Staten Island, NY – The spiritual advisor for the Willowbrook synagogue scheduled to host an “aufruf” Saturday for convicted Staten Island Orthodox Jewish drug kingpin Jonathan Braun says “it’s a very big question” on how to properly handle the unique situation.
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SILIVE.com (http://bit.ly/1fBrh6o) reports that Braun and his pregnant fiancé are scheduled to feted at an aufruf at Young Israel synagogue during this coming Saturday’s Sabbath services after Braun’s lawyer convinced a federal judge last month to loosen the terms of his home confinement based on the couple’s deep commitment to the Orthodox Jewish faith.
Rabbi Yaakov Lehrfield, Young Israel’s spiritual advisor, says his dilemma stems partly from the fact that there’s a possibility the wedding may be postponed, but mostly from “backlash” he is receiving from members of the congregation.
“The synagogue is very not sure exactly what to do in this situation, and therefore the synagogue doesn’t know exactly how to pursue it, and it’s a very big question,” Lehrfield said.
Rabbi Lehrfield added, “The backlash that I get… is should the synagogue have this public ceremony for him? The board of the synagogue, which is elected every year by the members, is trying to figure out what is the right thing to do. There’s no right, there is no wrong. It’s very confusing because the whole family is here. Do we punish the whole family?…”
Um…yes, you punish the whole family. It is one thing to welcome a Bar Mitzvah boy to an Orthodox Shul and put up with some family craziness in the hope he’ll be Frum. It is another thing to honor a criminal and his pregnant fiancé. What kind of example is that?
By the way, the same goes for Heimush criminals and the Mosdos that cannot keep their hands off their money.
The rabbi says, “There’s no right, there is no wrong.”
I am no ethicist, but I see no difficulty in this decision. And there certainly is a “right.”
Did he ruin lives by selling drugs? Did he get people hooked and dependent on drugs? How much suffering and anguish did he cause for innocent families? Did he bully and maybe harm people engaging on the “business side” of his drug dealings?
Is an aufruf necessary for someone to have a proper Chuppah or is he looking for Kavod and a party?
Let the answers to these questions be your guide.
I guess that the fact that the Kallah will be wearing maternity clothes to the simcha is not enough to sway judgment in the matter.
I always thought Young Israel was orthodox? Where’s the dilemma?
I’m a little confused about ” the couple’s deep commitment to the Orthodox Jewish faith”. Maybe they’ve both done t’shuvah, but the drug dealing and the pregnancy prior to the chuppah don’t speak well of this copmmitment.
An Aufruf is just a minhag and it would be better for all if Braun didn’t have one.
Did the judge know about the pregnant fiancee when he released him because of his “deep commitment to the Orthodox Jewish faith”?
Who is this rabbi? We all know what the right thing to do is. the question is whether anyone’s got the guts to do it.
This dilema typifies all that’s wrong with today’s so called rabbinate.
This moral weakling has no backbone and is scared of everyone. He is trying to please everyone without offending anyone.
Including the stellar family.
I guess the congregation are made up of the same type of people. It’s a good shidduch.
“There’s no right and there’s no wrong”? What does this Rabbi use as a moral compass?
im assuming that the rabbi is YU graduate so why doesnt he ask Rabbi Herschel Schechter shlita the question or another qualified gadol btorah
Committed to orthodox jewry? Pregnant fiancee?
I hear they wont break the glass by the chupa, not to scare the bride and cause a miscarriage.
Is this really an “orthodox” shul? Is it muttar to give an avaryan an aliyah?
Boggles the mind.
Kick this socker out with his pregnant girlfriend!
Alia?
To whom?
To a drug dealer, machti as harabim, with pregnant kala?
Are you out of your mind?
Family?
If they want to celebrate this, let them do it quietly somewhere privately, so nobody should know, so people should not curse out the parents, who gave a birth to such a low lives!
What kind of message are we sending our children???
That drug dealing and pre marriage pregnancy is ok???
He should be banned from any frum shul !
His family should have been involved from the beginning.
Firstly, why does VIN have to put this story on here? Is there no other news fit to print?
Second, why bother to use the word “orthodox” jew when he’s a druglord and his kalla is pregnant???? Does nayone here agree?
He should be happy he’s in house arrest and not in jail! In my humble opinion, this is disgusting!
Not sure of the issue – I agree with DanielBarbaz – giving him an aufruf is lending credibility to this breach of ethics. the line needs to be drawn – he doesn’t seem to repentant for his previous activities.
Begs the question “who is frum”!
If I were the Rabbi, I think I would give the man an Aliyah but would be very careful about making congratulatory announcements. I would, by the way, remind ‘ShatzMatz” that generally the Kallah does not attend the Aufruf,
I would like to refer the VIN readers to a response given by Rav Moshe Feinstein in OC 2. 51 to a similar query. There, the discussion is whether a ‘Ba’al Aveiros’ can be given an honor in a ‘Shul’. There, however, the person in question was an otherwise upstanding individual….
Makes no more sense to me than would asking how to schecht a chazur…The guy should be appreciative if a rav allowed a quite private ceremony in his office!
Hard to believe what has happened to SOME Young Israel congregations in SI and Brooklyn. R’L
He is perplexed? How about the rest of the frum world? There shouldn’t even be a shayla because there shouldn’t be any celebration of any kind for a drug distributing man..period. Especially a purported frum one.
What kind of an example is the shul setting for the youth in its congregation??? As the spiritual advisor, should he not be concerned for their spiritual well being?
Shame on him, the druggie and the pregnant fiancé….spitting at the frum world like that. They should all be excommunicated from their community.
I am *sure* the Rabbi has been accurately quoted in this article.
He may have said those words, but not as a response to the issue they are saying it was to.
to bad he just did not just commit massive fraud then he would honored and there would be no issue.
if he lives like a goy and about to have a baby why does he need an oifrifen?
here is my question…if this man has and is genuinely doing teshuvah we are not able to comment on this. a question should be brought to Gedolei Hador.
not to compare, but non-jews go to church and say ”forgive me father for i have sinned” and the father tells the person what prayers to read and usually to give charity as well.
if one is genuinely doing teshuvah our own rabbis should be lifting them up and bringing them closer to Hashem. This is a time that the person is in the greatest need.
it is not for us to judge, and not for a rabbi to judge. we are all humans. Hashem is the true judge and to my knowledge Hashem always hopes a person will do teshuvah.
The couple’s commitment to Judaism is superficial and they deserve no honors. What’s the point of his being called to a Torah that he ignores except for ritual? The couple punishes their family with shame for their aveirahs, not the congregation denying honors.
You are all idiots!
a Jew is a Jew, drug dealer or not! pregnant fiance or not!
I don’t think they should praise him during a speech but the minimum we are require to provide for him as a Jew is whatever the MINHAG is (last time i checked its still says “Minhag isroel Din hu”) what’s wrong with the Orthodox (especially the “Ultra Orthodox) view is that if you are a sinner you don’t deserve to be a Jew. The chance that a little Kiruv may change the man’s outlook on life and will enable him to do Tshuva is non of your concern for some reason!
You don’t have to condone his actions, but you can teach your kids that no matter how far you stray there is always a way back and it takes community effort to do it!
May he merit to build a Bais Neemon Beisroel and his child or children be tzadikim and Talmidey chachomim
America is not a nation for a conspiracy. And if you think that Torah is a cutting edge supply for your own smile, you have no Torah and you have no connection to the future. The reality is that the Aufruf is not going to destroy the future and the poor criminal may in fact have a right to be offered one. But in reality, there are no “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” for any rabbi. Rabbis are between Tomorrow and Today and their actions place trust in Hashem if they are True to Torah. Anyone else against Torah will be classified as a fraud and a conspirator. G-d is not a Talking Point of Limited Access.
I do think there is nothing to gain by ripping this apart. He has a yiddishe neshomo just like you and I. And so does his family. I agree, they probably should have done a private affair so as not to give all of you opportunity to blast them. And the shul, not sure what they have to lose or gain. There are plenty of our people that are “machtie es horabim” and are accepted into their shuls with aliyos and kovod. There should definitely be an element of rachmanus displayed here for the nisayon these people are going through. Having a field day with their tzaros does not seem what our yiddishe neshomos should be doing if we claim to be better than his yiddishe neshomo.
We honor our pedophiles without any problem and also our fraudsters.
There should be a new stream of Yiddishkeit geared to ALL THE REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS, WHITE COLLAR CRIMINALS, MURDERERS, ETC…. Let them all go to this new shul and do whatever they like!
“The couple’s ‘deep commitment’ to the orthodox faith?!” With the kallah being pregnant and the chosson being a convicted drug kingpin?! Chillul Hashem of the highest degree, not to mention laughable if it wasn’t so sad.
I would think that by denying the man an aufruf and jewish experience, you might be limited in that he will be able to justly call out to Hashem and cry that he has faced oppression. He would probably be right too. And that might mean you might not feel Hashem’s love or friendship at a level you might seek that for your blessings. So, err on giving the poor man the blessing of a change he can enjoy and his kids can look to him as a father with Torah. It might also produce a better smile on the future. Just a thought.
I wish I had seen this earlier, maybe I would have prevented some of the foolishness posted here.
I happen to know Rav Lehrfeld. He happens to be a talmud chachum. We learnt in the same yeshiva in eretz yisroel. It was a mainstream litvish yeshiva. His hasmodah was tremendous. He is a chashuv person not a politically correct rabbi. I trust him, he has his reasons for handling this the way he is. We all need to be dan l’kan z’chu.
What the opinion of the NY Post ??