Rabbi 'kidnapped Israeli man and threatened to bury him alive unless he granted wife divorce'
A New Jersey rabbi abducted and beat an Israeli man and threatened to bury him alive if he did not agree to a divorce, according to federal prosecutors.
David Wax and his wife Judy surrendered to the FBI on Monday on charges, the latest in a chain of events that started with a divorce dispute in Israel's Rabbinical Court over the victim's refusal to give his wife a "get", an Orthodox Jewish divorce document permitting a wife to remarry.
Rabbi Wax, 49, described a "pillar of the community" of Lakewood, New Jersey, a large Orthodox enclave, and his 47-year-old wife, briefly appeared in federal court on Monday before being released on $500,000 bond. A grand jury will decide whether to indict them on kidnapping charges, which carry a potential life sentence.
Absent from US court documents is the name of the victim, Yisrael Briskman, who apparently fled Israel after refusing to grant a divorce. But his name shows up in a 2008 public notice from the High Rabbinical Court of Jerusalem, placed in religious publications in Israel and abroad announcing a ruling against Mr Briskman in the divorce case.
The notice forbids community members from doing business with Mr Briskman, allowing him to study in a Jewish seminary or giving him a place to stay. Under the headline "Wanted," it calls upon the public to notify the court of Briskman's whereabouts.
"It is not permitted to extend to him a kindness or favor in any form," the notice reads.
Two years later, according to the FBI complaint, Mr Briskman was lured to the Rabbi Wax's Lakewood home on Oct. 16, 2010, to discuss opportunities for Mr Briskman to work on a book the rabbi was writing about the Talmud, a central Jewish text. Once in the home, two men allegedly pounced on Mr Briskman from behind before handcuffing, blindfolding and robbing him.
The complaint says the blindfold was adjusted so Mr Briskman could see a cowboy hat-clad David Wax as he started kicking him in the ribs. Mr Briskman was allegedly told he would be buried alive in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains if he did not grant the divorce, and hauled a dark body bag into the room.
David Wax is also charged with making a phone threat to Mr Briskman's father in Israel, telling him he would be killed in Israel if he didn't pay Briskman's wife $100,000.
"For you there's a special gift. It's called a bullet," Rabbi Wax allegedly said in an international phone call recorded by Briskman's father.
A conviction on that charge could mean an additional sentence of up to five years.
Court documents show that Mr Briskman was escorted by taxi to a Lakewood ATM and told to withdraw $800. When the transaction was unsuccessful, Mr Briskman was driven back to Brooklyn, where he was staying. Soon after, he reported the incident and local police started investigating. The FBI became involved.
Attorneys for both defendants said they would plead not guilty if indicted on the federal charges.
"He has no history of any type of criminal behaviors or violent behaviors. He's the father of eight children," said Mitchell Ansell, David Wax's attorney.
Judy Wax is a dual American-Israeli citizen, but David Wax has only a U.S. passport. Both were forced to surrender all travel documents before being released.
Under Israeli law, religious officials have full authority over personal status. That gives Israel's rabbinate control over Jewish marriages and divorces. Without a proper rabbinical divorce, Jewish men and women cannot remarry.
Mr Briskman's former wife may also have been in the area during the alleged abduction. An FBI review of travel records revealed that she flew from Israel to Newark Liberty International Airport the day before the incident, and flew back three days later.
The relationship between the Wax family and Mr Briskman's former wife remains unclear, and the FBI declined to elaborate. Mr Ansell said his client did know Briskman's wife but would not say how, while Judy Wax's attorney, Steven Secare, raised doubts there was any connection.
Mr Briskman's current whereabouts and marital status are also unclear, although court documents list him as residing in the United States and refer to the woman as his former wife.
"We're confident that when all the facts are made public, he'll be cleared of these charges and his good and honorable name will be restored," Mr Ansell said.
Submitted by Fester on Thu, 2011-07-21 11:00
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The Orthodox Jews in Lakewood, NJ have been accused of hogging all the Section 8 housing and keeping others out of their area:
BY THE REV. KEVIN NUNN
The main purposes of the Lakewood Improvement Association are to help the socially and economically deprived within our community, to help those in need of food, clothing and shelter, and to deal with the great disparity and favoritism of the Lakewood Township Committee's preferential treatment toward the Orthodox Jewish community.
It must be emphatically stated that we are not anti-Semitic nor are we racist. Our organization consists of people of all races, ethnicities and religions. Some of them are Jewish. The preferential treatment toward the Orthodox Jewish community doesn't just affect those who are minority or poor. It is having an adverse effect on all races. It has created economic and social discrimination concerning equal housing and an unjust monopolization of federally funded programs, such as Section 8 housing.
This preferential treatment has taken away the power of a fine Lakewood Police Department by releasing Orthodox leaders who the police have arrested and should have been charged with aggravated assault, but then revising the decision because of pressure from the Orthodox community. It has reversed 78 traffic summonses issued by the police department, some at the request of Orthodox Jewish rabbis.
Our children are affected due to the private schools that exclude the rest of the children within the community. Luxuries are afforded such as tax-exempt status for synagogues as well as some residential dwellings.
As a result of this preferential treatment, the demographics of Lakewood have shifted so vastly that middle-class blacks and whites and others have left this township due to their inability to be able to afford to live here, run successful businesses or obtain employment within the township suitable to raise a family.
By allowing this to continue, by 2010 the demographics will have shifted so greatly that what once was a racially and socially diverse community will be a predominantly Orthodox Jewish community. Our governing powers shall remain, having been compensated for allowing this mass migration of the Orthodox usurping of this town. A few black and white families and other races and a work force of Mexicans will stay to accomplish their labor.
Not that this may be a great revelation to residents of Lakewood. If they have lived here for any substantial amount of time, they know that businesses are being bought. People are offered money to move out of their homes. Hotels, motels and restaurants that were once community-owned and community-cherished are now solely the property of the Orthodox community to do with as they please.
Is this really a community that is taking place within Lakewood, or is it a monopoly? If the purpose of the Orthodox community is to create one great community for all residents of Lakewood, then we could all dwell together. We could work together. Our children could play together, go to school together and enjoy the bond of unity that strengthens all men through camaraderie and communication to make this one great community.
But in reality, our children — black, white or Hispanic — are not good enough to play with Orthodox Jewish children. We are rarely spoken to when passed on the street. They have separate entrances to enter the hospital, ride in separate ambulances and seek to police their own community rather than using one of the finest police departments in both Monmouth and Ocean counties. All of this is done so they don't defile their children by being with our children, that they don't defile themselves by intermingling with our culture and that they don't defile their sick with the blood of our sick.
It seems we are not good enough to mingle with, but our land is good enough to purchase and our town is good enough to occupy.
This is not a community. This is segregation that is being perpetuated by the Township Committee and the powers that be in Lakewood. It is unacceptable to anyone who is a township resident.
In the words of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." But those principles do not apply anymore in Lakewood. Therefore, we will fight until trusted American principles are re-established in Lakewood and, in the words of the Scriptures, "justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream."
The Rev. Kevin Nunn is chairman of the Lakewood Improvement Association.
http://yeshivaorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2005/11/war-against-lakewood-jews...
The jews have one standard for themselves and another standard for everyone elses . ... Section 8 in Lakewood mostly works by Vouchers. ...
Tent City - Lakewood, NJ - Part 1 of 5 - YouTube10 min - Mar 5, 2009 - Uploaded by LakewoodOutreach
Andie, I fixed the video in your comment. I thought it was worth posting the remaining sections of the video too.