Oct 17, 2011

Toronto Rabbi Arrested For Fraud Turns Out To Be a...

A rabbi in Toronto, Avraham David, was just arrested for fraud. Turns out the fraud, to the tune of 25,000 immigration applications at a few of $30,000 each, does not even include the fact that he was not actually a rabbi or even Jewish! Rabbi Avraham David's real name is Earl Seth David and for years ran a law firm in Manhattan through which he committed his immigration fraud. David had taken the identity of a religious Jew named Avraham David  who had moved away from new York, and adopted th identity.

David as a rabbi seemed to be involved in Torah codes. According to The Globe and Mail (the other articles I read deal more with the fraud and little about David's background as a rabbi):
At his home in a largely Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood in North York, Rabbi Avraham David lived the life of a scholar, writing treatises on the Torah and indulging his passion for numerology. He said a code within the holy texts contained everything from predictions on current events to a recipe for an oil that could cure male pattern baldness. Mr. David had written a book on the topic and, for a small fee, would also interpret people’s dreams.
[...]
In online postings, Mr. David said he was the scion of a dynasty of Hassidic Jewish leaders. Among his ancestors, he wrote, were Moshe Langner and Solomon Langner, a prominent Orthodox rabbi in Toronto during the mid-20th century at the Kiever Shul in Kensington Market.
[...]
From Toronto, Mr. David continued to sell his 2003 Torah book, Code of the Heart, gave interviews on numerology and penned missives on the hidden meanings within weekly Torah portions. He kept a pet parrot and became involved with a small Orthodox congregation downtown.


Online, he commented on current affairs, writing that last year’s earthquake in Haiti was a sign that Israel should “take heed and be fearful” and criticizing a Jewish blogger for writing about crimes committed by Jews.


Just three months ago, Mr. David bought a half-million-dollar house near Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue on a street of well-appointed, detached brick homes. The property is registered to him and Salome Fernandez Palomo. A woman who answered the phone at the home Wednesday evening hung up immediately.
Any of you Torontonians know him or more about this?

16 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. "Toronto Rabbi Arrested For Fraud Turns Out To Be Non-Jew"

    Oh well, I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies.

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  3. Source for his not being Jewish, please?

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    1. of course I am Jewish. For the blog to say that I am not Jewish, is a fraud.

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    2. the blog does not say you are or are not Jewish. the blog quotes an article and then asks if any readers know more information.

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  4. That's too funny.

    I wonder how he came to have such knowledge to pull it off.

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  5. his book

    oy.

    he's not the only ignoramus doing torah codes / gematria stuff, but i guess the clearest.

    the way:
    probably because it does not take much knowledge to do this stuff. just a computer program.

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    1. ignoramus, you must be talking about yourself buddy. I am sure you could one do even 1 plus 1

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  6. If you look at page 19 of the book (available through Amazon's site via Josh's link above), he goes through his background that he claims as fact.

    On page 21, he writes, "you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy reading this book." If these allegations are true, that would apply to writing it either.

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  7. it was mentioned in bechadrei, but I think it is implied in the other articles, especially by the friends he was involved with.

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  8. Haven't heard of him in my 2+ years living in Toronto

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  9. Behadrei corrected their story. Apparently, he is Jewish - just not a rabbi.

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  10. "Behadrei corrected their story. Apparently, he is Jewish - just not a rabbi."

    With absolutely no disrespect to Yaak (who is only the herald) one simply could not make this sort of story up.

    First the character assassination - THEN the retraction - just a leetle bit too late to fix the damage already caused.

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  11. for you to say in the headline, that the Toronto Rabbi is a non Jew, that itself is a fraud.

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  12. why does the title make the difference? I changed it in case it is true, but I do not understand..

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    1. the whole episode of aka Rabbi David shows you the anti semitism of the prosecutor. I never once wrote to immigration that I am a Rabbi. All of a sudden it is all about Rabbi David.

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