The Secretive Rubashkin Team

By COLlive reporter
Photos by Bentzi Sasson

When former kosher meat executive Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin was released from prison on Wednesday, December 20, 2017, the news was received with widespread joy, but also shock.

After his legal team’s many attempts to get a fair review of his harsh sentence of 27 years for bank fraud were turned down over and over, many began to view his imprisonment as a reality.

The public was in total surprise when President Donald Trump commuted him on the last day of Chanukah citing a large bipartisan push for the measure.

But for a few people, the move was no surprise.

This key group of frum Jewish activists has been working and pulling every string possible in the last few years to get a pardon or commutation from the White House.

Among that group were Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ); Miami Rabbi Sholom Ber Lipskar and Los Angeles Rabbi Zvi Boyarsky of the Aleph Institute; Colel Chabad Director Rabbi Sholom Duchman; Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar and activist Rabbi Shloimi Peles.

Together, with the input of Rubashkin family members and attorneys Alan Dershowitz and Gary Apfel, they worked with the administration of Barack Obama, and when those efforts failed, with the administration of Donald Trump.

Rubashkin met with the group on Tuesday to personally thank them for their tireless efforts. They first met at the Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens and then continued to Lubavitch Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, where they met Rubashkin and his wife Leah Rubashkin.

At a lavish luncheon in the home of Rubashkin’s brother Yossi Rubashkin in Crown Heights, participants toasted l’chaim thanking Hashem for the blessings and miracles. Singer Benny Friedman accompanied by Fitche Benshimon entertained.

Joining the meal were Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, Rabbi Sholom Ber Hecht and Rabbi Shea Hecht of the NCFJE organization, Rubashkin’s father R’ Avrohom Aaron Rubashkin, Crown Heights Rabbi Moshe Bogomilsky, Rabbi Zev Katz, author Rabbi Simon Jacobson, businessman Joe Popack, and COLlive publisher Mica Soffer.

Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch who served as the Rebbe‘s secretary, publically thanked President Trump and all the people involved in the effort – from the early stages to the most recent.

One of the early defenders of Rubashkin was Rabbi Sholom Ber Hecht of the NCFJE organization. He recalled the meeting in the same home 10 years earlier to plan the strategy which raised millions of dollars – primarily from the Lubavitch community.

He mentioned how halacha discusses how the “makeh b’patish” – the one completing the job – gets all the credit for the entire work. Hecht told the group of activists that they “certainly had the zchus to, Baruch Hashem, bring about this great geulah.”

Rabbi Eckstein was honored for being the “makeh b’patish” who got the final action in the efforts to commute Rubashkin’s sentence with his deep bipartisan connections in Washington, DC.

“There were people who worked for years, longer than I, and to be a makeh b’patish is not to take credit for anything,” Eckstein responded. “I was simply a vessel for Hashem to work through. I was really a small part of making this miracle possible.”

Revealing that one of his contacts was White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, Eckstein said: “Baruch Hashem, I had the contacts that were needed to bring this to a close. And there was never any question of using those contacts to the fullest, and using whatever needed to be done to do my part.”

He asked participants to give a standing ovation to Rabbi Boyarski of the Aleph Organization, who tirelessly worked on Rubashkin’s behalf alongside others in the group, garnering the support needed.

Eckstein said he promised Rubashkin’s daughter Rosa Weiss, “when this is over, we’ll drink a l’chaim together. So I came here from Israel,” he said.

“I want you to know,” Eckstein added, “the bitachon that was instilled in all of us because of you, was infectious and led to everyone else having bitachon as well.”

Video: Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein awarded with thanks