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| 25 Bialystoker Place, New York |
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| Rabbi Aschkenazy |
It says that Rabbi Aschkenazy had a side deal that he would make 3 million dollars from the deal and that 10 million dollars would go to the Gerer chasidim. See new york post story here....http://nypost.com/2015/10/23/judge-temporarily-blocks-13m-sale-of-jewish-non-profit-building/ and here...http://nypost.com/2016/03/31/feds-eye-rabbi-who-tried-to-sell-synagogue-for-13-million/
The story says that the FBI served the rabbi with papers (subpoena???) when he came out of the civil lawsuit but does not say what kind of papers. There are a lot more questions than answers. What does an elderly man need 3 million dollars? Is it for his family? His children? How do we even know he was supposed to receive 3 million dollars.
It also opens up questions about any non profit in America. Can any group of outsiders come in and take over and then just sell the building? Are there are any rules and regulations about this? What if all of the members of the non profit passed away, who takes over then? The government? Is that fair?
This case has a lot of questions and we cannot judge anyone till we have all the facts. From the government, from the rabbi and then we may figure out the truth. The devil is in the details.
If he ends up in prison, chas veshalom, he should at least request Otisville, which is good for the orthodox Jews. But since he is an old man, whatever the outcome of the case, they should leave him alone. It is cruel and inhuman punishment to put an elderly man in prison. In my opinion it is a crime to jail an elderly person. He/she has enough tsurus(suffering.) I was there for my white collar crime....http://www.amazon.com/PRISON-expect-Federal-Bureau-Prisons-ebook/dp/B011GTWLOG. They put you in jail with violent and dangerous anti semitic felons.
In my case, I got a forfeiture of 2.5 million dollars. However, I never saw one piece, not even one piece of paper from the government pursuant to BRADY. My lawyer said sign it or you will get hammered. Is that Justice? The government strong arms people.Is that Justice or is that in itself cheating and underhanded behavior. How far can the government go before they cross the line and they are themselves committing a crime. Look at nazi Germany, the greatest democracy of the world back then and look what happened. Let us slow down and I hope the government does their homework.
As you may notice, I read the news stories from the US Attorneys office . How about when the US Attorney takes a half a billion dollars from a Swiss bank where does that money go? Does it go to make golden statutes, marble walls and floors in federal buildings? Is that cheating the public? Why cannot they take that money and feed the poor and homeless. There is so much money floating around there needs to be accountability.That is why in the Torah, in Parshas Pekudim, there is a very detailed accounting where the money went on spending for the Mishkan (Tabernacle). We must learn from the Torah and apply it to the government. It is only fair, it is only just.
What happens if Trump becomes President? Will there be golden monuments made in his honor? Is that what the American Taxpayer will support? Each and every human being needs accountability, like the Torah says , Justice Justice thou shalt pursue.I guess we have not reached that lofty level yet.
This reminds me of my uncle's shul, Rabbi Yosef Singer, that he was rabbi of for 35 years and then a relative tried to sell it to a church and they forced him out of the shul. This is the story that appeared in the village voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/news/crisis-of-faith-6415647
At the end of the day, they kicked out Rabbi Singer. Rabbi Singer and Abe Shwarzman have both passed away. Remember, G-d keeps score of every penny, and every life. We cannot cheat a human being. It comes back to haunt us. I learned myself the hard way, spending 1316 days for Immigration Fraud and fined 2.5 million dollars.
A lot of chassidism are into materialism.Don't flaunt it. They forget their humble beginnings. You cannot be like a chazer or pig. Be the same on the inside and out. Make money honestly and not with underhanded means.
Crisis of Faith
TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2001 AT 4 A.M.
Three times in the last three weeks, padlocks to the synagogue at 180 Stanton Street have been changed—once to keep the congregation from establishing a squatters' claim, and twice to keep the rabbi and his family from moving the Torahs to another shul.
Holy life here hasn't always been so hostile. For the past 35 years Rabbi Joseph Singer voluntarily managed the tenement-style building, luring daveners to morning services with hot coffee and cake, sometimes a piece of gefilte fish. On holidays, they got chickens, and dues were never required. Paul Cowan, a Voicereporter in the 1970s, once noted that Singer's "passion for people ignored all price tags."
Then, last May, the 85-year-old rabbi and his immediate family quietly contracted to sell the synagogue for $1.2 million to Jesuit brother Rick Curry's National Theatre Workshop for Handicapped Children. Ten months later, the congregation was finally notified. "Please do not worry that you will lose out on anything that you enjoy now," read the March 9 handbill, attributed to Singer, who explained that the congregation was having trouble getting the 10 men needed in order to hold services and would be moved to the Litovisker Shul, on Delancey, closer to the ailing rabbi's home.
"It was all done in secret," says one congregant. "How can one man make the decision to sell a functioning synagogue? Isn't that against the rules?"
UPCOMING EVENTS
Perhaps. The congregation—two or three dozen elderly Lower East Siders allied with a younger guard of artists—claims the building was originally deeded as a religious corporation and is therefore owned by the board of trustees. The rabbi's family claims to compose a majority of the board, but congregants say they never elected them. They've lobbied the New York State attorney general's Charity Bureau to prevent the sale. A spokesperson there declined to discuss the case in detail.
Singer's family says the Stanton Street congregation doesn't exist. "It's not really a synagogue," says Abe Schwarzman, Singer's son-in-law. "The membership has dwindled, and the only reason why people come is because it's more of a social hall. They don't start praying on time; they just come for the food."
Schwarzman says the rabbi never told congregants about the sale because the real estate lawyer for the deal, Katharine Baecher, advised him "that we should get it through as quick as possible, not to make any waves." But Baecher says she has never spoken or met with Rabbi Singer.
"It's specious," says Iris Blutreich, a congregant who has been tacking up Save the Stanton Street Shul posters around the neighborhood. "So people come late or for food. That's no reason to close a synagogue."
The synagogue's faithful have also appealed to local Jewish authorities. In an initial ruling, Rabbi David Feinstein decreed that the "sale of the shul should take place." Feinstein has since told the Voice he lacks the authority to decide whether Singer can sell the building, but maintains that the bulk of any proceeds must go to local Jewish charities—a category that includes one run by Feinstein himself. Further, the first list of committee members who would parcel out the money is packed with leaders whose personal nonprofits would benefit.
"That's a conflict of interest," says Blutreich. "First, how can other people decide whether another institution, which they have nothing to do with, should exist or not? Second, how can they receive funds from destroying it?"
In the ruling, Rabbi Feinstein also awarded Rabbi Singer a $300,000 pension. Singer, who worked two paying jobs while running the synagogue, says that he never asked for a pension, and that when he first consulted Rabbi Feinstein, the orthodox authority told him money from the sale could go toward Feinstein's yeshiva.
For now, morning and weekend services continue—when the doors are open.
The Singer family says it still plans to sell the building. "Even if these people do breathe some life into the synagogue in the next couple of months, it will just be artificial resuscitation," Schwarzman says. "Whether it be six months or a year, I don't know. But it cannot exist."
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