Trenton, NJ – Before prosecutors described Rabbi Mendel Epstein as a leader in a devout Orthodox community, they played a short, grainy video clip that they say shows he is a criminal.
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“Basically, what we’re going to be doing is kidnapping a guy for a couple hours,” he’s heard telling two undercover FBI agents about what prosecutors say was a staged kidnapping in 2013.
Opening statements began Wednesday in the trial of Epstein and his three co-defendants: son David Epstein, Jay Goldstein and Binyamin Stimler. Mendel Epstein, who is accused of employing a kidnap team to force unwilling Jewish husbands to divorce their wives, faces charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempted kidnapping. The others face similar charges stemming from a staged kidnapping in 2013 and three other forced divorces.
Defense attorney Robert Stahl disputed the charges and portrayed Mendel Epstein, 69, as a “champion of women’s rights.”
“This is not a band of criminals extorting men for money or beating them for money,” Stahl said, arguing that Jewish law allows recalcitrant husbands to be forced to giving a divorce document known as a “get.”
He called the husbands the villains as Epstein, dressed in a dark suit, silently nodded toward Stahl.
Prosecutors allege the Orthodox rabbi’s team used brutal methods and tools, including handcuffs and electric cattle prods, to torture the men into granting divorces. The kidnap team brought surgical blades, a screwdriver and rope to a staged kidnapping in 2013, authorities have said. Epstein allegedly told the undercover agents he arranged similar kidnappings every year or year and a half, U.S. Attorney Joseph Gribko said. Gribko noted the recordings throughout his opening statement, including Epstein allegedly describing how the cattle prods were used.
“If (the cattle prod) can get a bull that weighs 5 tons to move, you put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute the guy will know,” prosecutors said Epstein told two undercover FBI agents posing as a brother and sister trying to force the sister’s husband to grant the divorce. Gribko said he was recorded telling the agents the effort would cost $60,000.
Stahl, holding Epstein’s 1989 book “A Woman’s Guide to the Get Process,” called Gribko’s opening statement an “interesting and compelling story,” but not evidence against Epstein.
Stahl argued that Epstein is simply good at advocating for women and that his reputation is “that he can convince these husbands to go give their wives a get.” Stahl didn’t dispute that “some laws may have been broken along the way,” but said that did not include kidnapping.
Stahl, along with the other defense attorneys, sought to discredit David Wax, a witness in the case. Wax is cooperating with prosecutors after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping in a case where he was paid $100,000 to force a Jewish man to divorce his wife.
Prosecutors are expected to play footage on Thursday from recordings by undercover FBI agents.
Throw the book at him.
what a shame we have to waste taxpayer dollars feeding him kosher food in jail. This animal does not deserve it. Oh well.
What a disgrace of a person posing as a frum Jew–that isn’t frumkeit. I wonder how many gets he got this way and if the woman remarried and had more children, how valid is the get and are these children considered mamzerim. As a kensingtonian, I am embarrassed that he was a neighbor. Mamish a shandah!
we all know that surgical blades are used every get.t the scribe uses it to make corrections on the parchment. This is nothing more than media hype
Mendel I am sorry to say, but you have ruined many peoples lives, so you deserve what ever you will get!
the real shanda here is that frum women are chained by recalcitrant husbands. isn’t it horrible that a woman would have to even THINK of resorting to this? simply to receive her freedom? men are abusing and perverting halachic divorce for power. rabbonim need to help the women. these thugs who beat up on men are just a byproduct of a flawed sysem.
Gitten are written on paper. They are not corrected with razor blades, such as is done when a scribe causes an error in writing on parchment for a sefer Torah. Mendel and gang’s use of razor blades are only limited by your imagination.
theres pretty much zero options for women in these situations, unfortunately sometimes the law got taken into their own hands to help them
well should Orthodox women be at the mercy of husbands who want to extort money?
“A Woman’s Guide to the Get Process.” ( unless he gets hired by the husband )
Womens rights advocate? Seriously? Only. For women w 50k. What a lowlife.
Wow, wow
Everybody is a Poisek!
Because you don’t put you real name to it – it doesn’t make loshon Ora mutor!
You hold this way, I am sure many prominent Poiskim say his gitin are good.
Should’ve he done it?
It’s not up to us to decide!
Most of us don’t know what agunos are going through!
So please keep your comments to yourself!
Everyone cries about agunos, but when someone does something about it, they are called a rasha? I’m sure the people who wrote the comments above are the mesarvim l’din who are reshaim keeping their own wives agunos.
Whether he is or is not an animal will come out at trial, I guess. But it is pretty clear that he was making a mockery of Torah and Halacha considering that he had no interest in seeing a recalcitrant husband go through Bais Din (there was no husband). Where is Agudas Yisrael and where are our “leaders “condemning his Get process, or is it only Avi Weiss who gets called out for bending Halacha?
To the previous commenters.Before you rush to write one line judgements on a fellow Jew you should become familiar with the terms “Trial phase”,”Sentencing phase”,”Federal sentencing guidlines””Downward departure”.
I’m not defending him….However, i’m curious to think what would any one here do if his sister were held as a agunah by her husband for 5-10 years…..wouldn’t they do the same???
“If (the cattle prod) can get a bull that weighs 5 tons to move, you put it in certain parts of his body and in one minute the guy will know,” I wonder Epstein (Shygetz) if you ever used the (the cattle prod) on one of your family members. or on your wife. If you did. On which part of her body did you land.
I come from a divorce. I lost my house. I lost my business. I lost my bank account. and I lost my children which i dearly love. How dare you Epstein Shygetz to come and beat and torched these husbands, I strongly believe that your a sadist masochist and you get off your sexually desires by beating on people, “Shame On You”
I hope and pray that the jury will find you guilty on all counts. and the judge will throw the key away. I am sure that you will then cry that you want kosher food. What a Joke.
By By Epstein Shygetz. You should rot in jail like a dog.
shame on u all how about all the abusive husbands who don’t want to give a get for NO reson just to harries the wife and the kids suffer for that so yes he was 1000% correct to help them
What a bunch of am aratzim, using force to get men to give a divorce is as old as the haluchas of gets
Number 2 the fact that he took money is no different from any other messader gotten, this just cost more because there us more people involved
Number 3 for some women this is an only option, I hope some of the women he helped come to testify on his behalf and explain to a jury what it means to be stuck in a bad marriage
If he was doing it lshem shemayim he wouldn’t have charged $100K. Had he done it for free it would not be black and white at all.
Let’s not forget, if it was leshem shamayim he would have first investigated the case and check out the history of the couple etc,,, Instead he went for the $$$ and the people weren’t even Jewish.
Put him away for LIFE + a day.
$100 thousand cash for each get. Does the IRS know about the millions he has socked away?
You are 100% correct 50% of the time. Yes 50% of the men are animals and are just looking to toture their wives. But the other 50% of the time women are animals looking to toture their husbands. Many demand large payouts or unreasoanble vistiation rights for the husband. if they don’t get what they want they won’t accept the get. then they scream aguna. Others don’t demand these things staright out but davka play with kids. When its the husbands turn to have them for shabbos all of a sudden the kids have colds or their uncles dog’s sons bar mitzva and can’t come. Or like that lady in the news a while back who offered her religous husband from out of state vistation rights on shabbos starting winter friday nights at 5:30. Once the get is given its very hard to win more rights. Thus the way the system is you fight it out before the get. As a side point if I entered your house and started chopping off your limbs you would do whatever it takes to fight back. Children are a persons limbs and life. Thats what these men are fighting for, their lives..
If we agree conceptually to beat the wicked men up we most also beat up the wicked women. For some reason I doubt that will happen.
Keeping women chained to a dead marriage gives jobs to rabbonim like this. Keep living with obsolete laws and this is what you get. Hope the ruv gets off Scott free!
Not one of you bloggers who are going off on Rabbi Epstein is truly a Halachically G-d fearing Jew. To accept all the Lashon hara before the case has even been tried, is the height of Sin. You should all be ashamed. And if abiding by Halacha is not enough of an incentive for you, how about the law of the land: ” innocent Until proven guilty?” Teshuva is required.
As frum Jews you all have an obligation to be dan l’kaf Z’chus and you’re not allowed to be mekabel Lashon hara! And here in America there is the concept of “innocent until proven guilty!” All the holier than thous shouldn’t judge, lest you be judged. And insiders know that R Epstein was set up by one of the husbands whose wife R Epstein negotiated a get for.
Either way the woman wanting the get has to pay. Either he holds out from granting one to her for money. Or to pay in be is din,or this way. If she doesn’t want to accept the get he will always go to get the heter. Whatever the case is the children always lose, which causes so many complications later in life with stability
Thank you Rabbi Epstein helping so many trapped women getting a get from my their vicious husbands
If it wasn’t for you they would still suffer.
Hashem knows what you did and the end outcome will be victorious for you and victims.
perhaps it might be time to shed your bronze age superstition and irrational beliefs that a woman is property of a man and that only a man has the power to release her from a marriage. Please join us in the 21st century, its only 2,500 years ahead of where many of you are trying to rest. Its great over here. Women have control over their bodies, cannot submit to a mans control and when a civil court issues a divorce, she is free to get on with her life and not worry that for 10 generations her children will be maggots and haunted by some voodoo spirit.
Rabbi Epstien is a real Oihaiv Yisroel. He has negotiated many Gitten without “forcing” the husband and in those cases charged very little. I am aware of a women in my extended family for whom Rabbi Epstien was able to negotiate a Get for and didn’t charge the family anything. The few cases where he had to “force” the husbands are being highlighted and that is unfortunate. I hope that some of the people he helped will come forward at so that the public will get to see the the complete picture and judge him fairly.
Good morning everyone.
I am sending you a letter that I had previously written to my family. I am writing to you because you are a frum Jew with the power of tfilla. Please read this before you daven today.
Today starts the trial.
Opening arguments.
It would be great if you could take a minute and say tehilim and a prayer for my family and the other defendants. Women have a special power of tefila. We aren’t required to say specific passages. Whatever words of prayer you use go directly to hashem. In this instance I think the power of a woman’s tfila is especially important because this is an issue for all Jewish women. AND ONLY JEWISH WOMEN. No woman should be left to rot because her husband refuses to give her a get. I know it’s easy to think this doesn’t affect you. But this specific trial is a trial about us. Orthodox Jews. And whether our women should suffer. This trial is about the Get according to Orthodox Jewish law. This issue doesn’t affect any other Americans yet our government has conveniently forgotten about the separation between church and state. Make no mistake. This case has NEVER been about federal kidnapping. To arrest these men for a crime that carries
As a civil attorney I am very familiar with secular courts, witnesses, litigation, etc. Many times my cases involve criminal matters as well. While I don’t represent my clients in the criminal parts, I work closely with criminal defense attorneys and I am present in court for their state criminal cases. Even so, I have been appalled and horrified at the complete and utter lack of fairness in the federal justice system. In a civil matter where the end result is merely money, there are deadlines for discovery and witness lists, etc. that must be adhered to. There are rules that must be followed so that both sides have equity and justice. There are no shenanigans like sending 5000 documents each in its own pdf that is password protected or filing documents leaving out a co-defendant alibis or sending us empty disk drives and claiming technical errors. Or after a cooperating government witness has lied too many times to count and collaborates with alleged victims, the government is still permitted to put him on the stand. Where the government can torture you by withdrawing an entire count against you and then reinstate it!! When you have an alibi. And the prosecutors know it. And the
There seems to be confusion about what the issue at hand really is. On one hand, we have Epstein’s actions that raise the subjects of greed, dishonesty, corruption, etc. Others are busy with the questions about get me’usah and its ramifications. Lastly, there is the issue of how gittin/divorces are being handled today, where justice is determined by money, pressure, and despicable midos. Some commenters look to lambaste the female gender, others the male gender. At some level, everyone is correct. The world of gittin/divorce is characterized by nastiness and viciousness, plus an array of poor midos that are not befitting for shomrei Torah uMitzvos. I would hope that the rabbonim that get involved focus on the truth, plus the need to reconcile the issues with as much peacefulness as possible. Shamefully, that is the exception to the rule. To’anim pick fights to bury the other side, and sometimes dayanim have their partialities that prevent peaceful resolutions. All are to blame. This needs to get fixed from the top down.
The crux of the problem is that it was all about money and shakedown, why did epstein not ask what bais din was tried, who his rav is, who her rav is. No it was all about do u have the money? and lets beat him up. A mere half hour of due diligence would have stopped this investigation on its tracks but epstein and crew were so money hungry they let the greed rule the day now they pay the price
Mendel’s doughtier.. You should be hiding under the woodwork’s. You still have the Chutzpa to come out and say that “no women should be left to rot because her husband refuses too give her a Get” What about the men including myself. I lost my house. I lost my business. I lost my bank account. furthermore I lost my children which I love dearly. Mendel Shygatz always found a way how to beat up on the men. Did mendel ever beat up on a woman. I really wonder if your father ever gave you a taste of the (cattle Prod) If he did. Please share it with me. How does it taste.
To sum up. Mendel is a sadist Masochist and he got off his sexual desires by beating up on men. I will pray that the Jury finds your father guilty on all counts and the judge sends him away for life. Mendel don’t forget before you surrender to give a Get for your wife. “O i forgot” you will cry that you want kosher food. What a joke.
I hope that you rot in jail like a dog.
By By mendel Shygetz……..
Wow! so much hatred!
I personally know Rabbi Epstein. He is one of the nicest people I have ever known. He gave personally hours of his time free of charge. His son Ari is a real mensch.
And there are plenty of marriages that he saves. The one thing he is very against is abusive marriages of which there are plenty. And the men refusing to give wives a get is just the tip of the iceberg for these men.
I see the Epstein and Fox mishpachos are busy trolling the blogs putting up foolish stories of their menuval relative’s tzidkus.
I know him 40 years and cannot remember meeting a bigger degenerate in my almost six decades on this earth (so far, bli ayin harah).
The fact that not one adom gadol or major mosod or respectable organization has come to his defense should tell you the truth. The 50K+ he charged for his services should be enough. The fact that his gittin are not accepted by most poskim should be enough. The fact that his buddy Walmark pleaded guilty should be enough to convince any unbiased person that he is no good.
Keep up the trolling, Nechi. It won’t keep your dirt ball father out of jail or keep the feds from coming after you next, but if it helps you sleep and keeps your mund off your own filthy deeds, troll away.