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Federal Judge Allows Drug Convict to Visit Ohel
A Staten Island drug kingpin under house arrest has been granted permission to join his fiancé in a visit to the tomb of the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, so the couple can prepare for their marriage.
Jonathan Braun is facing more than 20 years in prison.
Braun, who is an Orthodox Jew, will be allowed to visit his future in-laws to make the official announcement of their nuptials, and also leave his home to shop for a wedding ring, get fitted for a tuxedo and accompany the unidentified fiancé to doctor visits, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Federal Judge Sandra Townes will also allow Braun to attend an engagement party and a seven-night ceremony called “‘Sheva Brachot’ in which close family members gather at a home or restaurant and recite blessings for the newly married couple,” court papers say.
Thousands of visitors make the pilgrimage to the rebbe’s resting place in Queens for “blessing, encouragement, or advice,” according to the Ohel Chabad-Lubavitch Center web site.
Federal prosecutors had opposed Braun’s release on $8 million bail, but apparently took no position on whether he should be allowed to leave his home to make ready for his wedding.
He pleaded guilty earlier this year to supervising a massive marijuana ring that conspired to distribute 10,000 kilos from Canada into the U.S. between 2007 and 2010. He admitted using encrypted BlackBerry devices to communicate with his underlings.
“At its height … Braun’s organization raked in more than $6 million per week,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Tiscione stated in court papers.
Braun also reputedly deployed a small army of boatmen and drivers who used vehicles with hidden compartments to transport drugs from Canada through the Akwesasne Native American reservations to New York, court papers say.
Defense lawyer John Meringolo did not return a call seeking comment about the wedding.
Con jugal visits
Why get married if your going to jail?
elki
why can’t sholom Mordechai go to the ohel, and get out of jail.
SMR has requested many times to go to the Ohel and every request was turned down.
Milhouse
Sholom has already been sentenced and is in prison; there is no such thing as “vacations” from prison. This person has not yet been sentenced, and is merely under house arrest, which is routinely varied to allow for necessary outings. If he is sentenced to prison, then he will have to stay there, and will not be allowed any “field trips”.
K
Milhouse, stop talking shtusim and misleading the public! In the United States, convicts in prison ARE allowed temporary absences. They are referred to as furloughs and in 1989 were available in 48 states as well as in the District of Columbia and at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. All states which have furlough programs include medical and compassionate grounds as reasons for granting absences. Fourteen states have very limited programs which only allow absences for medical and compassionate reasons and for specific rehabilitation programs offered in the community. More extensive programs allow furloughs for work/study programs, family visitation and rehabilitative programs.
These furloughs last from one day, up to 15 days or more in at least 6 states!
So when Milhouse writes “there is no such thing as “vacations” from prison” – he is wrong.
He may respond (as usual) “ma inyan shmita aitzel har sinai”,with a misinformed claim that these furloughs are only for medical reasons etc.- but that is k’darko bakodesh. of refusing to admit that he is wrong.
Sparky
Milhouse = OWNED!
Slap, bam BOOOOOM!
Milhouse
KKK is right, it is indeed possible to get a furlough from federal prison, though (as far as I can tell) only from prison camps, not actual prisons, and if the prisoner has less than two years left to serve. And even then it’s entirely up to the warden of that camp, who can deny an application for any reason. I’m not sure whether SMR is in the Otisville camp or the prison, but in any case he has much more than two years left. So he doesn’t seem likely to get any furloughs any time soon; yehi rotzon that he should never get one, because he’ll get out before he becomes eligible.
Milhouse
KKK, the snark was entirely uncalled for. If I don’t know something I readily admit it. I have no problem admitting I was wrong on the rare occasion that that happens; but it doesn’t often happen because usually I am right. And I always argue logically, which is why I would never compare shmita to har sinai.
K
Milhouse, stop with the misinformation! Why do you do this? It is a full time job to point out the misinformation in your comments!
To be eligible for a furlough in Otisville the rule was that you had to have been in for at least six months, still had a t least six months to go, and not have any disciplinary problems in past 12 months. THAT IS THE RULE!
I am reviewing all Milhouse comments in the last few pages of this website and have found EACH of his comments to be misleading, I suspect on purpose.
Milhouse
How do you know what the rule was in Otisville? Because you were there?
Now I remember where I said “mah inyan shmita etzel har sinai”, that KKK objects to: it was where he tried to claim that it’s just fine for a child to eat treif, we shouldn’t be concerned about it at all, as if the child will not be harmed by it r”l. And his proof was the fact that those who are not responsible for the child’s chinuch are not required to go out of their way to stop him from eating treif. That is a real shmita/har sinai analogy, i.e. no analogy at all.
It is clear that eating treif does a child tremendous harm, at least as bad as eating poison. Not only is this found practically everywhere, the Rebbe strongly emphasized it, and wrote several times that it’s more important to make sure a child eats kosher than that an adult does so, because the harm in ones formative years can be tremendous. This is what KKK tried to “disprove” with a stupid analogy.
Milhouse
Sparky, anyone who uses a disgusting name like KKK is practically announcing that he is a troll. What legitimate reason would a person have for adopting such a username?
K
Milhouse is the name of a cartoon character on The Simpson’s. Which is systemic of the comical positions he takes:
Milhouse here tells us that “eating treif does a child tremendous harm, at least as bad as eating poison”, however he has NO PROBLEM that ADULTS use treif keilim after admitting that Styrofoam contains tallow, trief fat from trief animals. Comical!
But it doesn’t end there.
Milhouse “paskened” re: Santa putting on tefillin that leather would not be a chatiztza since מין במינו אינו חוצץ. I explained that he is making up this rule to apply to this situation, which it DOESN”T as is clear from l
תפארת ישראל מקוואות פ”ח בועז יב. והצפנת פענח כללי התורה
והמצוות (ח”ג ד”ה חציצה
To this he responds that I claim Milhouse made up the rule of
מין במינו אינו
חוצץ – which is from the Tiferes Yisroel and Tzofnas PAneach…HUH??? The rule of מין במינו אינו
חוצץ is a GEMARAH!!
This is typical misinformation and twisting of facts and trolling by Milhouse.
I am reviewing his comments and it is a full time job to present the emes and weed out half truths or outright lies which mislead the public.
I use the name KKK because I am from BMG’s Kollel, v’dal.
Milhouse
KKK, you are simply a liar. You are making things up out of whole cloth. Anyone can check and see that you are lying; but you are relying on the readers to be too lazy to look at the other posts, and instead to just take your worthless word for it. So I’m telling the reader now, KKK is lying to you. If you want to see who is telling the truth and who is lying, go to the Santa and styrofoam posts and see for yourself.
I did not “admit” that styrofoam contains tallow. I said that it contains zinc stearate that may or may not be made from tallow, but that even if it is this is not a kashrus problem at all, for two reasons: 1) the zinc stearate is tasteless; 2) the amount that could possibly get into the food is so tiny it will definitely be botel. Thus nobody is eating treif at all.
I did not “pasken” that leather would not be a chatiztza. That is a flat-out lie. Anyone capable of reading and comprehending plain English can go to that article and see that I wrote nothing of the sort. You should be ashamed of yourself for making up such lies.
You did indeed claim I made up the rule. Don’t deny it, because anyone can see that you did. And I certainly did not claim that it comes from the Tiferes Yisroel or the Tzofnas PAneach! Again, you are simply lying. You are the one who quoted those seforim; I did not quote them at all, or allude to their contents in any way. I simply wrote that anyone who is capable of reading them, as you claim to be, surely knows the rule, so your claim that I made it up must be a deliberate lie. Now all you’ve done is pile up more lies.
Now go extinguish your pants before you get a serious burn r”l.
Sheesh.
Milhouse
I don’t understand what the BMG kollel has to do with a terrorist organization.
K
Why does Milhouse enjoy being machshil the public? He quotes from the OU that the tallow in Styrofoam utensils is not a kashrus problem – as if that is the final word on it! Oh, I get it, for this, suddenly the O-U is perfectly reliable, on an issue of treif animal fat, but you won’t use O-U shchita of kosher animals or even each O=U potato chips!
The other kashrus organization have a SERIOUS problem with Styrofoam and suggest that it NOT be used with hot foods or sharp food.
The Star-K working closely with Rabbi Gewirtz, became more aware of the problem and began searching for ways to persuade the huge petrochemical companies who produce the plastic resins to stop using additives with tallow based components and switch over to vegetable based alternatives. At the Star-K we had a clear directive from Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, our Rabbinic Administrator, to do whatever was possible to bring about a “tikkun” (Solution) to this problem.
Milhouse MISINFORMS or gives HALF TRUTHS which could be machshil yidden. BEWARE!!
The “heterim” of bitul is problematic because of ein mevatlin issur
lechatchilah(did you “forget” that Milhouse?).
The “heterim” that the treif is tasteless (not a nosen ta’am) is NOT accepted by the Shach Yoreh Deah 103:2:2. (see further e Igros Moshe Yoreh Deah 2:2).
Only a COMBINATION of heterim would remove the issur d’oraysa, but still leave a d’rabbonon.
This isn’t the place to launch into a halacha debate – suffice to say that the O-U allows it (as it does cholov stam, bishul akum etc – suddenly the OU is “ok”??) but other kashrus organizations see a serious need for a “tikkun” of the styrofoam problem.
K
We are dealing with a Milhouse who maliciousley Misapples halachic technical terms to places that they do not apply.
Min b’mino aino chotetzetz does NOT apply to tefilin.
That is comical and comparable to applying the principle of lovud to allow if the tefillin are within 3 tfochim of the hear or arm that it is considered resting on the proper place.
Or the comical psak that an error in the pashiyos of the teffilin (an extra letter) is “bottel”.
This is the approach that Milhouse takes. It is called Novol B’rshus HaTorah and Megaleh Ponim BaTorah Shelo Khalacha.
The K is for Kollel & Keli Kodesh – research BMG and KKK and you might understand.
K
Regarding Styrofoam – Milhouse tries to say that it might not be made with treif tallow, that is a LIE!!!
The following link is from a MANUFACTURER:
Kosher and Halal
In the manufacture of our cups and plates, Dart uses a lubricant in the extrusion process of our polystyrene resin pellets which contains zinc stearate. Zinc stearate (C36 H70 O4 Zn) is ultimately derived from tallow (animal fat). Because of the high temperature and purification steps, the tallow is, in effect, denatured (removed from the class of being “food”). Some religious authorities accept this idea and consider zinc stearate just another processing chemical.
Other religious authorities do not accept this argument of denaturing and further take the position that the presence of even small amounts of tallow-derived processing aids causes contained foods to lose Kosher/Halal status.
Since Dart does utilize these processing aids and given the current differences in theological opinion, we suggest that guidance is sought from your religious leader.
See http://www.dartcontainer.com/web/environ.nsf/pages/health-safety.html
So it IS treif keilim, NO QUESTION, just a question if you can rely on some weak heterim (as per OU) or not (as per other kashrus experts).
Milhouse
Whatever other issues there may or may not be with the OU, its poskim are world-class, at least as good if not better than yours, they know how to learn, and in this case the reasons given simply make sense. The issue is manufactured by those who like to cause problems.
(And if the OU is not good by you, then it seems strange to bring up the Star-K as some sort of paragon.)
No, I didn’t forget אין מבטלין איסור לכתחילה, the article I linked to addresses it. See there.
And yes the fact that the substance is tasteless will not work according to the Shach; for him we will have to rely only on the reason of bittul. But it works just fine according to almost everyone else. Again, this is addressed in the OU article.
Once again, I did not “pasken” that a leather chatzitzah is OK for tefillin. Of course according to the Rashba it’s OK, because he doesn’t hold that chatzitzah is a problem, but for those who do hold it’s a problem, leather is also a problem, despite the rule of min bemino. I did not say or imply otherwise, and your attribution of such a “psak” to me is a blatant lie, for which you owe me an apology.
Your letter from the foam manufacturer is irrelevant; he doesn’t make the stearate. The fact is that zinc stearate (like glycerin, another ingredient that can but doesn’t have to be a kashrus problem) can come from either animal or vegetable sources.
Milhouse
By the way, the OU article doesn’t even mention the fact that the zinc stearate doesn’t have the status of food, and is not being used as an ingredient in food. This itself is a strong sevoro not to worry about it, in addition to the other two reasons.
K
Milhouse claims that the letter from DART, the manufacturer is irrelevant.
Really? The letter states clearly: Zinc stearate (C36 H70 O4 Zn) is ultimately derived from tallow (animal fat).
Oh, maybe that animal chmaltz isn’t from swine but from a cow, AND maybe that cow was shechted…is that, usung Milhouse logic, a sfek sfeka d’hetara?!
Abba
That’s nice.now we need Rubashkins judge to do that!
hey Yoni
Im so happy for you guys.
Mazal Tov on your engagement!
yoni is a good man
Nothing they are saying is true. They forced a guilty plea and when it’s the feds you take it. If rubashkin would have made a deal he would be out today!
CCBilo
You make as if taking a plea is just a piece of cake. Taking the plea is saying that you are guilty – OF EVERYTHING thr feds say that you did.
The feds lie. they lie, to put ppl away for a long time. Unnecessarily mounting up the charges to put ppl away for a lifetime.
These are the same feds who charged Sholom M Rubashkin with 9000+ Charges of child-labor-violations. Yoni says …[make it simple] take the plea, Sholom M Rubashkin KNOWS HE ISNT QUILTY of these charges…. SHOLOM M RUBASHKIN IS EXONERATED!!
get it?
Offensive name
#4 do you think it’s funny to sign in with such and offensive name you have some warped sense of humor
C
I find this to be gossip, and Lashan hara- since when does this site gossip about people’s criminal pasts- he’s a Jew and if he’s facing years in prison we should not gloat or publicize such things- god knows what his fiancé is going through.
rr2y
we beg everyone, please do the Torah way in business. Anyone who does otherwise, compromises other Yidden, its really simple. Just go for help, don’t fall into otherwise.
elki
I cannot say this with surety – my memory may be wrong. However, I seem to recall that Shalom Mordechai was denied a visit to the Ohel before he was sentenced, as well.
YS
I happen to know the the parents of this man very well. The father is a tremendous Baal chesed who gives of his time to hatzoloh day and night for many years now. Please watch what you write on this post. The parents are in enough pain as is.