Until today I didn’t cry. Until today my eyes did not water nor shed a tear. Until today my heart did not skip a single beat. Until today I did not lose a moment’s sleep. I am not a friend or relative of the Rubashkin family and I’ve never met Sholom Rubashkin.
Until today I read the mainstream news and followed the blogs. Until today I analyzed the facts and debated the case. Did Sholom Rubashkin commit a crime? If he did, was it intentional? Is he a vicious felon or a misguided fool? Was he actively involved in the crimes that were committed or was he simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? If he is a criminal, does he deserve prison time? If so, how many years? Should they be served in a minimum, medium or maximum security facility? Was the raid on Agriprocessors instigated by PETA and the unions? Is the prosecution being overzealous? Is there an anti-Semitic element to the prosecution?
Op-Ed: Man, Interrupted
Until today I didn’t cry. Until today my eyes did not water nor shed a tear. Until today my heart did not skip a single beat. Until today I did not lose a moment’s sleep. I am not a friend or relative of the Rubashkin family and I’ve never met Sholom Rubashkin.
Until today I read the mainstream news and followed the blogs. Until today I analyzed the facts and debated the case. Did Sholom Rubashkin commit a crime? If he did, was it intentional? Is he a vicious felon or a misguided fool? Was he actively involved in the crimes that were committed or was he simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? If he is a criminal, does he deserve prison time? If so, how many years? Should they be served in a minimum, medium or maximum security facility? Was the raid on Agriprocessors instigated by PETA and the unions? Is the prosecution being overzealous? Is there an anti-Semitic element to the prosecution?
Until today it was all about facts and figures.
What happened today changed everything. Today I witnessed the shell of a man. Today I saw the hollow, lifeless version of a previously lively and vibrant person. Today I saw dullness and lifelessness in the shallow sockets where kind eyes ones sparkled. Today I saw a broken man and a tattered spirit. I witnessed the death of a soul and the destruction of character.
The photos and video of Sholom Rubashkin prior to his current imprisonment portray him as standing tall and proud, his brisk walk and friendly wave betraying hope, his broad shoulders exuding confidence, and the words to his supporters evidence of his unwavering faith and resilience.
But the photos released throughout the past few days show a pale, balding, slumped, sad and broken skeleton of what was once a vivacious and energetic Sholom Rubashkin. His rapidly graying beard serves as a testament to the physical and mental deterioration the entire ordeal has had upon him. His feeble gait and blank stare are indications of his rapid decline and accelerated aging.
When I witnessed the physical and spiritual punishment Sholom Rubashkin has endured as a result of his legal nightmare, all bets were off. This was no longer an issue of right or wrong, innocence or guilt, six years in prison versus life imprisonment, or minimum security versus maximum security.
It is now about a person. A man who, through a series of whirlwind events, went from being a small-town rabbi to becoming the CEO of a multi-million dollar corporation. A man who went from navigating the intricacies of the Talmud and Kabbalah to managing the daily stresses of operating Agriprocessors. A man who went from trying to maintain a religiously observant home to keeping a major corporation financially viable and legally compliant. A man who went from fighting his evil inclination to fending off attacks from PETA, the unions and, in some cases, fellow Jews.
A man who went from sitting around the Shabbat table with his wife, ten children and multitude of guests, to being incarcerated in a tiny windowless cell, among the most violent criminals. A man who went from looking forward to raising his children and grandchildren to being apart from them for months and facing the possibility of never spending another Shabbat with them again.
If Sholom Rubashkin deserves to be punished for his crimes, he has already been destroyed. If he deserves to go from CEO to a humbled man, he has already been eternally humiliated. If he deserves the defamation of his character, his name has already been dragged through the mud beyond the possibility of recovery. If society must be assured that it will be protected from further crimes by Sholom Rubashkin, it is an absolute certainty, after what he’s already been through, that he will never associate himself with anything that even remotely resembles criminal behavior.
His financial security is forever gone and the respect he once received is permanently diminished. His name is dirt and his reputation is destroyed. He is a broken, humbled and shamed man. Given his freedom he will undoubtedly live the most humble life as far from the spotlight as possible. He will be thankful for his freedom and will not gloat about being victorious; he will understand that his freedom is a gift which he must continuously earn. With humility he will take the lessons he has learned about the law and the justice system and teach others the importance of being law abiding citizens and the risks of breaking the law.
Sholom Rubashkin’s experience has shown the public at large the power of the long arm of the law and the potential consequences of criminal behavior.
The correctional purpose of the law has already been served: Sholom Rubashkin has suffered for his crimes. The public is protected from the possibility that, once free, Sholom will ever be involved in criminal activity. And Sholom Rubashkin’s very widely publicized ordeal has surely deterred further crimes on the part of Sholom himself and the public.
I was amazed when I saw that even Sholom Rubashkin’s harshest critic, Shmarya “Scott” Rosenberg, who had until now been advocating for Sholom to receive the harshest and most severe punishment, had come around in the eleventh hour. In stark contrast to his previous posts demanding a long sentence, Mr. Rosenberg recently wrote on his blog that “sentencing Rubashkin to two or three [years] in minimum security federal prison followed by…mandatory community service…would probably be the best possible punishment for him.”
It is my sincere hope and prayer that the Honorable Linda Reade considers the physical and mental torment Sholom Rubashkin has already endured, the eternal defamation he and his family have suffered, along with the fact that Sholom will surely disassociate himself from any future crimes, and that the public at large has been deterred from committing criminal acts upon seeing what has become of what once was Sholom Rubashkin – a man of broken body and spirit whose name is forever destroyed and whose life will never be the same.
Boruch
May Hashem have mercy and have Sholom set free!
PLEASE! identify yourself.
This Op-Ed is so well written and touched me to the core. Why would an individual who has written such eloquent word not identify him/herself?
May Hashem show Sholom Mordechai Halevi Ben Rivka compassion and release him from his undesirved torment, yet before Shovuos, so that he be united with his immediate family and with his family of fellow chassidim.
M.R.
anonymous
shmarya rosenbergs website should be hacked and taken down
no words
Hashem must help in an open and revealed way!
Moshiach NOW!!
Sara
Hashem, Yeracheim!!!
May you have a blessed Shabbos, Sholom, and may you have a blessed week.
We’re ALL rooting for your release………
Agahst.
This is so well written it is sad that this falls on deaf ears starting from the Jews who persecuted him indirectly to the judicial system that is intent on totally breaking what ever is left of him.
law of the land
Prison is a deterrent from commiting crimes. Unfortunantely, further incarciration may be necessary inorder to deter Shalom R. From repeating his crimes. It will also perhaps scare others from comitting such crimes. I personally wish Shalom R to get out of jail immediatly, but we still have to follow the laws of the land.
Moshe
I was no supporter of Martin Grossman or the other frum child molesters that have been recently been on the news, however I do support Sholom Rubashkin %100 he is been treated worse then Martin Grossman and all those child molesters all for bank fraud that almost all people who commit bank fraud sit for 1 or 2 years, get normal plea bargains unlike Sholom Rubashkin.
Josh
The only one who benefits from the suffering of the Rubshkin family and Sholom Rubashkin is Rabbi Morris Allen.
G-dhelpSholom MordechaiHalevi ben Rifka
Beautifully written.
Feigie
The media is showing Rubashkin as waving and smiling and walking around. We need to get the pictures of his current appearance out to the general public. I am praying for a miracle. May the Justice decide he has been punished enough.
Well written!!
May we soon hear good news IY”H!
jew
who ever is good at getting in touch with the news pappers should !
give this on!
act
please send this to the judge
The Old Times
In The old Times, Yidden would be thrown into the dungeon for stealing from the government, banks or landowners.
another supporter of good endings b-h
yes this article is beautifully written. I pray for him every day. Where can see pictures as he looks now
Reb Shlomo In Boca Raton, Fl.
Who is Rabbi Morris Allen ??
Passing by
Really well written!!
tracht gut vet zyien gut
iy’h there will be a yeshua and we will say zeh kaley veanvahu amen now
this is so well written
Someone should post this in the papers or send to the Judge!
gae shluffin
Rabbi Morris Allen is a Conservative rabbi who is involved with hechsher tzedek. This is conservative jibberish for a hechsher that is placed on workforces who treat their employees well. Since it would be hard to decide who gets this ridiculous hechsher, so far, I don’t think that it got past the idea stage. This Rabbi Allen, is a frum Jew-hater. The conservatives have been looking for years for ways to put frum feet to the coals and they made good use of the downfall of Agriprocessors to move in with their agenda.
The only thing that could be said in Morris Allen’s defense is that when the news about Agriprocessors reached the conservative Jews, those who were wavering about whether to eat kosher allowed their collective yetzer haras to tell them that it was a mitzvah to eat traife. Now Morris Allen can self-righteously proclaim that the frum Jews ruined kashrus.
To: law of the land
Have you been following this case at all? Do you know that it has already been PROVEN, and there’s still lots more to come out to the open, that 90% of the federal charges against Rubashkin are fabricated LIES by the US government? How they’ve turned 7 million into 27 million? How they openly threatened potential buyers of Agriprocessers, forcing the company in bankruptcy? Even a man who offered 22,000,000 in CASH?! Have you compared the INDESCRIBABLE CRUELTY with which Rubashkin has been treated to the Toyota CEO who got FINED for knowingly causing uncountable FATALITIES? What about the sentences given to serial murderers and rapists?
So before you start going on about “the law” you may want to:
a)Learn a little about this case,
b)Learn a little about this country’s supposed “law”,
c)Open your eyes and see the the HYPOCRISY, CORRUPTION, and BLATANT ANTISEMITISM the US government has displayed in this case.
We should heafr only good news
I feel exactly the same way. I wavered in my opinion of the whole thing, embarrassed by the crimes. I went to sentencing hearing and can not get the image of him out of my mind. The crimes are real but so relatively minor. The thought of not having Shabboss with family again is so painful. The judge could care less, so we must once again storm the heavens,
To law of the land
How dare ANYONE say , or even , THINK, that Reb. Sholem, ”needs to be taught a lesson by staying longer in prison“ ????????
Its obvious, that whoever wrote this, is totally and completely and utterly heartless. . and ignorant ; Do you not think that he has been ‘taught ENOUGH lessons ”?????????? He is destroyed, his family is destroyed, his wonderful autisic son is broken and destroyed without his special father at his side. . his wife is shattered beyond all imagination. .
What is left of The Rubashkins, except for Pain, Heartache, and Despair????????? And YOU DARE say he needs to be taught a further lesson??????? Do you honestly think that by now he wouldnt give ANYTHING in the world, to turn back the clock, to how his life was before this tragedy hit them so badly??????
A little more sensitivity and compassion is needed here. . . badly. . .obviously 2 very major feelings that this person who wrote this does not possess. How tragic!
To law of the land
Im sitting here and browsing through the comments and I come across a comment written by ”one of us’ ( I assume) actually ‘condoning’ the fact that R ‘Rubashkin is being given Life’ because he needs to be “taught a lesson”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot believe what Im reading here. . does this guy have any idea at all of what has been happening to the Rubashkin family over the last year and a half, approx.????? Does he have any idea what suffering they are all going through over there?????
How, I ask myself, can anyone in their right mind, even think that way??
Can I just say, that people should think , twice, three times and four times ,before uttering such thoughtless comments.
Rubashkins, We are all with you with heart and soul!
mb
Anyone who needs to see how what upright, speacial, beautifull people the rubashkjns are should go to postville. I barely spent any time with their family during my stay there but it was just… Imposible to miss… I cry for them. We must, raven, take on hachlatos, and have bitachon.., moshuach now !!!