Le grand rabbin Metzger démis de sa fonction rabbinique
Israel Hayom
Le Grand Rabbin ashkénaze d’Israël Yona Metzger est suspendu de ses
fonctions en attendant l’enquête de la police. Metzger passe le
week-end en résidence surveillée suite à des soupçons de pots de vin
pour des centaines de milliers de shekels, engagés dans la fraude et le
blanchiment d’argent.
Metzger steps down from chief rabbinical duties
Israel Hayom
Israel's Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger suspends himself from duties pending police probe • Metzger spends weekend under house arrest following suspicions that he took bribes of hundreds of thousands of shekels, engaged in fraud and money laundering.(Read the rest)
Israël: un grand rabbin accusé de corruption assigné à résidence
(...)"Le rabbin Yona Metzger a été assigné à résidence pour les
cinq prochains jours après avoir été interrogé pendant plus de 10 heures
par les enquêteurs de la brigade antifraude de la police", a précisé à
l'AFP le porte-parole de la police Micky Rosenfeld.
"Il sera interrogé à nouveau si nécessaire", a ajouté le parole.
Le
rabbin Metzger, qui représente les ashkénazes, a été la cible d'une
enquête discrète de plusieurs mois qui a également visé trois autres
suspects, selon la police.
Les enquêteurs le soupçonnent d'avoir
reçu des pots de vin, de vol, d'abus de confiance, et de blanchiment
d'argent, a ajouté la police dans un communiqué.
Israël compte
deux grands rabbins, un ashkénaze et un séfarade, qui gèrent notamment
les tribunaux rabbiniques et la régulation du code alimentaire prescrit
aux croyants juifs et ont la haute main sur les mariages et les divorces
entre juifs, la séparation entre la religion et de l'Etat n'existant
pas.
En 2005, la police avait recommandé l'ouverture de poursuites
judiciaires contre lui, une première dans l'histoire du rabbinat
d'Israël, dans le cadre d'une enquête concernant des faveurs
personnelles dont il aurait bénéficié de la part de la direction d'un
grand hôtel de Jérusalem.
Le procureur général avait décidé de ne pas le poursuivre, faute de preuves, mais l'avait appelé à démissionner.
Le
grand rabbin séfarade Shlomo Amar a lui aussi eu maille à partir avec
la police en raison de l'agression et la séquestration par son fils d'un
jeune qui courtisait secrètement la fille du rabbin. Il n'avait pas été
inquiété bien qu'il ait été au courant, mais son fils avait été
condamné en 2006 à 32 mois de prison.
As chief rabbi elections near, allegations against Metzger reflect rot in the Rabbinate
(...) The Chief Rabbinate has its share of decent rabbis and employees, but it’s a lawless, shameless system. That’s not just the view of the man in the street; it’s been detailed in official reports by the state comptroller and court documents in recent years: the appointment of cronies, the collection of illegal fees and payments, the granting of unearned rabbinical ordination certificates, the lack of rules and procedures.
Metzger
may continue to provide work for his lawyers through the end of his
term and beyond, but the problem isn’t just Metzger, or even the
corruption in the system. The problem is that this corrupt culture has
direct victims: Jews who live in Israel and need the rabbinate’s
services. And that is almost every Jew in the country − both those who
fly to Cyprus to get married and those who seek to marry in accordance
with religious law; anyone who wants to eat kosher food or be buried
when he dies; and especially the thousands of converts and the couples,
above all the women, who come before the rabbinical courts to seek a
divorce.
If
the rabbinate had clean hands, perhaps it would find time to tend to
the important goals for which it was established and take its
responsibilities seriously, toward Jews in Israel and also toward those
living overseas.
The upcoming election of the next chief rabbis − who will serve for a 10-year term − is a major drama in the religious world.
But this drama will be a missed opportunity as long as the debate
revolves solely around the question of who the next chief rabbis will be
rather than around the question of what the next Chief Rabbinate will
be.
The
biggest waste of opportunity, however, is the apathy of secular Jews
toward the rabbinate − the unwritten agreement under which secular
politicians let the religious do whatever they please with it and
thereby waive their ability to have an impact on Jewish life. That’s
precisely how Metzger managed to get elected last time around, with the
support of secular elected officials. Instead, this should be the moment
for all Israeli politicians, religious and secular alike, to join hands
and foment a revolution.
Metzger arrest latest in long string of chief rabbi scandals
(...)Metzger’s arrest last week on accusations that he embezzled money
meant for nonprofits led the rabbi to suspend himself from his position
until the investigation is completed.
Following 10 hours of questioning on Thursday by police with the
National Fraud Unit, Metzger was placed under house arrest until
Tuesday, the date of his first court hearing. Three of his associates
also were brought in for questioning.
The scandal is the latest in a string of accusations against Metzger
and the most recent allegation of wrongdoing against Israel’s chief
rabbis.
In 2003, the year Metzger was elected to his 10-year term, he was
accused of sexual harassment. New sexual harassment allegations have
come to light in the days since his arrest.
Two years later, Metzger was investigated on charges that he received
preferential treatment at the David Citadel, a luxury hotel in
Jerusalem. Metzger maintained his innocence throughout the probe, which
was dropped in 2008 for lack of evidence.
Past chief rabbis also have weathered allegations of misconduct.
Yisrael Meir Lau, Metzger’s predecessor, also was accused of sexual
harassment. And Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi
from 1993 to 2003, is on trial for issuing fake rabbinic ordination
certificates to security guards so they could secure pay raises.
For many Israelis, such sordid tales are an unfortunate and all-too-familiar sideshow.(...)
November 22, 2013
Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger Asked Aide To Take The Fall For Him, Secret Tape Allegedly Shows
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
“If you take the blame in this case, I will give you a great deal of money as well as an apartment, just like Shula Zaken did for Ehud Olmert.”
These are the words haredi former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger allegedly said to an aide after police first arrested Metzger last June on fraud and corruption charges.
But what Metzger did not know is that his conversation with that aide was being recorded.
The resulting recording is reportedly only part of the evidence police have against Metzger, who reportedly stole millions of shekels while he was chief rabbi. That aide is allegedly the state’s lead witness against Metzger.
Metzger traveled to foreign countries in his official capacity as chief rabbi.
During those official trips Metzger fundraised for charities, some of which he controlled.
Metzger allegedly took as much as 50% of the money he raised for those charities as his personal commission and did not report that income to tax authorities.
The prosecution reportedly has more than one lead witness against Metzger and a large amount of evidence some aware of the details of the investigation are calling “air tight.”
Metzger has a long string of alleged corruption and sexual harassment allegations against him stretching back to the years before he was elected chief rabbi in a backroom deal orchestrated by then haredi-leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, who was fully aware of the allegations against Metzger but backed him anyway.
Update Jan. 2017:
Ex-chief rabbi sentenced to 3.5 years in prison Rabbi Yona Metzger signed a plea agreement in which he admitted to accepting millions of shekels in bribes and committing fraud while serving as Israel's chief rabbi.
Former chief rabbi Metzger confesses to reduced bribery charges in plea
Yona Metzger to become first chief rabbi in Israel to serve jail time
Ex-Israel chief rabbi to serve jail time in plea deal for fraud
Former Chief Rabbi Metzger confesses, is convicted of bribery
Former Israeli chief rabbi gets 4.5 years in prison for fraud, money laundering and bribery
Rabbi Yona Metzger Former chief rabbi given extra year behind bars for severity of crimes
Judge throws out plea deal, jails ex-chief rabbi for 4.5 years
Ex-Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger Gets 4-1/2 Years For Fraud
Rabbi Metzger: I'm stunned by the court's decision
Rabbi Metzger punishment worsened
Le rabbin Metzger condamné à 4 ans et demi de prison
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Chief-rabbi-thanks-Bush-for-war-against-Iraq
Chief rabbi thanks Bush for 'war against Iraq'
01/10/2008 00:23
yona metzger hat 298 Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski [file]
During a short verbal exchange Wednesday at the
Ben-Gurion Airport Terminal, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger thanked
President George W. Bush for the US's military intervention in Iraq.
"I want to thank you for your support of Israel and in particular for
waging a war against Iraq," Metzger told Bush, according to the chief
rabbi's spokesman.
Bush reportedly answered that the chief rabbi's words "warmed his
heart."
Metzger's stand on the Iraqi war, while reflecting the Israeli majority
and Orthodox Jewry, is not shared with most US Jews. The American Jewish
Committee's annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, published last
year, found that 70 percent of US Jews disapprove of the Iraq war, with
28% backing it.
In a related story, Metzger was chosen as one of the 12 most influential
religious figures in the world for a CBS documentary called In God's Name that appeared at the end of December.
Newsweek also devoted a story to the documentary complete with
pictures of Metzger and the other religious leaders.
Metzger was chosen along with figures such as the 14th Dalai Lama of
Tibet, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams and heads of the
Sikh and Muslim religions.
03/26/03
This War is for Us
by Ariel Natan Pasko
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/2125
[Traduction: Arrêtez-vous et réfléchissez un moment: la dernière Guerre du Golfe en 1991 s'est terminée le jour d'erev -- juste avant -- Pourim. La présente Guerre en Irak a débuté le jour de motzei -- juste après -- Shushan Pourim.]
Stop and think for a moment: the last Gulf War in 1991 ended erev - just before - Purim. This Gulf War began motzei - just after - Shushan Purim. Get the picture? In between, "The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honor." (Book of Esther 8:16)
Of course this war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein is for us. Even the anti-Semites, like Patrick J. Buchanan and Congressman Jim Moran know it. (...)
However, we already knew that this war is for us - i.e., the Jews and Israel. Chazal - our sages - throughout the ages have explained the Torah, telling us that everything that happens in the world is for the benefit of the Jewish People.
As I said earlier, of course this war is for the Jews and Israel, and instead of hiding from the accusation, or crying, "anti-Semitic slur", we should gratefully acknowledge what the Master of the Universe is doing to our enemies for us. Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Bashar Assad, Osama Bin-Laden, and the other dictators, terrorists and mullahs of the region, are the modern day Hamans and Hitlers.(...)
Yes, the war is for the Jews. But it is also for all decent, peace-loving and freedom-loving people. Just as when the Jews were saved from Egyptian slavery, liberated, given the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and brought into the Holy Land, the world now has a great opportunity to rid itself of the Hamans, Hitlers, and Pharaohs who want to kill or enslave them today. (read the rest...)
Rabbis: Purim, Iraq war linked
by Joe Berkofsky · March 18, 2003
http://jta.org/news/article/2003/03/18/10067/Forrabbisit8217
(...) Blu Greenberg, an Orthodox feminist leader based in New York, supports the Bush administration’s campaign against Iraq as a “preventive war,” much as the ancient Jews defended themselves against Haman’s plot to destroy them.(...)
Rabbi Martin Weiner of San Francisco, outgoing president of the Reform movement’s rabbinical union, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, used Shabbat Zachor to draw a line from Amalek to Hitler to Saddam. A modern-day Amalek, Saddam has attacked four of his neighbors, gassed tens of thousands of his own people and pays stipends to suicide bombers, Weiner said, so “it’s terribly important to remove him.” Last September, Weiner was among those who backed a resolution from the Reform movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations urging a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, if Congress supported it and U.N. backing was sought. But for Reform Rabbi Don Rossoff, of Temple B’nai Or in Morristown, N.J., Amalek casts a very different shadow. Rossoff said he has refrained from publicly sermonizing this Purim about the war, which he opposes, because he is “haunted by Baruch Goldstein, who called the Arabs Amalek.” Goldstein, a doctor in an Israeli settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron, shot to death 29 Palestinians praying in Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarch on Purim Day in 1994. Saddam is “a tyrannical, murderous dictator” who “ would probably wipe out Israel if he could,” Rossoff added. “But he’s not the only one around. His name just starts with ‘H,’ ” like Haman.(...)
Sur ce blog:03/26/03
This War is for Us
by Ariel Natan Pasko
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/2125
[Traduction: Arrêtez-vous et réfléchissez un moment: la dernière Guerre du Golfe en 1991 s'est terminée le jour d'erev -- juste avant -- Pourim. La présente Guerre en Irak a débuté le jour de motzei -- juste après -- Shushan Pourim.]
Stop and think for a moment: the last Gulf War in 1991 ended erev - just before - Purim. This Gulf War began motzei - just after - Shushan Purim. Get the picture? In between, "The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honor." (Book of Esther 8:16)
Of course this war against Iraq and Saddam Hussein is for us. Even the anti-Semites, like Patrick J. Buchanan and Congressman Jim Moran know it. (...)
However, we already knew that this war is for us - i.e., the Jews and Israel. Chazal - our sages - throughout the ages have explained the Torah, telling us that everything that happens in the world is for the benefit of the Jewish People.
As I said earlier, of course this war is for the Jews and Israel, and instead of hiding from the accusation, or crying, "anti-Semitic slur", we should gratefully acknowledge what the Master of the Universe is doing to our enemies for us. Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Bashar Assad, Osama Bin-Laden, and the other dictators, terrorists and mullahs of the region, are the modern day Hamans and Hitlers.(...)
Yes, the war is for the Jews. But it is also for all decent, peace-loving and freedom-loving people. Just as when the Jews were saved from Egyptian slavery, liberated, given the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and brought into the Holy Land, the world now has a great opportunity to rid itself of the Hamans, Hitlers, and Pharaohs who want to kill or enslave them today. (read the rest...)
Rabbis: Purim, Iraq war linked
by Joe Berkofsky · March 18, 2003
http://jta.org/news/article/2003/03/18/10067/Forrabbisit8217
(...) Blu Greenberg, an Orthodox feminist leader based in New York, supports the Bush administration’s campaign against Iraq as a “preventive war,” much as the ancient Jews defended themselves against Haman’s plot to destroy them.(...)
Rabbi Martin Weiner of San Francisco, outgoing president of the Reform movement’s rabbinical union, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, used Shabbat Zachor to draw a line from Amalek to Hitler to Saddam. A modern-day Amalek, Saddam has attacked four of his neighbors, gassed tens of thousands of his own people and pays stipends to suicide bombers, Weiner said, so “it’s terribly important to remove him.” Last September, Weiner was among those who backed a resolution from the Reform movement’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations urging a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, if Congress supported it and U.N. backing was sought. But for Reform Rabbi Don Rossoff, of Temple B’nai Or in Morristown, N.J., Amalek casts a very different shadow. Rossoff said he has refrained from publicly sermonizing this Purim about the war, which he opposes, because he is “haunted by Baruch Goldstein, who called the Arabs Amalek.” Goldstein, a doctor in an Israeli settlement near the West Bank city of Hebron, shot to death 29 Palestinians praying in Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarch on Purim Day in 1994. Saddam is “a tyrannical, murderous dictator” who “ would probably wipe out Israel if he could,” Rossoff added. “But he’s not the only one around. His name just starts with ‘H,’ ” like Haman.(...)
Kosher Nostra
Les rois du crime organisé, c'est pas les Italiens !
"Nos excuses au Congrès juif canadien, mais il y a une mafia juive. Et c'est la mafia financière..."
Blanchiment d'argent, corruption, trafic d'organes... c'est pas bon pour l'image de la communauté!
Deux politiciens juifs de Montréal, incluant le premier maire juif de Montréal, arrêtés par l'unité permanente anti-corruption de la Sûreté du Québec
Une croquée de plus de 50 milliards
Forbes Israël fait des listes de milliardaires juifs... mais aucun Rothschild n'y figure, c'est bizarre non?
Un des journalistes juifs du Watergate, Carl Bernstein accuse les néocons juifs d'être derrière la guerre en Irak
La guerre en Irak était une célébration de Pourim
Le mouvement juif néoconservateur
Les soldats juifs avaient l'ordre de "nettoyer Gaza"
Selon le Grand rabbin orthodoxe sépharade Ovadia Yosef, "les Gentils n’existent que pour servir les Juifs"
Le rabbin Shapira, auteur d'un livre qui approuve le meurtre des non-juifs, est soutenu par une douzaine de rabbins israéliens importants
Le rabbin Dov Lior: « Le sperme des Non-Juifs donne naissance une progéniture cruelle et barbare »
Un mandat d'arrêt émis contre le rabbin Dov Lior pour incitation au meurtre des non-juifs déclenche la colère de centaines de fanatiques
Un rabbin autorise de voler les récoltes et d'empoisonner l'eau des Palestiniens
Rabbi Yosef: il est interdit de soigner un non-juif le jour du Shabbat
La morale juive: un mythe?
La plus pieuse armée au monde
Saint Baruch Goldstein
Propos honnêtes de gens qui ne le sont pas
"Les Palestiniens et leur gouvernement doivent périr", déclare un rabbin orthodoxe israélien influent
Le rabbin Meir Kahane, fondateur du groupe terroriste Jewish Defense League, expliqué aux enfants
Un autre disjoncté appelle à la destruction du monde arabe
Célébrer le meurtre des Palestiniens est une Mitzvah (bonne action), déclare un rabbin d'une colonie illégale
Un rabbin sioniste [Dov Lior, un zélé de « La Torah des Rois » selon qui « le sperme des Goyim engendre une progéniture barbare et cruelle »], appelle ses compatriotes à se préparer à reconstruire le prétendu temple sur les ruines du Dôme du Rocher!
Gog, Magog et le Scroll of Bush
Et si la Torah se substituait à la loi israélienne?
Rebâtir le Temple, restaurer les sacrifices, pour instaurer l'ère messianique
Jérusalem occupée par l'Anti-Christ
