Zalmen Wilhelm Drops from Vaad Hakohol Race

CrownHeights.info has just learned that Zalmen Wilhelm has dropped out of the race for Vaad Hakohol. This move comes as a surprise after he was reinstated, along with Shea Hecht, by the entire Bais Din headed by Rabbi Avrohom B. Rosenberg.

SUNDAY: Meet the Candidates for Vaad

This Sunday there will be a chance to meet the candidates running for Vaad Hakohol. The event will take place in Lubavitcher Yeshiva 570 Crown Street at 8:30pm on Sunday, June 6th.

Each candidate will be given 5 minutes to present himself and his plans for the community. Following the presentations there will be a question and answer session.

Defense Rests After Leah Rubashkin Testifies in Trial

WATERLOO, IA — Testimony has ended in the child labor trial of Sholom Rubashkin.

After a lunch break, the defense indicated it didn’t have any more witnesses, and the state didn’t call any rebuttal witnesses.

Hecht and Wilhelm Reinstated as Candidates for Vaad

The Bais Din, headed by Rabbi Avrohom B. Rosenberg, has reversed its ruling from last week which disqualified two candidates from running in the elections for Vaad Hakohol. Rabbi Shea Hecht and Rabbi Zalman Wilhelem have been returned to the ballot.

DCI Investigator Asked to Guess Ages of Agri Workers

WATERLOO, IA — Defense attorneys for Sholom Rubashkin quizzed the state’s lead investigator over the age of Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants detained in the 2008 Agriprocessors raid Thursday.

Speaking of Hope Through Our Photo Competition

Twelve-year-old Iowa native Meir Simcha Rubashkin documents his personal view of his hometown in Postville with specific snapshots and captions. The story his photographs tell is one of the past, present, and future.

Agriprocessors Mngr Bragged About Firing Minors

The jury is dismissed for the day. The attorneys are now hashing out some issues related to evidence presented today.

Aaron Goldsmith said he made an unannounced visit with a university professor to Agriprocessors in 2007 and found it to be a clean, well-run plant. He later brought many groups to tour the plant

Attorneys Battle Over Motion to Dismiss Rubashkin Case

Court is adjourned until tomorrow morning, when the defense is schedule to present its case to the jury.

Sholom Rubashkin’s defense team argued this afternoon that the judge should throw out all 83 misdemeanor child labor charges because the state did not prove the former plant executive wanted to hire or actually hired any minors.

“The case is underwhelming and ill-conceived and should be put to a stop right now,” said defense attorney Mark Weinhardt. “The evidence in this case is that Mr. Rubashkin did absolutely nothing.”

Update: List of Candidates for Vaad Hakohol Released

After challenging the candidacy of a number of potential candidates, Rabbi Avrohom B. Rosenberg released his ruling late last night.

Judge Calls Witnesses Credibility into Question

After the jury left the courtroom yesterday, defense attorney F. Montgomery Brown asked the prosecution to turn over all evidence — if it hasn’t already — related to transcripts or summaries of interviews of witnesses by government agents after the immigration raid.

When presented with a written record on cross-examination, most of the witnesses have said they don’t remember any specifics about the interviews. Others said they don’t remember doing any interviews.

Workers Detail Work at Agriprocessors Plant

WATERLOO — Among the mountains of bogus immigration records and job applications with fake names and birthdays in the case against Sholom Rubashkin, the two documents prosecutors keep coming back to are yearbooks.

Beware of Deceptive Missionary Materials in CH

Missionary activity is nothing new to Brooklyn, please be advised, Crown Heights in particular is being littered with missionary materials aimed at deceiving Jews.

Deitsch Family Prints the 5565th Edition of the Tanaya

In memory of their beloved son and brother, Nosson, the Deitsch family printed the 5565th edition of the Tanya in their home, while sitting shiva for Nosson, in his memory.

Edwin Black Highly Critical of Rubashkin Trial

Sholom Rubashkin, former operator of Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse in Iowa, stands to be sentenced for life for financial infractions. Jury selection is in progress in a second trial against Rubashkin, where he is accused of employing minors and exposing them to dangerous chemicals and machinery on the plant.

While initially seen as an internal, American criminal issue, the Rubashkin case has now attracted international Jewish attention and concern, due to the severity of the potential sentence, which is due to be announced in the coming weeks. Award-winning investigative journalist Edwin Black was interviewed this week by Israel National Radio’s Eli Stutz, and revealed his findings on the prosecution and his opinions about its severity. Black is highly critical of the prosecution, and desired to give “a real second look at what is being done.”

US Attorneys Concered over Rubashkin’s Letter Campaign

As a federal judge in Iowa prepares to sentence the orthodox Jewish owner of what once was the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant, ABC News has learned the details of a quiet campaign to paint his fraud prosecution as “mean-spirited” and the recommended life sentence as “vindictive and excessive.”

Five former U.S. Attorneys General have written letters to the judge in defense of the plant owner, Sholom Rubashkin. Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr has penned an op-ed in the Des Moines Register deriding the proposed life sentence for a fraud that paled in scope to Bernie Madoff’s $65 billion, decades-long Ponzi scheme. And the Anti-Defamation League, among others, wrote to the Justice Department with alarm about “troubling” signs that prosecutors deemed Rubashkin a flight risk merely by virtue of the fact that he is Jewish, and thus could escape to Israel.