Photos: Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin Greeted in 770

Since news of the presidents commutation of Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin’s prison term there has been non-stop dancing in 770, which reached a fever pitch when he finally arrived to join in the Simcha together with the massive crowd.

Upon arrival he davened Maariv by the Omud, then gave a brief speech expressing his thanks to the president and to the communities support with the prayers and letters.

The dancing then continued unabated.

30 Comments

  • Yankel Todres

    B”H

    Watching this Simcha makes one look forward to the ultimate Simcha of greeting Moshiach, (which will look just like this, only even greater). May it be the will of the Almighty that just as he freed Reb Sholom Mordechai, he should free us all from Golus, with Moshiach Now!

  • Yochanan

    B”H! Great that he is free but doesen’t make him any less of a criminal. Still on danger list – Community BeWare.

    • Big T

      your a certified putz. even pelosi agreed that the sentence was not inline with the crime. and nothing he did was a danger to the community.

    • SERIOUSLY???

      You equate SMR with being on a danger list like Weberman & JCW’s Wall of Shame?

      Please take your meds.

    • Milhouse

      Exactly what danger do you anticipate from him? Please explain what you imagine he might do to you, or to anyone else, if we don’t “BeWare”? Has he ever harmed anyone in the past? No, he hasn’t.

      Even if his conviction were entirely correct and proper (which it was not), it would only mean he broke the laws of the United States. Why should we care about that? Why should we think less of him for it? I readily admit that he did break laws, and this doesn’t make him any less a tzadik (besheim hamush’ol), or you any less a pey-tzadik.

  • Melbourne Observer

    Sorry, but I find this all sickening. The sentence certainly was harsh but the man was a convicted criminal and some of what came out in the trial was a massive chillul Hashem. He should just be happy for the fact that that he got out early and go home quietly to his family. All this delirious partying is ridiculous and a bad look.

    • NO

      People like you are the haskalah movement now days !!!! Are you not embarrassed? I am assuming you are perfect and don’t take any benefits or do anything wrong and file your taxes accordingly etc etc

    • Ezra

      Absolutely. Other “convicted criminals” whom we should never celebrate:

      * Avraham Avinu (chillul Hashem! You’re supposed to respect the king and follow his laws)
      * Yirmiyahu Hanavi (chillul Hashem! How dare you tell Jews to surrender to goyim?)
      * Maharam Rothenburg (chillul Hashem! Fleeing the country instead of living up to your obligations as the king’s property)
      * The Previous Rebbe (chillul Hashem! Look, the government does nominally allow Torah study, just in small groups. Work within that system!)

    • He's Not a criminal

      I guess you were sold on the lies of the corrupt judge.
      She said he hired illegal immigrants, but everyone had to provide their social security card which was put through the Social Security Administration verification process. You are only required to verify the information you are not required to verify if the potential employee was using a stolen card.
      Ditto “children”. Many 16 & 17 year old could pass as adults. Their SSNs were all verified.
      And for Bank fraud, here was making payments on the loans till the judge froze all his assets. She is the real criminal.
      Millions of people, Jews and non-jews Orthodox and not, rich and poor have all been praying 4/8 years and our prayers were answered.
      And that’s why we spontaneously celebrated this open miracle

    • To Melbourne

      YOU have the chutzpah to comment on criminality? With what has gone on in the Chabad Yeshiva in Melbourne & Malka Leifer?

      Clean up the dirt in your own back yard before you dare attack SMR or the hundreds of thousands who are celebrating his release.

    • Milhouse

      He is a far better Jew and a far better person than you are, and I guarantee his olom habo dwarfs yours, if you even have any. When we come Above they will ask many things, but one thing they will not ask is “were you convicted of a crime against the state”. Up there they simply don’t care about that. I don’t know whether on an objective scale he’s a tzadik, a benoni, or a rosho, but when grading on the curve he’s definitely one of the “tzadikim”, the “top one-percenters” as the new expression has it.

      Look what’s happening now in Sydney. A court has decreed כתבו לכם על קרן השור, and all rabbonim are now criminals for refusing to declare that the government’s laws come before the Shulchon Oruch. It is an issur de’oraisa for them to do as the court demands, and they are required by the Torah to go to prison, if necessary, to uphold the principle that דברי הרב ודברי העבד דברי מי קודמין. Will you be there to lock the door on them and say they’re “convicted criminals”?

  • B"H B"H B"H!!!

    To those with harsh words for Sholom Mordechai, please remember “al tadin es chavercha ad shetagiya limkomo”.

  • Not a hero

    Yes it was an awful prison sentence for him and his family, and glad they are not suffering anymore. He is a criminal, he committed a serious crime, and now he is being treated like a hero. All this dancing and singing for him is not setting a good example to the children. A CRIMINAL IS NOT A HERO !!

    • Ezra

      Indeed. Thus, neither Avraham Avinu, nor Yirmiyahu Hanavi, nor Maharam Rothenburg, nor the Previous Rebbe should be our heroes either. After all, all of them committed serious crimes and were jailed for them.

    • Moishe

      The real criminals in this case are the judge and persecutors. You are probably disappointed because you are one of those idiots who read Fake Jewish News called “Forward” which is responsible for injustice done to Rubashkin.

    • Chona Nosson Gewirtz

      You’re missing the point. The issue is not whether or not he did or didn’t do something. The issue is about his having been disparately treated by the justice system because of who he is and what he represents. It was an attack on all of us and our way of life. The harsh decree is over and it is a great occasion for all of us to rejoice in this revealed miracle which occurred on Zos Chanukah, a day when there’s actual light shining in a world of darkness. Not in a disguised way but in it’s plain self.

    • ahavasyisroel

      I am sure if he was your son or father, you would be dancing and singing for him too

    • He was targeted because was a chasid

      The liberal jews found a new cause called Hechsher Tzedek which would ensure worker conditions were respected in order for an item to be kosher. What better way to get the movement off the ground, than to use the Fed to prove that the largest kosher slaughter house was abusing their Guatemalan workers. When the worker abuse case fell apart and the Fed had Egg on their face, they found something (relatively minor) to prosecute SMR. This is the reason for the celebration, since the whole thing was a hatchet job from the get go.

    • Amused Observer

      To Ezra:

      You might want to look up “False Equivalence”.

      Or are you equally willing to say that Timothy McVeigh, for example, is a “hero”. After all, he committed a serious crime and was jailed for it.

    • Ezra

      Amused Observer: you’re actually equating someone who killed 168 innocent people with Reb Sholom Mordechai, or with the personages I mentioned? Are you really that delusional?

    • Milhouse

      Yes, he is a hero, and “amused observer” is the one introducing a false equivalence. Breaking a law does not make one a hero, but neither does it diminish one’s heroism, if any.

      Enduring prison with stoicism and bitochon, though, without losing ones principles or succumbing to Stockholm Syndrome, is itself heroic. SMR was a good person going in, but not an outstanding person, not a hero, just stam a wonderful Jew. But his experience there, and how he handled it, make him a genuine hero.

  • Arron Migdal

    Wow the entire chassidishe litvish world is celebrating pidyon Shviem of a yid and the Chabad world is doing what they do best.

    FYI: its not the crime they are celebrating its that a shomre Torah umitzvos is home and out of danger.

    Putzim!

  • Yankel Todres

    B”H
    You “Nay Sayers” are all out of your minds. Can the Golus be this great? Our brother has been freed from prison! There is no place here for thought, balance or logic. Our brother is back with us, there is only room for limitless happiness, dancing and joy! May we be Zoche to greet Moshiach Now, still rejoicing over our brothers freedom!

  • So sad that you actually posted such comments!

    I truly believe that comments that are against our way of life should not be published. It’s a chilul hashem

  • So sad that you actually posted such comments!

    If you have nothing positive to say, just don’t say it

  • Chana

    Why did the comments so quickly devolve into mudslinging from either side of the aisle? The way that Jews from all over the world and all denominations have come together to celebrate the release of their brother is a taste of Moshiach times when klal Yisrael will unite! We are living in incredible times where ideas that were so far from our understanding are now on the forefront. We should be uniting together in celebration, not sending rude comments back and forth to each other on COL. It’s beneath us as yidden. We must put aside the golus mindset and stop allowing the yetzer hara to be in the drivers seat. Moshiach now!