3 ms·

If only the mafia got into the kosher business

• Animats 9y ago
  Already happened. Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, who was a senior advisor on kosher correctness ("kashrut") for the Orthodox Union, was implicated in the "Prodfather" operation. "Rabbi Mendel Epstein, 70, was dubbed “The Prodfather” after he was convicted of charging desperate wives thousands of dollars to torture their husbands into compliance. The white-bearded Talmudic scholar once bragged about using an electric cattle prod to persuade the men to sign a religious divorce document, known as a “get.”"[1] Epstein operated in Brooklyn. His goons used a warehouse in New Jersey for the beatings. Belsky was the rabbi who certified that the documents signed by the victims were legitimate. "Epstein ... explained that it would cost $10,000 to pay for the rabbis to approve the coercion at a beth din, plus $60,000 to cover the “tough guys.”"[2] This racket worked for about ten years, until somebody complained to the FBI and the FBI set up a sting operation, with Epstein's goons kidnapping an undercover FBI agent. Epstein is in Federal prison; Belsky died in 2016. [1] http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rabbi-10-years-beating-jewish-men-resisting-divorce-article-1.2466800 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rabbi-10-years-beating-j... [2] https://www.villagevoice.com/2013/12/04/bad-rabbi-tales-of-extortion-and-torture-depict-a-divorce-brokers-brutal-grip-on-the-orthodox-community/ https://www.villagevoice.com/2013/12/04/bad-rabbi-tales-of-e...
  • ars 9y ago
    I feel bad for the wives though. They had someone (who was willing to risk jail) trying to help them, and now they don't.
    • deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]