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Dec 21, 2017
Rubashkin is out, leave him alone
Today's big news is that US President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Shalom Rubashkin.
Mazel tov to him and to his family.
My one comment is that this need not become a spectacle. Rubashkin does not need to be treated as a hero, as a martyr, as a tzaddik. His family and friends and the community at large can surely be happy that he has been released from prison, but turning this into a cause for a big public celebration is wrong, in my opinion.
Rubashkin committed fraud and hurt a lot of people. His sentence might have been overly harsh, but he committed some serious crimes. From the news reports and social media, along with the pictures and video being posted, there's a big party going on around him right now. According to some reports, people are asking him for brachos - he's being treated like a tzaddik who has been unduly tortured.
I think a little tniyus in this matter is appropriate. The frum community has a lot to learn about not turning criminals into tzaddikim.
Mazel tov to him and to his family.
My one comment is that this need not become a spectacle. Rubashkin does not need to be treated as a hero, as a martyr, as a tzaddik. His family and friends and the community at large can surely be happy that he has been released from prison, but turning this into a cause for a big public celebration is wrong, in my opinion.
Rubashkin committed fraud and hurt a lot of people. His sentence might have been overly harsh, but he committed some serious crimes. From the news reports and social media, along with the pictures and video being posted, there's a big party going on around him right now. According to some reports, people are asking him for brachos - he's being treated like a tzaddik who has been unduly tortured.
I think a little tniyus in this matter is appropriate. The frum community has a lot to learn about not turning criminals into tzaddikim.
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Turning crooks into heroes is the Charedi way of life.
ReplyDeleteHe has a family before you post you should think of them.How would you feel ?
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day !!!
think of them in what way? I am happy he is out and reunited with them. I didnt say he should go back to jail or Trump was wrong for commuting his sentence. I think the community should not consider him a tzaddik/martyr/leader/holyman
ReplyDelete"... should not consider him a tzaddik" until they know the facts. He delivered shiurim every day, he put on tefillin to thousands, he never yielded on kippah and tztitzis, gave chizzuk to his lawyers, ... but alas even among good Jews there's judgement before knowing the real facts. They believe in fake news, yes, but with Rubashkin the media is right, right? This whole thing began as an assault on Shechitah, you should all know, because of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism may be an overused term, but it's not an overused phenomenon because it's still real and existent. A small anecdote, before I leave: The judge is married for a 3rd time. Both former husbands had contacted Rubashkin's lawyer near the start of this, who was NOT Jewish, to warn him that she was a rabid anti-Semite. Every Jew has his role in life and simply judging the superficial landscape as would a goy is wrong.
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ReplyDeletein all chabad areas of the world it is seen as a great zos chanuka miracle....
ReplyDeleteand didan natzach [the victory over those who tried to usurp the rebbes' libraries] is 5 teves... so it will probably be one big celebration until then....
Rafi - do you allow all comments - even bigoted crap like Avi's ? Repulsive.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, Rubashkin deserved to go to jail. The celebration is the righting of a blatant injustice. He deserved jail - not a life sentence. This was an open miracle - unless you choose to close your eyes. No other president would have done this - and the fact that the circumstances were aligned just-so ... that's an open miracle to me -and that's why I was crying in joy for him. And that's why people came out to greet him. Everyone who davened for him and signed petitions for him came to witness the miracle. I love the fact that our Ahavas Yisrael manifested itself so greatly in the outpouring of love. Just as we were happy for the prisoner who had spied for Israel and was released not too long ago and we were not ashamed to rejoice.
Wish all of you writing and commenting would know some facts first. The fact is that they came after him because of the illegals he hired, which was very commonplace, so they threw those charges out but found something else to book him on and that was the 'bank' problem; but it really wasn't a problem because he had a record of keeping up his payments and even the Bank stood up for him but that was not good enough because of some law which apparently is not paid much attention to that other ranchers do the same. The judge here has a reputation of being very severe and there was some kind of collusion with the prosecutors and the Judge; all this was in the news. Am sure if you research it, you can get all the facts. In fact, when all this happened, there were many congressmen, senators and former atty. generals and attornies who were outraged out the outrageous sentence he received. Typically others who were brought up on these charges are given the most a year in jail or a slap on the wrist. He suffered needlessly. B'H, he was freed - this was all m'Shamayim falling out on the 8th day of Chanukah (Zot Chanukah) having served 8 years and 8 days. The number 8 represents the supernatural! Much thanks should be given to the President who was the shaliach for this mitzvah of pidyon shvuyim.
ReplyDeleteNext time there is another lakewoo scandal remember the celebrations. Remember how people treated this man.
ReplyDeleteSimple pshat: Ben adam lchaveiro is for suckers.
Rafi - if you don't edit out the crap people say about other Jews, then you are just as bad as them. Why you allow the proliferation of horrible slander and garbage is beyond me
ReplyDeleteWell the crap he wrote is pretty much as bad, and Rafi, FYI the main reason the community is celebrating him as a holy man as you so aptly put it (and btw I'm sure that from now on he will be a world famous mashpia and speaker) is due to the way he behaved IN prison, inspiring Jews through out the world with his unbelievable emunah and bitachon even in the darkest of places, and due to the fact that everyone was saying tehillim throughout his trial and even after that (which shows that he wasn't the criminal you made him to be) and therefor we all felt a personal connection to him like family and that's why it makes absolutely sense for us to sing and dance upon his release.
DeleteWith all due respect to your personal opinion, it behooves you to watch about at least an hour of what he'd been saying ever since he got out, or what his lawyer had to say after his release, or others in the know, the likes of Rabbi Yehoshua Balkany, his brother-in-law. The latter alone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkxC_-2rMJo) I'm sure will convince you that your opinion needs severe revision and a whole new perspective, one that encompasses Moshiach in the air, at least as a foretaste of achdus Yisrael worldwide and the simchah we'll rejoice with in Yerushalayim that we all tasted the last few days.
ReplyDeletePlus, unless you know the real facts, then statements like "Rubashkin committed fraud and hurt a lot of people" constitute brotherly slander, which is no small sin! So do look deeper into the facts before you issue superficial or misguiding messages.
ReplyDelete