMessiah, April 5, 2016

Jona Reschnitz is known in former news articles, primarily from 2013 for his JSR Capital LLC. JSR is a Manhattan-based real estate firm he heads, which in 2013 acquired  238 Madison Avenue, between 37th and 38th streets for the purpose of building what, at the time, was to be new condominiums or a hotel. The Seller of the site was Nissan Perla, an international diamond magnate. The JSR website gives very little information about its principals, except that it was founded in 2010. The website also only gives basic information regarding JSR’s business endeavors. The last update of that site was in 2013.

In November of 2013, it was reported that Jona Rechnitz of JSR Capital LLC was one of the members of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Inaugural Committee. Included in that article were not only some notable actors and actresses, a number of law firms but also  a number of questionable figures in the Jewish and ultra-Orthodox community, including Jona Rechnitz, allegedly connected to the below-referenced investigation. In addition to Jona Rechnitz, the other person mentioned below, Jeremy Reichberg was also a member of the Inaugural Committee.

In 2014, it was reported that Jona Rechnitz won $25,000 on a $500 bet prediction that the first scoring play of the 2014 Super Bowl game would be a Seattle safety. At the time, the money was to be given to the Simon Wiesenthal Center as a donation. According to an article in TMZ Sports, Rechnitz’s win in 2014 was his second in 2 weeks.

In 2014, it was reported in the Forward the Rechnitz won $15,000 for wagering that the Seattle Seakhaws would score the first points on a safety. The bet placed was for $300.00. In that article, it was mentioned that he might have placed a second bet and that they were not sure what he was going to do with the $15,000.00

In 2012, it was reported that Rechnitz won when he “hit the JACKPOT…, betting $1,000 on the Giants to score the first points in the big game with a safety. The odds were 50 to 1. There again, he apparently donated the money to  charity. 

On April 5, 2015, it was reported in multiple reports that Reschnitz is being tied  to an alleged gifts for favors scheme. It should be noted Jeremy Reichberg also listed as a member of the Inaugural Committee for Mayor de Blasio in 2013, is also tied to the below investigation.

from the New York Post, April 5, 2016

FBI investigating alleged NYPD ‘gifts-for-favors’ scheme

The FBI is investigating suspected NYPD corruption focusing on the relationship between two politically connected businessmen and a slew of officers throughout the ranks, multiple sources told The Post on Monday.

The feds are grilling about 20 cops — including three deputy chiefs and the head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct — over gifts and foreign trips that the businessmen may have doled out to them in exchange for favors, law-enforcement sources said.

A grand jury also has been convened, sources said.

The investigation began with an unrelated deal-gone-awry involving the two businessmen — Mayor de Blasio buddies Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, well-placed sources said.

They gave a large sum of money to a third party who was supposed to buy discounted liquor for them to sell at a profit, but investors lost their money and the feds opened a fraud probe, sources said.

Wiretaps on the two businessmen’s phones revealed relationships with several NYPD cops — and the probe soon led the feds to then-NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks and his close pal, Corrections union president Norman Seabrook, sources said.

Reichberg, who lives in Borough Park, is a police buff known for his NYPD connections, while Rechnitz is a deep-pocketed de Blasio donor from the Upper West Side, sources said.

The businessmen became close friends with Banks and Seabrook, with the foursome traveling together to the Caribbean and to Israel in 2014.

Rechnitz picked up both men’s tab for the Caribbean jaunt, sources said. He also paid Seabrook’s airfare and hotel bills in Israel, while Banks paid for the flight but allowed Rechnitz to pick up his lodging tab, sources said.

Although he was on his personal time, Banks wore his NYPD uniform during a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and when he returned to New York, shared what he had learned with authorities here, sources said.

As a thank-you gift for all Rechnitz had done, Banks and Seabrook bought him a pricey backgammon set made of ancient wood.

“[We] spent $5,000 on the backgammon set — custom-made from Israel — so that nobody could say they bought me the [plane] ticket,’’ Seabrook told The Post Monday.

“There is no quid pro quo. There’s nothing [the FBI] could say Norman did wrong,’’ he added, referring to himself.

Banks could not be reached for comment.

Rechnitz also paid for at least part of other cops’ trips to places such as London, Rome, Las Vegas and the Caribbean, sources said.

Several sources said those being questioned as part of the probe include Deputy Inspector James Grant, head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct; Brooklyn South Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez; and Deputy Housing Chief Michael Harrington. Harrington worked for Banks before the chief of department retired.

“Most of the bosses questioned are not targets,’’ a law-enforcement source claimed.

Captains Endowment Association President Roy Richter said, “A number of my members have been interviewed by federal investigators. All of them fully cooperated and were told they were not the targets or subject of the investigation.’’

One of the officers who has already testified before the grand jury is veteran NYPD Community Affairs Officer Michael Milici, sources said. The detective pleaded the Fifth and was placed on modified duty, sources said.

For the remainder of the article click, here.

The Rubashkin Family Empire and FailedMessiah

Rubashkin Family, Its Slaughterhouse Practices, Its Money, Its Labor Practices, Its Landord/Tenant Practices and FailedMessiah.

LostMessiah, March 27, 2016

With the recent claims of improper conduct by prosecutors in the Rubashkin case, with thought we would remind you of the details. Rather than try to recreate the wheel and since FailedMessiah had written at great length and done the arduous process of researching the many nuances of both the Rubashking family and the case against them himself, we felt it better to direct you to Failed Messiah’s information, now again relevant.

In a long article, posted by FailedMessiah, Shmayra provides significant information regarding the Rubashkin family, its holdings, and more importantly, the inhumane practices with regard to the slaughter of animals in, amongst others, the Agriprocessors plant.

In a quote from that post regarding the Slaughterhouse Magnate’s family and its millions Shmayra wrote:

Hiding Assets

Aaron Rubashkin and his children were caught trying to hide assets from the Agriprocessors bankruptcy trustee and creditors. On January 31, 2011 a judge ruled against Aaron Rubashkin, noting among other things millions of dollars in transfers from a Swiss bank account.

The Rubashkin Family

The Rubashkin family are prominent members of the Chabad-Lubavitch hasidic movement, a subsection of Orthodox Judaism that began in what is now Belarus in the latter third of the 18th century and which is now based in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. Chabad-Lubavitch is perhaps best known for its missionary activity to non-Orthodox Jews and for the prevalent belief within the movement that its late leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994, is the messiah. Sholom Rubashkin served as a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi before he took the job of leading his family’s kosher slaughterhouse in 1987.

Teach Our Children Well….

Photograph of Jewish girl reciting a lesson in the Jewish community school classroom in Fez (Fes), Morocco. The girl stands at front of classroom in front of a blackboard with Hebrew alphabet. The education is multilingual, including French, Arabic, and Hebrew studies, reflecting some of the cultures of the Jewish diaspora. Photograph by Nathan Benn taken February 15, 1980.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young… and the Songs of the Jews

“Jewish tradition and Jewish practice are intertwined with Jewish behaviors.”

by LostMessiah, March 27, 2016

In a search for songs in Yiddish and in English that help Jewish parents accomplish the difficult task of teaching our children, and what is expected within the context of that education, we came across, not a song but an article relating to songs. Our takeaway was that Jewish Children are supposed to be taught to be kind, respect others, be well-mannered and appreciative, understand the importance of the Shabbat, understand the notion of learning the ways of the Torah (not to the exclusion of all else) and beyond all else, be good people.

Somehow, these teachings have been lost from the teachings of today’s ultra-Orthodox, particularly evident when there is brazen contempt for everyone behind their own, a hanging of a black man in effigy in a neighborhood which is largely black and Hispanic, a complete and total manipulation of programs intended for the education of children, exploited to the detriment of those same children, the burning of a man who desires to pray in a different synagogue and then the celebration both of the release and then of the wedding of the criminal who committed those atrocious burnings.

Where in G-d’s name, is the kindness in all of that???

What is it, exactly, we are teaching our children??

Are these the values we want to teach our children, anything but Jewish values, but seen by the rest of the world as our justification for our poor behavior??

Are the lessons of today’s ultra-Orthodox, the lessons of the FailedMessiah the chilul Hashem or is the behavior justifying those lessons actually the curse on G-d’s name?

We are reposting the following without permission, and hope the authors will not mind. We feel it tells a good deal about how we SHOULD be teaching our children. Anyone who is not teaching their children these lessons has no business being parents, particularly not of 9, 10, 15 children.

From MyJewishLearning,

“Teaching Your Children about Derech Eretz, how to raise of family of mensches.”

At the playground…at synagogue…at a birthday party…it almost doesn’t matter where, you’ve seen it or heard it. Where are the manners and the values that our parents taught us? Where are the polite, well-mannered kids?

Way of the World

Jewish tradition teaches us abut the notion of derekh eretz, commonly translated as “the way of the world.” Derekh eretz is the code of proper behavior that binds us to each other as human beings and as Jews. According to the midrash, derekh eretz “precedes” the Torah (Leviticus Rabbah 9:3). We can understand this to mean that even before we begin to do important things like study Torah and live in accordance with the mitzvot, we must live with derekh eretz. Helping your child to learn common decency and appropriate behavior is crucial, and one of the most difficult parts of parenting. Here are some easy and not so easy ways you can begin to model derekh eretz in your own home.

Please and Thank You

Many interpret derekh eretz as good manners. Make please and thank you a part of your regular conversation, with every person. When your children see you thanking the service person at the gas station or the server at a restaurant, they learn that each person is valuable, and that each person’s role in the world is important.

The Golden Rule

Life is busy. We don’t often think about what we say when we talk to others. But children are sponges, and soak up every action and every word, for good or for bad. They respond to the way you interact with them as parents, and they respond to the way you interact with their teachers and caregivers. Treat your children with the kind of respect they deserve: this helps to lay a foundation for a mutually respectful parent-child relationship. Additionally, treat your parents with the same respect. Your children will learn how to relate to you by the way you treat your parents.

Table Manners

Some say that the family meal is an endangered species. We’ve lost the way to talk with each other as a family, reflect and share, learn table manners and conversation skills. Family mealtime allows us to create a sacred Jewish space for sharing blessings and giving thanks. Set aside time to begin your meal with hamotzi, the blessing over bread, and recite part or all of Birkat Hamazon, grace after meals. Create other family rituals of giving thanks. Use please and thank you when passing food, and always thank the person who prepared the meal. Setting the table together and cleaning up together can also become family rituals. Derekh eretz also includes the ways we relate to one another, and family mealtime conversation is a part of that. Take time to check in with all family members.

Hakhnasat Orhim: Welcoming Guests

Welcoming guests and making them feel comfortable is one of the most basic components of derekh eretz. Teach your children how to be good hosts by greeting guests politely at the door, sharing toys, and offering snacks. Your children will learn the mitzvah of hakhnasat orhim, and will also learn how to be a polite guest in other people’s homes.

Use the Word Mensch Often

Mensch, from the German, “man,” is someone who is modest, honest, dependable, and kind to others. When you see someone (child or adult) behaving like a mensch, comment on it. When your children behave like mensches, tell them you’re proud. Identify what it is that they have done that is mensch-like, and how pleased you are that they are such good kids. They will love it, and aspire to be mensches more often…and they’ll be able, as well, to identify these traits in others and recognize them as worthy. The key is to catch your children being good, and let them know just how good they are.

Remember What is Age Appropriate

Last week, I was mortified when I found my generally well-behaved son lying on the floor of our shul lobby, where he appeared to be making snow angels in the carpet. I was, however, aware that it was at least an hour past his bedtime, he was hungry, and he is two. So after scooping him up and taking him home, I reflected on the need to identify what is age appropriate behavior, and when we expect our kids to be “too good.” If we aspire to teach our children about derekh eretz, and expect them to be model citizens, we have to provide settings where they can succeed. Children who are tired, hungry, and in places where grown-up behavior is expected often act out. If you can minimize those opportunities for misbehavior, you’ll be surprised by how good your children can be.

Make Shabbat the Ideal

When we experiment with new behaviors, we need a safe space in which to practice. Shabbat can be that laboratory for every Jewish family; the day to aspire to be our most polite, most respectful and best selves. If we wear our most beautiful clothing, enjoy the tastiest meals, and sanctify our blessings with the most beautiful of ritual objects on Shabbat, then we can also be our most beautiful selves by using our most respectful and welcoming language and behavior. Invite guests and practice on them!

In Pirke Avot, the Ethics of our Ancestors, we learn from Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah: “If there is no Torah, there is no derekh eretz. And if there is no derekh eretz, there is no Torah (3:21).” Jewish tradition and Jewish practice are intertwined with Jewish behaviors. One does not come before the other, but instead each one complements the other. By aspiring to lives filled with derekh eretz, we can teach our children that there is always room for change and growth, and that love, appreciation and respect are very Jewish words.

of the World

Jewish tradition teaches us abut the notion of derekh eretz, commonly translated as “the way of the world.” Derekh eretz is the code of proper behavior that binds us to each other as human beings and as Jews. According to the midrash, derekh eretz “precedes” the Torah (Leviticus Rabbah 9:3). We can understand this to mean that even before we begin to do important things like study Torah and live in accordance with the mitzvot, we must live with derekh eretz. Helping your child to learn common decency and appropriate behavior is crucial, and one of the most difficult parts of parenting. Here are some easy and not so easy ways you can begin to model derekh eretz in your own home.