Two Orthodox Jewish rabbis were sentenced to prison Tuesday for their involvement in a plot to kidnap Jewish men in an effort to coerce them into granting their wives religious divorces.
Rabbi Mendel Epstein, 70, of Lakewood N.J. was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Rabbi Binyamin Stimler, 40, of Brooklyn, received three years and three months, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
Epstein was convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in April. Stimler was also convicted on the same charge, as well as attempted kidnapping.
The men were arrested along with eight others after the FBI raided several locations in October 2013, including Yeshiva Shaarei Torah in Suffern, a home in Brooklyn and at least one other location in New Jersey.
The initial investigation stemmed from four incidents occurring between 2009 and 2013.
Prosecutors said the team used brutal methods, including handcuffs and electric cattle prods, to torture men into granting religious divorces.
Jewish law mandates that a husband present his wife with a document, known as a “get,” to make divorce official.
In November, Avrohom Goldstein, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. Ariel Potash, of Monsey, New York, got a sentence of one year and two months, and Sholom Schuchat, of Brooklyn, was sentenced to time served. Moshe Goldstein, 32, of Brooklyn, was also sentenced to four years in prison.
The New Jersey District Attorny’s office said Jay Goldstein, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping, is scheduled to be sentenced this week.
its a chilul hashem
I don’t like seeing a public statement on the internet saying that the one who inflicts the pain to achieve a goal should be honored. Does Halacha honor people who do such a thing? I would hope that Halacha honors the people who can achieve the goal without doing such things. It should be an embarrassment if a judge has to revert to such a primitive, barbaric tactic.
True. The Halacha allows inflicting pain to make him give the get. Whoever does this, al pi Halacha, probably deserves to be honored.
However, think! The way American society is set-up, can you reasonably expect the system to condone beating the _____ out of the guy? I don’t think so.
Until Moshiach comes, is it unreasonable for the justice system to punish the men, if, indeed they did use such tactics?
I checked #16 again – and what you believe #16 means – is not what #16 wrote. I am glad you re-phrased it. It shows that at least you know that the kind of dramatics, exaggeration and self-entitlement expressed in #16 is not the way to present a valid platform. There is a chance that if women who are refused a GETT stay calm and deal with their situation in a rational manner – that the husband will not find the same level of satisfaction by withholding the GETT. In a case where the man wants the woman to suffer… Read more »
Thank you for your comment. As others my have also misunderstood what I meant. I am not comparing head coverings – I am discussing the laws in America that keep us safe and free.
In civil law we call it setting a precedent.
If the a court will allow a Jew to kidnap and torture because it is a holy thing to do – it sets the precedent for other religions – such as Muslim – to carry out barbaric acts with the reasoning that it is according to their religion.
No sympathy for him, I know of a woman that paid him money to help her with getting a get. Only to have the man pay him more money and then he changed sides and acted as the mans Toyen (lawyer) in Bais din.
he was a low life only out for the MONEY
With all due respect, I don’t care if Shabbos seems like a Seventh Day Adventist ritual, or if a tichel looks like a hijab. What these Rabbonim did is sanctioned in halacha, and they deserve at least our respect if not outright support. Unfortunately, they were massered on and this is the result.
IIRC, the Rambam says if the husband doesn’t give the get, they (Beis Din) beat him (he says beat, not torture) until he agrees, and justifies his position by saying every Jew really wants to do Hashem’s will, beating him is to shut up the yetzer hora so the husband realizes he really wants to do Hashem’s will.
I believe what the author of #16 meant was, that although we know everything is from Hashem etc, but a woman who wants to receive her get, and then marry, and build a family and is being prevented from doing so, does go through a very rough time. So although yes, she believes everything is from Hashem, and she will try going around with a smile, and continue with life, and be productive etc, yet we are all human, and no doubt deep inside there is a huge amount of pain and worry that this woman experiences.
Declarations of extreme pain, that no one can understand, indicates that the ones complaining do not recognize other people also have pain. They are so self-centered that they declare their pain is the worst of all – they have no empathy for the pain of others. I feel sorry for the next guy to fall into the trap of marrying such a woman. As long as they claim ultimate victimhood – it is best to let them enjoy their grand status and not let them loose to mess with other men. And yes – I have been an Agunah. I… Read more »
I will clarify
Why can you torture a man till he agrees to give the get? But doesn’t he have to give it of his own free will?
Answer ; because deep down in his soul he wants to do the right thing
I believe most poskim agree that its considered a “forced” get and its invalid. That Halacha does not apply to the way these people are going about it. Anybody with this knowledge please weigh in…
BS”D
how do you people who never helped yourself declare
‘ where are the people who he helped ‘, are you sure they did nothing, it is more than likely that each and everyone gave sentencing letters to the judge, what did you complainers and criticizers do for him for anyone else for that matter
Any woman who has gone through the nisoyon of being an agunah, and who has remained frum and loyal to Hashem, deserves the greatest brochos from on High for having passed such a tremendous nisoyon.
No woman should have to suffer like that!
One aguna described her situation as “she had no more tears left to cry.”
Waiting around in limbo, and unable to meet anyone for shidduchim and move on in life, fighting for freedom, and having a dream to rebuild life and a new family, and trying to stay sane and frum at the same time, is one of the greatest forms of torture for any woman.
Please read the article in this months Neshei Chabad. You will hopefully gain a feeling as to the pain that agunos are going through.
Situation that whatever you do will be held against you.
The agudah feminist organizations are a fraud just looking to cause havoc in orthodox communities.
chutzpah learn halacha it says clearly if a man refuses to gve his wife a get you torture him till he says i want to
Maybe it is time for the agunahs to find a legal way to demand a get in american courts
There must be a law that these awful men are committing when holding the get hostage and destroying their wives & families
The reason for the discrepancy in sentencing is that some of the people on trial accepted a deal for a plea of guilty before the trial ended. Rabbi Epstein chose not to accept the deal and hoped he would be found innocent. Although I am a proponent for agunos I can tell you that many persons over the years (some of them involved in this case) have taken many tens of thousands of dollars from families of victims and then have done NOTHING to help them. The sad thing is that in this case the judge decided to “throw the… Read more »
Your exclamation marks are not convincing. There are a lot of reasons that cause people to suffer. Usually their friends and families work towards helping the suffering person to learn to cope and overcome. But in the case of an un-getted woman – her supporters encourage her stay a victim and make a fuss about how she is suffering. There are lots of ways to lead an enriched life even if you aren’t free from a sour marriage. You are lucky if you have your health, and somethings there are children. You have to look at what you can do… Read more »
I am happy that I live in a country that does not tolerate kidnapping and torturing for religious reasons.
To support Epstein is not that far from supporting Sharia law. Muslims also have holy reasons for what they do.
The women who incite rabbis to take such actions are not worthy of our support.
Do get a life!!! You have no idea of what it means to suffer!!!
It is not allowed to use physical force to obtain a get. And do not answer a fool lest you become like him.
Where are all the activists now? They were shouting for support when there were women who were stuck waiting for getts. Here is one man that stepped up to help them, worked very hard to get them freed. Why isn’t this man’s cause important now? He should be treated as a hero!
Who mussered on them? Hashem should bless the musser’s wife, hopefully ex-wife, that she has no problems from him.
He saved so many lost neshamas from dimented husbands.His mesirus nephesh should be rewarded not punished.Sad indeed.
An appeal fund should be set up now!!!
where are all the Agunah activists????????
He did the work for them and they are not showing support.
Why did one guy get ten years and the others significantly less?
The problem was that they charged a few thousand not that they did it.